Articles Published by NIJ

Executive summary

Criminal investigators use physiological changes and insect development to determine how long a body has been dead, but scientists are using the trillions of microbes involved in human decomposition to find more accurate postmortem intervals.

Executive Summary

NIJ-supported research points to the value of targeting multiple social conditions as a strategy for reducing radicalization.

A new postmortem image database will be a resource for research in forensic anthropology, pathology, and radiology.

Researchers created an open-access computer program for estimating the age of skeletal remains that outperforms current methods. The algorithm is based on 20 age-related skeletal changes identified by experienced forensic anthropologists.

Youth who have experienced both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems have complex needs that require collaborative, multipronged interventions.

Researchers counsel caution on interpreting probationer cognitions — thoughts and thought patterns — as predictors of desistance from crime.

Improved prevalence data, increased understanding, and collaboration between stakeholders are key elements to mounting an effective response to female genital mutilation.

Language-specific measures of economic empowerment are vital to helping women break the cycle of violence, NIJ-supported research finds.

“Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him.” Edmond Locard (1877-1966), forensic science pioneer

To realize the full potential of youth mentoring programs, it is critical to advance research on program effectiveness and population-level impact.

Researchers improve molecular autopsy accuracy by identifying more genetic variants that could lead to sudden unexplained deaths. These genetic clues may better inform criminal investigations and help prevent deaths in surviving family members.

Research finds that school-initiated threat assessments are a good alternative to zero-tolerance policies for keeping students safe, but better data and assessment team resources are needed.

A sweeping synthesis of 90 independent interventions points to benefits of school programs specifically designed to stop cyberbullying.

Too often crime victims experience unmet civil legal needs. The Office for Victims of Crime set up a legal assistance network demonstration to help those victims. An NIJ evaluation of the new model returned mixed results.

As more states legalize marijuana, the search for better methods of proving and preventing drug impairment on the road accelerates.

A new area of research suggests that schools should have a systematic and coordinated approach in place to gather and process information on threats, respond appropriately, and document the response.

Improving postmortem interval estimation with standardized and simplified protocols could significantly impact medicolegal death investigations by providing more accurate and reliable data for determining time since death.

Researchers investigated how marijuana affects skills required for safe driving and found that biofluid levels of THC did not correlate with field sobriety test performance or marijuana intoxication, regardless of how the cannabis was ingested.