30 Years of the Violence Against Women Act: Endurance, Expansion, and the Next Era - 2024 NIJ Research Conference
Congress first passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994. Since then, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has invested several billion dollars to support national, state, and local programs and to advance policies and practices to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and increase access to safety, services, and justice for survivors. Over the same period, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) has made similar investments, and VAWA, OVW and OVC have all supported NIJ in investing extensively in related research.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Closing Remarks at the 2024 NIJ Research Conference by NIJ Director Nancy La Vigne
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Advancing Justice for the Missing and Unidentified Through Research - 2024 NIJ Research Conference
Forensic science research is developing essential knowledge to fill in the holes in death investigations, creating new ways to identify challenging skeletal remains. These methods inform cause of death, time of death, and familial relationships to guide investigations, identify suspects, support prosecutions, and bring justice to families.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Advancing Justice Through Science: Tracing Allegheny County’s Journey - 2024 NIJ Research Conference
This plenary will trace the arc of Allegheny County’s evidence-based investments in justice and human services reform, starting with the Allegheny County Jail Collaborative in 2000. Participants will highlight Allegheny County’s ongoing, and evolving investments in risk assessment tools to inform pretrial and child welfare decision-making, its commitment to reducing racial disparities in the human services and justice systems, and its continued commitment to building and learning from evidence informed by rigorous evaluation methodologies.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Opening Ceremony: Remarks from NIJ Director Nancy La Vigne at the NIJ 2024 Research Conference
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Celebrating 10 Years of NIJ’s Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Scholars Program - 2024 NIJ Research Conference
In 2014, NIJ established the Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Scholars Program to support research-minded, mid-career sworn law enforcement officers working to integrate research into agency policy and practice. The LEADS Scholars Program helps participants develop independent research and provides support to identify current evidence on priority issues.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Redesigning Life in U.S. Prisons
The prison system in the U.S. typically places a heavy emphasis on security, control, and punishment, and this foundation can create an adversarial culture within correctional facilities — incarcerated individuals versus correctional staff. But what if that culture could change? What would it look like? How would it impact not only incarcerated individuals but also correctional officers and other staff?
Updating Body Armor Standards to Protect Police
A bullet can strike a police officer in a blink, so their body armor must be proven to work. Feeling more under fire than ever, the law enforcement community is raising the standards for ballistic-resistant police body armor to stop more rifle bullets, like those often used by active shooters, in an effort led by OJP’s National Institute of Justice.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on Victim Services
The COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on communities across the nation and significantly affected various aspects of individuals’ lives. One of the negative impacts was an increase in gender-based violence accompanied by shifting barriers to accessing services and support. Victims and victim service providers faced various challenges dealing with the increase in need for services, navigating barriers to help-seeking, and addressing logistical issues.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Supporting Women’s Reentry from Incarceration: Discussing Promising Practices & Future Research
This webinar focuses on promising practices for women’s reentry success, and how those are being used in the field to support women's reentry prior to and after release. Discussants include representatives from the National Institute of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and service organizations.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Tools to Support Campus Sexual Assault Prevention and Response
Sexual violence is a significant criminal justice problem with long-term effects for its victims. In particular, sexual assault on or related to college campuses across the United States presents a growing public health and economic burden, starting with significant impacts on academic outcomes.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Closing Cases Using Gunshot Residue
Not every crime scene will have definitive evidence, such as DNA, to link an individual to a crime. In those cases, law enforcement relies on other evidence to build the burden of proof. NIJ graduate research fellow Dr. Shelby Khandasammy developed a tool to analyze organic gunshot residue and distinguish between different firearms calibers and manufacturers. She joins Marie Garcia, office director for the Office of Criminal Justice Systems at NIJ, to talk about her work and experience as a research fellow.
Preventing Relationship and Sexual Violence on College Campuses
This webinar will discuss implications and recommendations for the prevention of sexual assault, dating violence, and harassment on college campuses in the U.S. based on findings from an NIJ-funded study on Population and Subgroup Differences in Prevalence and Predictors of Campus Sexual Assault (Award No: 2020-VA-CX-0004). Audience members will be invited to participate in a discussion of strategies and considerations for violence prevention on college campuses that target campus-level factors contributing to victimization and perpetration.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Providing Forensics Training to Rural Jurisdictions - NIJ National Center on Forensics (NCF)
Well-trained forensics specialists are integral to ensuring justice across the United States. However, in the country's rural states and locations, this training can be hard to come by.
The National Center on Forensics (NCF) is a partnership between George Mason University, the National Association of Attorneys General, the American Society for Clinical Pathology, and the Montana Forensic Science Division funded by the National Institute of Justice. This grant program aims to bring forensics training to the nation's underserved rural areas.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
What's Known and Unknown about Marijuana (Part One)
Marijuana poses many challenges for researchers, law enforcement, and policy makers, challenges that fall into two fields: drug chemistry and toxicology. NIJ scientist Dr. Frances Scott joins this episode to explain the complications in drug chemistry and how difficulties defining marijuana lead to backlogs in crime labs around the country. NIJ Communications Assistant Josh Mondoro hosts.
Reading and Resources from NIJ:
What's Known and Unknown about Marijuana (Part Two)
Marijuana legalization poses many challenges — especially those related to drug chemistry and toxicology — for researchers, law enforcement, and policy makers. In the latest episode of Justice Today, NIJ Communications Assistant Josh Mondoro hosts a conversation with NIJ Scientist Frances Scott about marijuana toxicology, including comparing its effects to alcohol, measuring impairment, and maintaining public safety as more and more states legalize recreational marijuana.
A Data-Informed Response to Emerging Drugs
The emerging drug crisis in the U.S. touches both criminal justice and public health, and experts from both fields came together at NIJ’s 2023 National Research Conference to discuss strategies and tools to fight this problem. Dr. Frances Scott, NIJ scientist and program manager, continues the conference discussion with two fellow panelists: Ciena Bayard, the Method Development and Validation Program Manager for D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and Haley Greene, the Deputy Epidemiologist for the Central Region for the Virginia Department of Health. Read the transcript.
Webinar: NIJ Research Assistantship Program Informational Webinar
This recorded webinar, originally held September 28, 2023, provides information on NIJ’s Research Assistantship Program, which offers highly qualified doctoral students the opportunity to bring their expertise to NIJ to work across offices and program areas to obtain a practical and applied research experience. The program is a research focused professional development opportunity for doctoral students from all academic disciplines. NIJ provides funds to participating universities to pay salaries and other costs associated with research assistants who work on NIJ research activities.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Cold Cases and Serial Killers (Part 1)
In April 2018, the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo was arrested. NIJ support helped lead to his arrest, and in the aftermath of the arrest, NIJ Social Science Analyst Eric Martin was among those tasked with finding other cases NIJ helped law enforcement solve. Eric joins the show to talk about some of those cases, and answer some broader questions about serial killers: What is a serial killer? Are they on the rise? How do we know how many serial killers are currently active?
De-escalation Training: What Works, Implementation Lessons, and Taking It to Scale; Plenary at the 2023 NIJ Research Conference
Police use of force, while infrequently used, is a tremendous concern to public safety in the United States when officers employ it excessively or inappropriately, causing injury or death and eroding public trust in law enforcement. This plenary from the 2023 NIJ Research Conference describes the Integrating, Communications, Assessment, and Tactics (ICAT) de-escalation training program developed by the Police Executive Research Forum to guide officers in defusing critical incidents.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Inclusive Research: Engaging People Closest to the Issue Makes for Better Science & Greater Impact; 2023 NIJ Research Conference Plenary
This panel will discuss what inclusive research is, how to conduct it, and what issues and challenges exist about engaging in it. “Inclusive research” has its history as a participatory research method designed to ensure people closest to the issue or problem under study are authentically engaged in the research process rather than simply being “research subjects.” While community-based participatory research has begun to take on greater prominence in the criminal justice realm, such efforts are largely confined to qualitative research inquiries.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Meet the OJP Science Directors: Nancy La Vigne and Alex Piquero Discuss the Future of Research and Statistics at the 2023 NIJ Research Conference
The directors of the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics reflect on where they see the future of research and statistics and take questions from the audience, prioritizing those from student attendees.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Can Science Enhance Equity? Findings and Implications From a Study To Detect Bruising on Victims with Dark Skin Pigmentation
This plenary panel from the 2023 NIJ Research Conference features fascinating research on a methodology to improve the detection and documentation of bruises on victims of violence who have dark skin pigmentation. This study highlights the intersection between science, justice, and racial equity, featuring practitioner and victims’ advocacy perspectives. The discussion describes the research and its findings and explore strategies to ensure that this particular evidence-based methodology can be widely implemented by nurse practitioners in the field.
Participants:
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
2023 NIJ Research Conference - Evidence to Action
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
Embodying Evidence to Action: Tracking the Impact of Three Key NIJ Research Investments; Opening Plenary of the 2023 NIJ Research Conference
This plenary featured three significant areas of NIJ research investment that have had a tremendous impact on both the research community and the field of practice: advances in forensic DNA, police body armor standards, and place-based analyses of public safety. Each topic was explored by a collection of people representing the researcher, practitioner, policymaker, and advocacy perspectives, exploring how evidence generation resulted in changes that improved public safety and yielded more equitable criminal justice outcomes.
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy