Research sponsored by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in fiscal year 1985 focused on neighborhood crime control, drugs and crime, school crime, domestic violence, victim services, improved felony case processing, career criminals and violent crime, and prison overcrowding.
An experiment nearing completion has identified neighborhood-police crime prevention techniques that reduce signs of neighborhood social deterioration that foster residents' fear of crime. Research has also established a significant correlation between drug use and criminality and evaluated various means for controlling drug abuse and related offenses. NIJ has initiated a project to reduce school crime by training school officials in their rights and responsibilities in this area and in how to track crime and disciplinary infractions in their schools. NIJ-sponsored research in Minneapolis found that arrest was more effective than mediation or removal of the perpetrator from the premises in reducing domestic assault recidivism. Research on ways to assist crime victims and involve them more fruitfully in the criminal justice process has been an NIJ priority. Other NIJ research has sought to reduce the rate of felony case attrition, to improve control of career and violent criminals, and to reduce prison and jail overcrowding. A list of five published NIJ research summaries and a description of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.