Anticipated NIJ Research Interests in Fiscal Year 2025

NIJ’s current research interests in fiscal year (FY) 2025 are presented below. 

These interests are subject to change and may not result in a funding opportunity, depending on contemporary priorities and available funding.

• Research and evaluation on the critical intersections in drug market trends, interdiction, and prosecution efforts to disrupt drug, firearm, and violent crimes. Topics of interest include drug-related firearm seizure trends (ghost guns, machine gun conversion devices); how firearms are obtained and used to facilitate drug crimes; drug and firearm trafficking and interdiction opportunities; tracking crime gun information in relation to drug distribution networks and strategies to combat proliferation; and case outcomes under different policies.
   
• Social science research and evaluative studies on forensic science systems. Topics of interest include examining how forensic science impacts the criminal justice system; evaluations of the implementation of new and innovative policies and practices; and research on the forensic science workforce. NIJ is also interested in assessing the evaluability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Crime Gun Intelligence Centers (CGIC). 
   
• Applied research on policing practices. Topics of interest include officer safety, health, and wellness; innovative investigative techniques; police and public safety strategies; the impact of alternative traffic enforcement policies; and police conduct and police-community relations.
   
• Evaluations of emerging technology implementation and impact for law enforcement purposes. Topics include policies, trainings, operational and staffing issues, and communications strategies associated with technology implementation; and impacts of technology implementation and use on public safety and agency budgets. NIJ encourages researchers and practitioners to partner or build on existing researcher-practitioner partnerships to guide the law enforcement community on the best ways to implement technology to solve contemporary problems in policing.
   
• Applied research and evaluation on institutional and community corrections. Topics of interest include correctional workforce development and training, special populations, and the impact of correctional culture and climate on the safety and wellness of people who work and are confined in correctional facilities. 
   
• Research and evaluation on school safety. Areas of interest include identification of malleable factors that impact school safety and evaluations of school safety approaches implemented for purposes authorized under the STOP School Violence Act. Within the range of approaches and activities supported by the STOP School Violence Act, topics of interest include programs and practices involving school police/school resource officers; virtual reality enhanced prevention programs; school-based mental health programs; multisite, comprehensive, or multicomponent school safety approaches; and active shooter drills and security strategies.
   
• Research and evaluation on hate crimes. Topics of interest include evaluations of interventions to prevent hate crimes; research on strategies communities use to reduce the risk of hate crime victimization; evaluations of interventions to address the needs of hate crime survivors and their communities; research to improve understanding, identification, and response to understudied motivation types; and research to improve understanding of school-based hate crimes.
   
• Research and evaluation that informs policy and practice in youth justice. Topics of interest include youth justice system prosecution; youth defense delivery systems and data practices; and outcomes of juvenile reentry programs with a particular interest in programs funded through the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention’s Second Chance Act Youth Reentry Program. NIJ is also interested resubmissions of unfunded applications submitted to the fiscal year 2024 Youth Justice Topics solicitation Category 1: Youth Justice Reinvestment Studies.  
   
• Research and evaluation projects to better understand and respond to human trafficking in the United States. Topics may include process and outcome evaluations of victim/survivor service programs and approaches; studies on understudied topics such as forced criminality and national prevalence estimates; and research and evaluation projects on technology used by traffickers, investigators, and technology tools used by service providers for victims/survivors to access help or services.
   
• Foundational or applied research and development projects in the forensic sciences that will increase the body of knowledge to guide and inform forensic science policy and practice or lead to the production of a useful material, device, system, or method that has potential forensic application.
   
• Research and evaluation projects to identify and inform the forensic community of best practices through the evaluation of existing laboratory protocols or emerging methods involved in the testing of physical evidence. Projects should pair with an operational public crime laboratory to have a direct and immediate impact on efficiency and assist with policy decisions. 
   
• Innovative research on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) within the criminal justice system to improve the fairness, accuracy, and effectiveness of criminal justice processes through AI applications in crime prevention, public safety, and decision-making. Topics may include exploration of both the potential benefits and risks of AI, including unintended consequences and downstream effects on justice outcomes. NIJ’s interest includes studies analyzing existing AI implementations in the criminal justice system, to assess their effectiveness, discern any unintended outcomes, and understand implications for expansion or adaptation. 
   
• Research on community-based violence intervention programs, to include site-based evaluations of programs funded under the Office of Justice Programs FY 2022, FY 2023, or FY 2024 Community-based Violence Intervention Program Initiative solicitations and evaluations of other community-violence programs. 
   
• Research and evaluation projects on the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older adults. Topics of interest include evaluation of programs to prevent, intervene in, or respond to the abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of older adults; research on financial fraud against older adults; research to inform intervention and prevention program development regarding caregivers who abuse or neglect older adults; and forensic research involving the development of radiographic evidence and bioinformatic approaches relevant to the physical abuse of older adults.
   
• Research and evaluation projects that advance understanding of crime victim/survivor needs and inform improvements to services in several areas. These areas include evaluations of programs that provide services for victims of crime; research on the nature, scope, and impact of technology-facilitated abuse; and research on suspicious deaths in intimate partner violence relationships (also known as hidden homicides). Additionally, NIJ is interested in a study on the range of challenges victims of online crimes against children and their families face in reporting crimes and receiving justice. 

NIJ is also interested in continuing to support doctoral dissertation research that is focused on justice issues through its Graduate Research Fellowship Program.