U.S. flag

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

Research and development

Director Nancy La Vigne’s Vision

Portrait of NIJ Director Nancy La Vigne, Ph.D.
Nancy La Vigne, Ph.D., was appointed by President Biden in March 2022.

It’s a tremendous honor to have been appointed by President Biden to lead NIJ earlier this year. My charge is to direct the Justice Department’s chief science agency, promoting research, technology development, and evaluation rooted in the social, forensic, and physical sciences.

I believe that scientific evidence has an essential role in promoting a fair, equitable, and effective justice system and improving public safety for...

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.