A: No. NIJ has a Human Subjects Protection Officer who reviews IRB approvals from awardees to ensure that the IRB has reviewed the study protocol in compliance with the DOJ human subjects protection regulations (28 CFR Part 46), the informed consent documentation in compliance with the DOJ regulations at 28 CFR 46.116 and the notification requirements in the DOJ confidentiality regulation (28 CFR Part 22). The NIJ Human Subjects Protection Officer will accept the findings of the awardee’s IRB provided the findings comply with the DOJ regulations cited above.
A: Researchers need to follow the general requirements for informed consent found at 28 CFR 46.116. For instance, subjects need to be informed that study participation is voluntary and that identifiable data collected with NIJ funds can only be used for research and statistical purposes, and no other purpose without the subject’s consent. They should also be informed that the study is funded by NIJ. If the award has a data archiving special condition, the subjects should also be told that the de-identified study data will be archived at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD). Other notification requirements can be found in 28 CFR Part 22.27.
Current or past abuse is not reportable, unless a separate consent to allow reporting is obtained from the research subject; this is in addition to a consent to participate in the research study. Please contact your grant manager and/or the NIJ Human Subjects Protection Officer if you have any further questions regarding this issue.
DOJ anticipates completing the process of amending the Department’s own regulation 28 CFR Part 46 at some time in the future in order to be consistent with the changes made for other agencies in the Revised Common Rule. However, until such time DOJ signs on, IRBs reviewing NIJ- or OJP-funded research must use and cite 28 CFR Part 46. Of particular note, in the Revised Common Rule there are changes made to the exemption categories, which will not apply and cannot be accepted for NIJ- or OJP-funded research. Please contact your grant manager and/or the NIJ Human Subjects Protection Officer if you have any further questions regarding this issue.
No, this form is signed by an authorizing official of the applicant organization. IRB review, if required, occurs after an award is made.
There are commercial IRBs whose review services can be purchased, and included in the study budget.. NIJ does not endorse any particular commercial IRB. There may be local universities that might agree to partner for IRB review, if the applicant organization has a relationship with the university. All IRBs reviewing DOJ-funded research must be informed that the DOJ human subjects protection regulation at 28 CFR Part 46 (pre-2018 Common Rule) should be used to review the IRB application.
No, the only exemptions in 46.101(b) are 1-4 that can be used to exempt DOJ-funded research if the study meets any of the listed criteria. B5 and B6 exemptions are not applicable to DOJ-funded research. B5 for public service benefit/service programs refers to programs that provide a monetary benefit to recipients, such as Food Stamps (SNAP Food Benefits) Welfare or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
An application is not required to contain complete IRB approved documentation, rather the human subjects form required with applications Protection of Human Subjects Assurance Identification/IRB Certification/Declaration of Exemption (Common Rule) in box 6 can indicate that IRB review is forthcoming. Once an award is made, no work may begin until NIJ has approved the submitted IRB documentation and has released funds.
If an application is awarded, it is the responsibility of the awardee to submit human subjects protection and privacy documentation. If the sub-awardee is conducting research on behalf of the awardee, then the sub-awardee can submit the documentation provided the awardee has a reliance agreement with the sub. If both are conducting research, they can agree, again using a reliance agreement, to use a single IRB. If they cannot agree or wish to have both the awardee’s IRB and the sub’s IRB review the study, then both IRBs will need to provide consistent but separate IRB documentation. The human subjects regulation that applies to NIJ-funded awards is 28 CFR Part 46 (pre-2018 Common Rule), which should be used by IRBs to review NIJ-funded protocols and cited in IRB determination letters.
AI is a rapidly advancing field of computer science. In the mid-1950s, John McCarthy, who has been credited as the father of AI, defined it as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."[1] Conceptually, AI is the ability of a machine to perceive and respond to its environment independently and perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence and decision-making processes, but without direct human intervention. One facet of human intelligence is the ability to learn from experience. Machine learning is an application of AI that mimics this ability and enables machines and their software to learn from experience.[2] Particularly important from the criminal justice perspective is pattern recognition. Humans are efficient at recognizing patterns and, through experience, we learn to differentiate objects, people, complex human emotions, information, and conditions on a daily basis. AI seeks to replicate this human capability in software algorithms and computer hardware. For example, self-learning algorithms use data sets to understand how to identify people based on their images, complete intricate computational and robotics tasks, understand purchasing habits and patterns online, detect medical conditions from complex radiological scans, and make stock market predictions.
[note 1] “What is Artificial Intelligence,” The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour.
[note 2] Bernard Marr, “What Is the Difference Between Deep Learning, Machine Learning and AI?” Forbes (December 8, 2016).
Just like humans, learning is a matter of classification and patterns. AI is said to learn through supervised, unsupervised, and semi supervised and reinforcement learning. In supervised learning, AI algorithms are trained by using large numbers of labeled examples. Unsupervised AI algorithms strive to identify patterns in data, looking for similarities that can be used to categorize the data without the aid of labels. Semisupervised learning uses a small amount of labeled data to learn to classify a larger set of unlabeled data. Approach is useful when extracting features from data is difficult, and labeling examples is a time-intensive task for experts. Reinforcement learning trains an algorithm with a reward system, providing feedback when an artificial intelligence agent performs the best action in a particular situation. In reinforcement learning, the system attempts to is going through a process of trial and error until it arrives at the best possible outcome to find the optimal way to complete a particular goal, or improve performance on a specific task.
Adapted from What is AI? Everything you need to know about Artificial Intelligence and SuperVize Me: What’s the Difference Between Supervised, Unsupervised, Semi-Supervised and Reinforcement Learning?
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