U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Development

Learning from Doing Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Second Chance Act Grant Program

April 2022

Reauthorized in 2018, the Second Chance Act (SCA) aims to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for people returning from state and federal prisons, local jails, and juvenile facilities through the provision of federal grants. During this panel, National Institute of Justice-funded researchers will detail two ongoing evaluations of the SCA grant program:

  1. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the SCA grant program per Title V of the First Step Act.
  2. A longitudinal examination of the long-term impacts of the SCA program.

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.

NPS Discovery Toolkit

Date Published
April 2022
Publication Type
Technical Assistance, Training, Reference Material
Agencies
NIJ-Sponsored

Desistance: It’s a Process, Not an Event

April 2022
Desistance is the process of individuals ceasing engagement in criminal activity. It may sound simple but it is quite complex, and the more we understand it, the better equipped we are to help accelerate the process before people are incarcerated or once they leave prison or jail. NIJ Journal Editor Beth Pearsall hosts a conversation on this topic with Senior Social Science Analyst Marie Garcia, Senior Advisor Ben Adams, and Social Science Research Analyst Kaitlyn Sill.

NIJ Awards Over $14M to Support Forensic Science Research and Development

On December 17, 2022, NIJ, a component of the Office of Justice Programs, announced $14.4 million in funding to support 30 forensic science research and development projects in fiscal year 2021 under its Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes solicitation. Through its research and development (R&D) grant funding, NIJ continues to advance the speed, accuracy, and reliability of forensic analysis, which...