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Threat assessment

2023 NIJ Research Conference Opening Ceremony

August 2023

The theme of NIJ’s 2023 Research Conference was “evidence to action,” and our goal was to bring researchers and practitioners together to learn about the latest research evidence and how it can be implemented to promote safety, equity, and justice.

The opening ceremony included remarks from U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Amy Solomon, and NIJ Director Nancy La Vigne.

Redefining Trauma-Informed Assessments for Teen Dating Violence: An Introduction to the VIP Study

February 2022

Mandates for risk assessment protocols to be trauma-informed are now common across juvenile justice and school settings. However, there is little direction on how to best translate this mandate into evidence-based screening and assessment tools. This presentation will describe the theoretical model underpinning the Vulnerability, Impairment, and Promotive factors (VIP) Study, which seeks to offer an alternative to existing risk assessment approaches in vulnerable adolescents.

Increasing Rigorous Evaluation of Interventions to Reduce Gender-based Violence Victimization

March 2022

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) and its re-authorizations mandated several research efforts that stimulated a dramatic enhancement to violence against women research supported by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). This legislation has supported federal, state, local, and private partners in implementing policies and programs and conducting research directly related to gender-based violence. However, questions remain about the effectiveness of those mandates. This brown bag will discuss the gaps and challenges to evaluating gender-based violence interventions.

The Science of School Safety

August 2022

Gun violence may be the most discussed topic surrounding school safety, but it is by no means the only one. Bullying, school climate, and mental health affect students across the country, and are some of the many other issues that NIJ researches. Mary Poulin Carlton, an NIJ social science analyst, joins host Paul Haskins to discuss these and other important school safety issues.

Reading and Resources from the National Institute of Justice: