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Violent crime

Gun Violence

Law enforcement agencies implement a variety of strategies and methods to combat crime and ensure public safety. Policing strategies extend beyond traditional models of responding to calls for service and often seek to increase crime prevention, intervention, and response effectiveness through such techniques that focus on gun violence prevention and intervention. These strategies are aimed at reducing gun-related crimes and homicides in neighborhoods and communities. ...

Director's Message: Countering Violent Extremism with Research

At NIJ, we are dedicated to conducting and applying research in our efforts to find solutions to criminal justice problems. A great example of that dedication is exhibited in our robust research portfolio on domestic radicalization and countering violent extremism (CVE). NIJ has invested in almost two dozen research projects that aim to 1) understand how and why individuals radicalize to violence and 2) identify promising...

Director's Message: Identifying Alternatives to Exclusionary School Disciplinary Practices

"...it is imperative that we have effective ways of dealing with students’ behavior problems that do not disproportionately impact students of color."

NIJ is committed to investing in developing knowledge to improve the safety of schools. Schools across the U.S. are rightfully concerned about creating and maintaining a safe and stable environment that is conducive to student learning. Educators and policymakers have expressed concern that...

Director's Message: Making Progress on Understanding and Investigating Sexual Assault

While NIJ is proud of the progress we have made, we know there is still a great deal more to be done to improve sexual assault investigations, provide trauma-informed support to victims, and strengthen the efficiency of sexual assault kit testing.

–Nancy Rodriguez

Sexual assault is a traumatic crime with a wide range of impacts on both the victim and public safety. Over the last...

Violent Crime

In a violent crime, a victim is harmed by or threatened with violence. Violent crimes include rape and sexual assault, robbery, assault and murder.

NIJ supports research that strives to understand and reduce the occurrence and impact of violent crimes. This includes describing the scope of these crimes, such as how and when they occur and their consequences. NIJ also supports evaluations of existing programs...