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As colleges and universities across the country begin a new academic year, I want to discuss one of my high-priority goals — supporting the research activities of new and emerging scholars. These creative thinkers from a variety of disciplines are proposing innovative ideas to study and solve criminal justice problems. I am proud to offer my support in the form of fellowships and research assistantships...
The National Institute of Justice’s Research Efforts Help Officers Rely on Their Equipment, Policies, and Procedures.
Our nation’s law enforcement officers are put in dangerous and stressful situations every day as they protect and serve their communities. Some of these dangers, such as gun violence, are obvious; whereas others, such as officer fatigue, are a hidden yet significant risk to an officer’s well-being.
As we...
This NIJ Conference Panel highlights findings from NIJ projects that evaluated strategies to enhance the supervision of offenders in the community. Researchers discuss the effectiveness of fair, swift and certain sanctions for high-risk probationers in the Hawaii HOPE program. Panelists also provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of electronic monitoring — including the use of GPS tracking — for medium- and high-risk offenders on supervision and upon completion of their supervision sentence.
Since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, a majority of the more than 250 research and evaluation studies funded by NIJ examined domestic violence issues. This research has been collected in the Compendium of Research on Violence Against Women, which includes an abstract of each grant and the results of completed studies.
NIJ Conference Panel
The management of sexual offenders in the community post-release is an issue of increasing concern to law enforcement, policymakers and the public. In recent years, efforts to strengthen registration and notification have been enhanced. At the same time, comparatively little attention has been paid to related matters, such as how residency restrictions may impact offenders' efforts to find stable work and living arrangements once they are released from prison, whether rates of recidivism have changed, and whether these policies increase the safety of potential victims.
Law enforcement investigations close cases and can prevent new crimes from occurring. Training in research-based investigative procedures and access to tools and resources can help law enforcement officers carry out successful investigations.
NIJ research enhances the forensic aspects of investigations and supports the creation and maintenance of investigative resources, such as manuals, databases and training courses.
NIJ has funded research in several areas relevant to...
Because of the varied nature of crime, police operations must be diverse and flexible. Police must be able to react to situations that range from a threat of explosives to a fleeing suspect. During these operations, officers need tools and training to be as effective and as safe as possible.
NIJ supports research and development on new technologies that will aid police operations, whether by...
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Identifying the needs of criminal justice practitioners and agencies plays a critical role in how NIJ sets its agenda.
A need is a capability gap...
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I recently discussed NIJ’s research on the use of body-worn cameras in a short video about the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s body-worn camera toolkit. Because this technology has been front and center in the national discussion, I thought it was important for me to remind viewers that, to date, there has been little scientific research to help law enforcement executives and other officials decide whether...
Through the Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Initiative, the National Institute of Justice supports law enforcement using data and research to inform effective policies and practices.
Police-led research has never been more important. Increasingly, law enforcement agencies are expected to implement evidence-based practices to improve policing in a safe and just manner. As budget constraints force departments to invest wisely in courses of...
Forensic examinations involving specific forensic science disciplines are typically dependent upon qualitative analyses and expert interpretation of observed patterns based on a scientific foundation, rather than quantitative results. These disciplines include latent fingerprints, questioned documents, footwear, and other forms of impression and pattern evidence.
NIJ's is dedicated to the development of knowledge and tools that will advance policing operations and practices to deliver policing services to communities more effectively and efficiently. The National Institute of Justice has been a leader in developing and advancing the research agenda for policing.
On this page, find links to articles, awards, events, publications, and multimedia related to law enforcement and policing.
