Articles Published by NIJ

The Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office has developed a quick method to screen fluids for hundreds of drugs simultaneously, improving workflow.

Sara Walton, Laerissa Reveil, Tyson Baird, and Bailey Jones won prestigious awards at the Society of Forensic Toxicologists 2022 meeting.

The importance of non-targeted testing to keep pace with a rapidly evolving synthetic opioid market.

NIJ-funded researchers developed a novel metric to assess probability that an unknown sample of a drug matches a library sample, with profound implications for standardization of mass spectrometry results.

Illicit opioid supplies can be greatly reduced if distribution networks are disrupted. New research highlights the power of computer modeling and community-based intelligence to reveal network connections.

NIJ’s evaluation of veterans treatment courts is a recent example of applied research under its Courts Research Portfolio, which examines pretrial, prosecution, and sentencing policies; problem-solving courts, and other alternatives to incarceration.

As more states legalize marijuana, the search for better methods of proving and preventing drug impairment on the road accelerates.

Researchers investigated how marijuana affects skills required for safe driving and found that biofluid levels of THC did not correlate with field sobriety test performance or marijuana intoxication, regardless of how the cannabis was ingested.

Integrating forensic evidence into the intelligence process is an evolutionary next step in reducing, disrupting, and preventing violent crime.

The substances tested in cases involving seized drugs are always evolving. By establishing policies on the most critical samples to test and maintaining ongoing communication with stakeholders, laboratories can more efficiently manage a backlog.