Victims of crime

A deeper understanding of the trauma experienced by people of color and its impact on their experience in the criminal justice system provides the ability to improve sexual assault investigations and victim services for survivors of color.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on November 29, 2018.

The Houston Area Women’s Center’s & Houston Police Department’s experiences will provide attendees greater insight into how collaboration across community- and systems-based advocacy can enhance law enforcement’s response to sexual assault survivors.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on April 25, 2019.

Listening to the experiences of sexual assault survivors is an important step to fully understand how the criminal justice system plays a pivotal role in a survivor’s journey to recovery from the mental and physical impact of sexual assault.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on May 2, 2019.

This workshop explores approaches for engaging survivors of sexual assault from a trauma-informed, victim-centered perspective thus supporting recommendations #2 and #22 of the NIJ’s National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

This workshop explores approaches for engaging survivors of sexual assault from a trauma-informed, victim-centered perspective thus supporting recommendations #2 and #22 of the NIJ’s National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on communities across the nation and significantly affected various aspects of individuals’ lives. One of the negative impacts was an increase in gender-based violence accompanied by shifting barriers to accessing services and support. Victims and victim service providers faced various challenges dealing with the increase in need for services, navigating barriers to help-seeking, and addressing logistical issues.

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.

This webinar features a discussion of previously published research on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Booker decision - which effectively transformed the United States Sentencing Guidelines from a mandatory, to an advisory, system. The presentation will address selected research findings from the last 15 years. Individual participants will briefly review their previous research findings with particular attention paid to the analytic methods used.

In this full thematic panel, renowned experts will present a series of papers summarizing the newest findings of NIJ-funded research projects on criminal offenses with firearms in urban areas. Researchers used various criminological and other theories, including routine activity theory, socio-ecological and socio-environmental perspectives, and advanced mixed-study methods, including surveys and spatio-temporal designs, to produce scientific evidence to inform practice.

At this Research for the Real World seminar, NIJ brought together law enforcement practitioners and leading researchers in the field of stress to discuss the current research evidence and practical benefits of targeted stress-management interventions and how they can promote officer mental wellness.

Dr. Campbell brings together research on the neurobiology of trauma and the criminal justice response to sexual assault. She explains the underlying neurobiology of traumatic events, its emotional and physical manifestation, and how these processes can impact the investigation and prosecution of sexual assaults. Real-world, practical implications are examined for first responders, such as law enforcement, nurses, prosecutors, and advocates.

Research tells us that a relatively small fraction of individuals experience a large proportion of violent victimizations. Thus, focusing on reducing repeat victimization might have a large impact on total rates of violence. However, research also tells us that most violent crime victims do not experience more than one incident during a six-month or one-year time period. As a result, special policies to prevent repeat violence may not be cost-effective for most victims.

Professor Rosenbaum and a panel of colleagues discuss a study to demonstrate the feasibility of creating a foundation from which to launch studies about multiple aspects of policing using standardized definitions and measurement tools. Their goal is to advance knowledge about policing and translate data into evidence-based best practices that improve training, supervision and accountability systems. The effort is expected to produce a better understanding of what motivates police officers and makes them healthier, happier and more effective.