Research and development

On September 27, 2024, NIJ announced $13.6 million in new funding to support 24 projects under the “FY24 Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes” solicitation. Through this program, NIJ continues to advance the speed, accuracy, and reliability of forensic analysis, which bolsters the administration of justice.

Funding Highlights for Fiscal Year 2024

Since 2009, NIJ has invested over...

On September 20, 2024, NIJ announced $1.1 million in funding to support three new projects under its Research and Evaluation for the Testing and Interpretation of Physical Evidence in Publicly Funded Forensic Laboratories (Public Labs R&E) program. Through its forensic science research funding, NIJ continues to improve the examination and interpretation of physical evidence across the community of practice through identification of the most efficient...

Forensic Biology involves the collection, study, and analysis of biological material on evidence from crime scenes to provide unbiased, scientific reports for a criminal or civil court case to give a better understanding of the crime that occurred. Historically, one of the earliest forensic biologists was Sir Alec Jeffreys in 1985 using DNA fingerprinting or DNA typing to individually identify humans.[1] He targeted variable...