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Subtopic: Courts

Guardianship Abuse: Bad Apples or Tip of the Iceberg?

January 2025

When cases involving high-profile individuals, like Britney Spears, make national headlines, issues surrounding guardianship and conservatorship take center stage. But after those specific cases resolve and national interest fades, the systemic issues remain. We have very little data on how the guardianship system is actually working, and the scope and prevalence of guardianship abuse remains unclear. We don’t know how many individuals suffer abuse under guardianship. We don’t know to what extent guardianship, when properly executed, improves the lives of those it’s intended to serve.

Responding to Intimate Partner Violence Related Strangulation Integrating Policy, Practice, and Rese

October 2024

This webinar examines the problem of Intimate Partner Violence Strangulation and an innovative response policy. The presentation will include an overview of the nature and extent of strangulation, its dangers, and adverse medical consequences followed by a review of a Strangulation Ordinance in Burleson, Texas that mandates extensive training for first responders and a city-wide response protocol for strangulation detection and investigation, documentation of strangulation signs and symptoms, medical assistance, and service referrals for strangulation survivors.

Advancing Justice for the Missing and Unidentified Through Research - 2024 NIJ Research Conference

September 2024

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.

3D Firearm Imaging: Testimony and Admissibility

September 2024

This video is one of four from the Virtual Workshop Series: 3D Firearm Imaging, hosted by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence from August 21 to September 11, 2024. This series is intended for firearm examiners or soon-to-be firearm examiners working in laboratories that have recently adopted 3D Firearm Imaging or are considering its adoption soon.

This video includes two presentations - 

Providing Forensics Training to Rural Jurisdictions - NIJ National Center on Forensics (NCF)

February 2024

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. 

Can Science Enhance Equity? Findings and Implications From a Study To Detect Bruising on Victims with Dark Skin Pigmentation

August 2023

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:

Low Prosecution Rates in Sexual Assault Cases: Can We Make Sustainable Improvements?

April 2023

Dr. Julie L. Valentine provides background information on the challenges in tracking prosecution outcomes in sexual assault cases of adult victims. Research utilizing the National Institute of Justice Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Practitioner Toolkit in two Utah counties is presented. Variables predicting prosecution are be explored. Participants are invited to consider societal, structural, and legislative barriers to prosecution of adult sexual assault cases faced in their jurisdiction to encourage multidisciplinary collaboration.

The Hidden Costs of Reentry: Understanding the Barriers to Removing a Criminal Record

May 2022

NIJ hosted a webinar to discuss under-researched aspects of reentry: expungement of criminal records and the impact of those records. This webinar includes a presentation of ongoing research projects examining the impact of legal aid for expungement and past research projects studying the accuracy and permanency of criminal records and the prevalence of collateral consequences of conviction. A Q&A session will conclude this webinar.

Just Trauma-Informed Approaches and Advocacy for Vulnerable Populations

April 2022

In the final episode of our 2022 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Natasha Alexenko, a sexual assault survivor, advocate, author, and founder of Natasha's Justice Project, to discuss advocacy for vulnerable populations and trauma-informed approaches to sexual assault. As a sexual assault survivor and advocate, Natasha Alexenko has dedicated her career to improving the lives of sexual assault survivors. She has worked both nationally and internationally to discuss past, present, and future directions for an improved response to sexual assault.

Just Research on Anonymous and Unreported Sexual Assault Cases

April 2022

In episode four of our 2022 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Dr. Rachael Goodman-Williams, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Wichita State University, and Dr. Jessica Volz, Clinical Director of Forensics at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, to discuss why survivors sometimes choose not to report their sexual assault. After receiving medical care and undergoing forensic evidence collection following a sexual assault, some survivors choose to forgo filing a report with law enforcement. Dr. Rachael Goodman-Williams and Dr.

Just Trauma-Informed Patient Interviewing and Prevalence of Strangulation

April 2022

In episode three of our 2022 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Kelly Taylor, a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, also known as a SANE, Sexual Assault Care Coordinator, and Forensic Healthcare Program Manager, to discuss trauma-informed support for sexual assault survivors and the prevalence of strangulation in sexual assault cases. Trauma-informed victim centered expertise and support from sexual assault nurse examiners is crucial to providing appropriate medical attention and helping a survivor heal.

Just Research of Dating Apps and Violent Sexual Assault Cases

April 2022

In episode two of our 2022 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Dr. Julie Valentine, a researcher, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, and Associate Dean of Brigham Young University's College of Nursing, to discuss sexual assault cases involving strangulation and dating apps. While working as a sexual assault nurse examiner, Dr. Valentine and colleagues noticed an increase in survivors reporting violent sexual assaults that occurred after meeting someone through a dating app.

Just Sexual Assault Response and Supporting Vulnerable Populations

April 2022

In episode one of our 2022 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Mary Weston, the Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Supervisor of the Cold Case Unit, and Project Manager of the Sexual Assault Kit Task Force at Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office to discuss sexual assault response with vulnerable populations. Different challenges may arise when prosecuting sexual assault cases involving vulnerable populations, including cases with male victims.

Booker and Beyond Analyzing Sentencing Reform and Exploring New Research Directions

January 2022

This webinar features a discussion of previously published research on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Booker decision - which effectively transformed the United States Sentencing Guidelines from a mandatory, to an advisory, system. The presentation will address selected research findings from the last 15 years. Individual participants will briefly review their previous research findings with particular attention paid to the analytic methods used.

Desistance From Crime: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice

November 2021

Most scholars would agree that desistance from crime – the process of ceasing engagement in criminal activities – is normative. However, there is variability in the literature regarding the definition and measurement of desistance, the signals of desistance, the age at which desistance begins, and the underlying mechanisms that lead to desistance. Even with considerable advances in the theoretical understanding of desistance from crime, there remain critical gaps between research and the application of that research to practice.

Expanding Research to Examine the Impacts of Forensic Science on the Criminal Justice System

December 2020

In 2004, the National Institute of Justice created the social science research on forensic sciences (SSRFS) research program to explore the impact of forensic sciences on the criminal justice system and the administration of justice. Much of the early research from the SSRFS program focused on DNA processing and the use of DNA in investigations and prosecutions.