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Over the past few years, high-profile events have demonstrated the complexity and dangerous nature of corrections, and highlighted the difficulty of crafting comprehensive policy solutions. There are many factors at play that are outside of the control of the corrections system: who is sent to a facility, how long they stay, why they...
I started my tenure at NIJ with a commitment to getting out into the field to ensure NIJ stays connected. And I restate that commitment here.
From my very first day as the Director of the National Institute of Justice, I have made elevating the role of the practitioner a priority in everything we do. Our research must be connected to and serve the needs...
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.
One of NIJ’s most crucial tasks as a science agency is making decisions about which research proposals to fund. I’m pleased to report that for fiscal year 2015, NIJ made over $156 million in grant awards to more than 210 research projects. These awards reflect NIJ’s commitment to funding rigorous research that helps practitioners and policymakers make criminal justice decisions based on sound scientific evidence...
Frequent readers of the Director’s Corner are well aware of my commitment to strengthening NIJ’s scientific endeavors while also strengthening the science that supports the criminal justice system. By advancing multidisciplinary research, connecting researchers and practitioners, and encouraging diversity in our investments, NIJ will be better able to inform our nation’s police officers, judges, lawyers, corrections officers, and policymakers of...
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.
For most of my academic life, I have had an interest in corrections issues, especially the impact of incarceration on families and communities. When I arrived at NIJ, I was excited to be part of a national effort to reform sentencing and incarceration policies, including the use of solitary confinement.
As the nation examines administrative segregation, NIJ’s role will be to do what we do...
A strong, active science staff is the foundation of a federal science agency, and NIJ is home to a well-trained, multidisciplinary science staff with background and advanced training in numerous fields relevant to the criminal justice system. Such expertise can be useful in many powerful ways. It is essential, for example, in guiding NIJ’s research portfolios; developing new programs of research that capture the lessons...
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...
