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Every year, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) supports 30 midcareer, research-minded law enforcement professionals to take part in professional development and travel opportunities, network, and contribute to the policing and research communities through the Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Scholars program. The LEADS scholars are both practitioners and researchers. They work in the field while simultaneously striving to evaluate and improve the...
Lieutenant Piotrowski, New Jersey State Police, discusses drug monitoring programs. With this program, his agency collects multiple drug-related data sets to ultimately have an impact on mitigating the impact of drugs in his community. Topics include the benefits of implementing a drug monitoring program, some of the outcomes of the program, and how federal funding can help an agency start such a program.
Lieutenant Piotrowski participated in an NIJ Day panel at the 2019 International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference and Expo.
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NIJ recently celebrated a milestone birthday — 50 years of scientific efforts to advance the field of criminal justice. Now is a great time for us to look back at all that we’ve accomplished. You can read about some of our most groundbreaking research and accomplishments in the 50th Anniversary Issue of the NIJ Journal.
Given all we know, and still don’t know, about...
Meet the 2024 class of scholars.
NIJ typically accepts applications for new scholars in the spring.
The Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Civilians program offers a unique opportunity to engage and partner with other NIJ LEADS Scholars, all of whom are mid-career police officers, fellow civilians, and academics dedicated to advancing the police profession through science.
The program has...
This video, produced for IACPTV, provides an overview of the NIJ Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) program. NIJ LEADS Scholars from Dayton and Newark police departments provide an overview of the LEADS program as they describe their projects and experiences working in the program.
Hear from LEADS scholars Major Wendy Stiver, Dayton Police Department, and Captain Ivonne Roman, Newark Police Department.
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Meet the 2024 class of scholars.
NIJ typically accepts applications for new scholars in the spring.
The Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Academics program offers a unique opportunity for early-career academics to engage and partner with other NIJ LEADS Scholars, all of whom are mid-career police officers, civilians, and fellow academics dedicated to advancing the police profession through science...
This webinar will offer a brief overview of the National Institute of Justice and the data science needs of the criminal justice field. In addition, it will provide details about the Crime Forecasting Challenge, including who can submit, how to retrieve datasets, and the submission categories. The overall goal of the Crime Forecasting Challenge is to harness recent advances in data science to drive innovation in algorithms that advance place-based crime forecasting.
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What does science tell us about case factors that can lead to a wrongful conviction? Dr. Jon Gould of American University will discuss the findings of the first large-scale empirical study that has identified ten statistically significant factors that distinguish a wrongful conviction from a "near miss." (A "near miss" is a case in which an innocent defendant was acquitted or had charges dismissed before trial). Following Dr. Gould's presentation, Mr. John R.
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This video, featuring NIJ Director Nancy Rodriguez and Hassan Aden of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), describes the partnership between NIJ and IACP and how the two organizations are linking what we know about what works in policing to the field.
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This video, featuring NIJ Director Nancy Rodriguez, Hassan Aden of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and two scholars from the 2014 Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) program, describes the LEADS program, how NIJ and IACP are building the next generation of law enforcement leadership, and how the program has benefited the scholars.
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Director Muhlhausen's prepared remarks at the NIJ-hosted Opioid Research Summit.
NIJ Director Muhlhausen
Good morning and welcome to Washington, DC. It’s a privilege to host you here today at the National Institute of Justice. I’m particularly honored to have the Attorney General and the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General with us...
Next week, law enforcement leadership from around the world will attend the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), in Philadelphia. On Saturday, October 21, NIJ will host our 4th annual Saturday Session around the theme “What Works and What Matters in Policing.”
The session will include three panels bringing together law enforcement and academic experts to discuss officer safety, technology...
“Most of what we do has never been tested,” pointed out Dr. Angela Hawken, before going on to explain how her organization, BetaGov, is working to change that through hundreds of rapid-implementation randomized controlled trials (RCTs). BetaGov is an innovation hub out of New York University that supports public sector practitioners conducting evaluations of their programs. Dr. Hawken has a deep research background and is...
Thank you, and good morning. My name is Howard Spivak and I am the Principal Deputy Director of the National Institute of Justice, NIJ.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, NIJ is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. We use science to inform and advance criminal justice policies and practices across the country. To do this, we provide...
Thousands of law enforcement agencies throughout the United States have adopted conducted energy devices (CEDs) as a safe method to subdue individuals, but are these devices really safe? What policies should agencies adopt to ensure the proper use of this technology? This NIJ Conference Panel discusses the physiological effects of electrical current in the human body caused by CEDs, as well as how this technology can reduce injuries to officers and suspects when appropriate policies and training are followed.
Recent events across the country have made calls for criminal justice reform commonplace, and law enforcement in particular has been called upon to increase standards of performance and advance the field as a profession. At the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), we are committed to supporting law enforcement in their efforts to advance policing, and we strongly believe that science can play a pivotal role...
