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Competitive solicitations

NIJ-Funded Research on Mass Shootings to Advance Evidence-Based Policy and Practice

November 2021

Mass public shootings continue to threaten communities in the United States, yet research on this criminal phenomenon is limited. In this full thematic panel, renowned experts will present a series of research projects summarizing NIJ-funded research projects’ newest findings on public mass shootings. The discussion will focus on NIJ’s investment to address the phenomenon of mass shootings through innovative study approaches to advance our understanding of mass shootings and inform prevention efforts. The implications of this research to criminal justice will also be discussed.

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Research on the Impact of Public Policy on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Justice System, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ seeks applications for funding of investigator-initiated proposals for evidence-based, nonpartisan analyses of existing evidence to examine how observed racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system might be reduced through public policy. NIJ seeks applications in two categories; 1) Research to Identify Policy Interventions, and 2) Secondary Analysis of Data from Relevant Existing Studies.

Research and Evaluation on Violence Against Women, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ seeks proposals for rigorous research and evaluation projects to support the development of objective and independent knowledge and validated tools to reduce violence against women (VAW) (including violence against elderly women and American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls), promote justice for victims of crime, and enhance criminal justice responses. For that reason, this solicitation seeks applications for grant funding...

Tribal-Researcher Capacity-Building Grants Solicitation, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ seeks applications to fund new tribal-researcher capacity-building planning grants involving scientists working with tribal nations and organizations to develop tangible and mutually beneficial criminal or juvenile justice research studies that are rigorous and culturally appropriate. Research proposals must be tribally driven and address the challenges of fighting crime and strengthening justice systems in Indian country and Alaska Native villages.

Research and Evaluation for the Testing and Interpretation of Physical Evidence in Publicly Funded Forensic Laboratories, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
This solicitation seeks applications for research and evaluation studies to produce practical knowledge that has the potential to improve the examination and interpretation of physical evidence in forensic science laboratories. Proposals are expected to identify the forensic science discipline(s) intended to benefit from the project.

Research and Evaluation on School Safety, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ seeks proposals for rigorous research and evaluation projects to study the root causes of school violence to include the impact and effectiveness of grants made under the STOP School Violence Act. NIJ is particularly interested in examining understudied approaches to improve school safety. Of most interest are anti-violence interventions and threat assessment.

Research on Juvenile Reoffending, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ, in collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, seeks proposals for rigorous research projects that improve measurement of juvenile reoffending. NIJ encourages applicants to submit proposals for studies that advance knowledge and understanding of juvenile reoffending and aid jurisdictions and juvenile justice agencies in measuring and using juvenile reoffending data appropriately in their efforts to identify priorities, develop...

Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ seeks proposals for rigorous basic or applied research and development projects. An NIJ forensic science research and development grant supports a discrete, specified, circumscribed project that will 1) Increase the body of knowledge to guide and inform forensic science policy and practice; or 2) Lead to the production of useful material(s), device(s), system(s), or method(s) that have the potential for forensic...

Research and Evaluation on Promising Reentry Initiatives, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ requests proposals for rigorous research and evaluation projects to examine reentry initiatives that incorporate promising practices, strategies, or programs. NIJ is interested in supporting multi-site, randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluations of innovative reentry initiatives that are specifically designed to address violent, habitual recidivism; are initiated during an individual’s incarceration and continue in the community; and address multiple criminogenic needs that can...

National Juvenile Court Data Archive, Fiscal Year 2021

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ, in collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), seeks proposals to support the National Juvenile Court Data Archive (the Archive). The Archive collects, maintains, and makes accessible the nation’s primary source of detailed information on juvenile court case processing of delinquency and status offense cases.

Research on Law Enforcement Responses to Sex Trafficking of Minors, Fiscal Year 2020

Closing Date

With this solicitation, NIJ aims to better understand how law enforcement practice with regard to preventing and responding to the sex trafficking of minors has evolved since passage to the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. NIJ is specifically interested in understanding how widely law enforcement agencies have adopted practices that are based on the perspective that the minor is a...

National Youth Gang Survey, Fiscal Year 2020

Closing Date

In collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), NIJ seeks proposals for funding to conduct a study of youth gangs. The award recipient will be expected to develop, test, and administer a national data collection from law enforcement agencies to produce accurate and reliable national estimates of, and information about youth gangs, and gang-related criminal activities and law enforcement approaches to...

Research on Juvenile Reoffending, Fiscal Year 2020

Closing Date

With this solicitation, NIJ, in collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, seeks proposals for rigorous research projects that improve measurement of juvenile reoffending. NIJ encourages applicants to submit proposals for studies that advance knowledge and understanding of juvenile reoffending and aid jurisdictions and juvenile justice agencies in measuring and using juvenile reoffending data appropriately in their efforts to identify priorities, develop...

Longitudinal Research on Delinquency and Crime, Fiscal Year 2020

Closing Date

NIJ is seeking applications for funding to conduct an expansion or extension of one or more ongoing/existing longitudinal research studies that focus on delinquency and crime throughout the life-course of the individual. The research findings are intended to inform efforts to prevent the onset of delinquency and to intervene in the lives of juvenile and young adult offenders.

NIJ FY 11 Research and Evaluation in Crime Control and Prevention: Desistance from Gangs and Gang Related Crime

Closing Date

NIJ is seeking applications to conduct research on selected crime control and prevention topics. This is a directed solicitation that seeks proposals to examine topics relevant to State, local, and/or tribal criminal and juvenile justice policy and practice.

The specific focus area under this solicitation for FY 2011 is desistance from gangs and gang related Crime

NIJ FY 11 Research and Evaluation in Crime Control and Prevention: Police Integrity

Closing Date

NIJ is seeking applications to conduct research on selected crime control and prevention topics. This is a directed solicitation that seeks proposals to examine topics relevant to State, local, and/or tribal criminal and juvenile justice policy and practice.

The specific focus area under this solicitation for FY 2011 is police integrity.

W.E.B DuBois Fellowship Program 2006

Closing Date

The W.E.B. DuBois Fellowship Program seeks to advance the field of knowledge regarding the confluence of crime, justice, and culture in various societal contexts. DuBois Fellows will be asked to focus on policy-relevant questions in a manner that truly reflects their saliency as an integral part of the American past, present, and, increasingly, its future. The Fellowship places particular emphasis on crime, violence, and the...

Research and Evaluation on School Safety, Fiscal Year 2020

Closing Date
This solicitation seeks applications for funding to conduct research to: 1) examine the root causes of school violence, 2) evaluate the effectiveness of the approaches to stopping school violence found in the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) FY 2018 or FY 2019 STOP School Violence Act solicitations; 3) research on the perspectives of STOP School...

Research and Evaluation on Promising Reentry Initiatives, Fiscal Year 2020

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ requests proposals for rigorous research to examine reentry initiatives that incorporate promising practices, strategies, or programs.  NIJ is interested in supporting evaluations of innovative reentry initiatives that focus on offenders with a moderate-to-high risk of reoffending. 

Research and Evaluation on Drugs and Crime, Fiscal Year 2020

Closing Date
NIJ's Drugs and Crime Research Program supports rigorous applied research on evidence-based tools, protocols, and policies for state, tribal, and local law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies that address drug trafficking, drug markets, and drug-related violence. The focus of this research solicitation is narcotics-related criminal investigation, prosecution, intelligence, and community surveillance relevant to law enforcement and medicolegal death investigation activities. The FY2020 solicitation's drug...

Research and Evaluation on Policing, Fiscal Year 2020

Closing Date
With this solicitation, NIJ seeks applications for funding for investigator-initiated, randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies of approaches to the challenges of policing in the United States that address the strategic priorities and objectives identified in NIJ’s Policing Strategic Research Plan, 2017-2022.