National 

Institute of 

Justice

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

2000

expanding horizons

rethinking justice

creating tools

understanding the nexus

breaking the 

cycle

Building Knowledge about crime & justice

Research Prospectus
U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

810 Seventh Street N.W.

Washington, DC 20531

Janet Reno

Attorney General

Raymond C. Fisher

Associate Attorney General

Laurie Robinson

Assistant Attorney General

Noël Brennan

Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Jeremy Travis

Director, National Institute of Justice

Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice 

World Wide Web Site World Wide Web Site 

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij

Opinions or points of view expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the 

official position of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also

includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

NCJ 178903
November

1999

Building Knowledge about crime & justice

The 2000 Research

Prospectus of the 

National Institute 

of Justice
Director’s Message

Celebrations in honor of NIJ’s 30th anniversary and the approaching new century and

millennium mark a natural time for the Nation to reflect on where we’ve been and

where we’re going in developing a better understanding of crime. 

Here at the National Institute of Justice, we recall key milestones in our journey to

build a body of knowledge about crime and justice: understanding about criminal

careers, the connection between drugs and crime, the relationships between child

maltreatment and subsequent criminal behavior, and the development of better tools

for law enforcement, such as soft body armor, to name just a few. 

Passage of the Crime Act of 1994 marked another milestone for NIJ. In the last 6

years, we’ve made progressive inroads in our knowledge about violence against

women, community policing, police and corrections officer stress, court-based supervision of drug offenders, and policing technology. 

The next 30 years will offer new opportunities for leadership at the national level and

new challenges for researchers. Topics about which we now know very little are ripe

for further investigation. Transnational crime, cybercrime, and new ways to measure

police performance are examples that come to mind. 

To usher NIJ into the millennium, our annual Research and Evaluation Conference

(scheduled for July 2000) will showcase four volumes of essays that will explore the

past and the future. The collection resounds with ideas that will challenge us in the

future: (1) The continuities and changes in the nature of crime, (2) changes in the

boundaries of criminal justice organizations, (3) changes in decision making and discretion, and (4) measurement and analysis of crime and justice. The distinguished

authors and editorial board reflect these new, broad intellectual perspectives. 

Also in the coming year, NIJ and the Justice Department’s Office of Policy

Development are collaborating on an initiative to critically assess the state of affairs in

key issues of concern for the future. The “21st Century Crime Policy Initiative” is

exploring the following areas: fairness, effectiveness, and public confidence in the

criminal justice system; sentencing and corrections; and technology and crime. NIJ

will host a series of meetings throughout 2000 to address the policy challenges of

these issues and explore the costs and tradeoffs that the public and policymakers

should consider as they make policy choices. 

NIJ hopes that by launching a national discussion about the issues of the day,

researchers, politicians, policymakers, and practitioners will experiment, debate, and

arrive at new policies to meet the emerging challenges. 

Jeremy Travis

Director
2

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

Contents

NIJ’s Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fiscal Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Addressing Strategic Challenges. . . . . . . . . . 5

Rethinking Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Understanding the Nexus . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Breaking the Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Creating the Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Expanding the Horizons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Participating in NIJ Projects 

and Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Investigator-Initiated Research. . . . . . . . 10

Directed Solicitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Communicating Results to the Field . . . . . . 13

Electronic Dissemination . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Information Clearinghouse . . . . . . . . . . 13

Conferences and Seminars. . . . . . . . . . . 13

Strategic Planning Meetings . . . . . . . . . 14
2

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), a

component of the Office of Justice

Programs, is the research and development agency of the U.S. Department of

Justice. 

NIJ was created by the Omnibus Crime

Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as

amended, to support research, evaluation, demonstration programs, development of technology, and both national

and international information dissemination.

Specifically, the Act directs NIJ to:

• Sponsor special projects and

research and development programs

to improve and strengthen the criminal justice system to reduce and

prevent crime. 

• Conduct national demonstration

projects that employ innovative or

promising approaches for improving

criminal justice. 

• Develop new technologies to fight

crime and improve criminal justice.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of criminal

justice programs and identify

promising new programs. 

• Recommend actions that can be

taken by Federal, State, and local

governments as well as by private

organizations to improve criminal

justice.

• Carry out research on criminal

behavior.

• Develop new methods to prevent

crime and reduce delinquency.

Passage of the Violent Crime Control and

Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Crime

Act) infused the Institute with new

research and development priorities.

To respond to the directives outlined in

the Crime Act, NIJ has launched major

activities, many in partnership with

Crime Act offices1

 established by the

Department of Justice and in partnerships with other Federal agencies and

private foundations.

Priorities identified by the Crime Act

include:

• Community policing.

• Violence against women.

• Sentencing and corrections.

• Court-based supervision and services

for drug offenders.

• New technologies. 

The NIJ portfolio of work in progress

now includes more than 907 research,

science and technology development,

and program development projects.

NIJ’s R&D awards in fiscal year 1999

totaled more than 273, representing an

investment by the Institute of nearly

$82 million.

1Crime Act offices are the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the Violence

Against Women Grants Office, the Corrections Program Office, and the Drug Courts Program

Office. For details about NIJ activities in conducting research and evaluation under the Crime Act,

see Criminal Justice Research Under the Crime Act—1995 to 1996, Washington, D.C.: U.S.

Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, September 1997 (NCJ 166142). View or

download a copy through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service’s World Wide Web site

at http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/166142.pdf or obtain a copy by contacting the National Criminal

Justice Reference Service, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849–6000, 800–851–3420, e-mail

askncjrs@ncjrs.org.

NIJ’s Mission
3

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

The Institute’s appropriated budget has

fluctuated significantly, from a high of

$115 million in fiscal year 1974 to a 

low of $22.9 million in fiscal year 

1994 (current dollars). 

In fiscal year 1999, Congress appropriated $46.1 million for core NIJ operations, augmented by transfers of funds

from other Federal agencies and from

Crime Act offices (see exhibit 1). Much

of NIJ’s current research portfolio is 

supported by those transfers, which

fund jointly planned research and evaluation projects. For example, NIJ awards

made in fiscal year 1999 with transferred Crime Act funds accounted for

33 percent of total expenditures by 

the Institute that year (see exhibit 2).

Fiscal Resources

Congressional

Appropriation

Transfers From

Other Agencies

Transfers

From Crime Act

Program Offices

Total Funds

0 20 40 80 100 60 120 140

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

$23

$27

$30

$30 $41

$46

$0.5

$11.1

17.1

$26.3

$34.5

$19.5

N/A $15.6 $51.9

$51.1

$48.6

$45.6

$23.5

$53.7 $99

$100.6

$115.9

$141.5

160

Exhibit 1: Sources of NIJ Funds, in Millions, FY 1994–99
4

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

Exhibit 2: Allocation of NIJ Funds as a Percentage of Total Expenditures,* FY 1999

Crime Act Grants

Includes all awards made

under the 1994 Crime Act.

See also exhibit 3.

Research, Evaluation,

and Development

Includes all research,

evaluation, science and

technology, development,

and visiting fellows projects.

Dissemination

Includes clearinghouse,

publications, and national

and international exchange

of information.

Research, 

and 

Research and

Evaluation

Program Support

Dissemination

Law Enforcement and

Corrections Technology

Support Programs

44%

Crime Act 

Grants

33%

11%

7%

5%

*Total expenditure of $116 million includes NIJ’s 

Evaluation,

Development

base appropriation plus funds transferred from other agencies. 
5

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

NIJ conducts business through multiple

approaches: research and evaluation

activities; identification of innovative

programs and effective policies; and

support for technology development,

demonstration programs, and improvement of research infrastructure. 

Much of the Institute’s work is guided

by five strategic challenges: 

• Rethinking justice and the

processes that create just 

communities.

• Understanding the nexus

between crime and its social context. 

• Breaking the cycle of crime by

testing research-based interventions.

• Creating the tools and technologies that meet the needs of 

practitioners.

• Expanding horizons through 

interdisciplinary and international

perspectives. 

Rethinking Justice

NIJ seeks to foster a national dialog 

on the justice system with the goal of

understanding, conceptually and empirically, where it is now and what directions it will take in the 21st century. 

Several activities are underway to

achieve this goal. One of the newest 

is called COMPASS, which stands for

Community Mapping, Planning, and

Analysis for Safety Strategies. The 

COMPASS initiative has four key components: (1) the development of a data

infrastructure, (2) the convening of an

interagency policy group, (3) the use of

data to pinpoint problems and highlight

potential solutions, and (4) the evaluation of targeted interventions based on

the data infrastructure. 

COMPASS will develop a data infrastructure on community characteristics that

will contain such extant automated data

as employment statistics, land use data,

hospital records, drug use profiles, gun

tracing information, and arrest and victimization statistics. The central database

will be supplemented in various ways,

for example, with surveys of teens or

with asset mapping, that will render rich

details about the community’s needs.

Policymakers and researchers will query

the database using both traditional 

statistical techniques and geographic

information systems (GIS) to determine

the relationship between crime and

other social factors. GIS provides a 

visual picture of the spatial relationship

between crime and its precursors, 

which can be used to pinpoint possible

solutions and can be confirmed by 

more traditional techniques. 

An interagency policy group composed

of local officials (such as the mayor, chief

of police, school superintendent, and

leaders of social service agencies) is

working with a research partner to analyze data and develop appropriate programmatic and policy responses. 

The local research partner plays a key

role in COMPASS implementation by

collecting and analyzing information

and helping design interventions that

effectively respond to a community’s

crime problem. 

The first site to be selected, Seattle

(selected in September 1999), will

Addressing Strategic Challenges

expanding horizons

rethinking justice creating tools understanding the nexus breaking the cycle
6

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

receive up to $1 million in financial and

in-kind assistance for the implementation of the initiative, which will be coordinated by the mayor’s office. 

Understanding the Nexus

Several NIJ programs illustrate the 

effort to understand the nexus between

crime and social conditions: ADAM 

(the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring

program), Violence Against Women 

and Family Violence program, and 

the Project on Human Development 

in Chicago Neighborhoods. 

ADAM. Through this program, NIJ has

transformed and expanded the former

Drug Use Forecasting program, which

for more than 10 years interviewed and

drug-tested booked arrestees at various

sites nationwide. 

ADAM provides local and State drug

policymakers, courts, law enforcement

agencies, treatment providers, and prevention specialists with program planning and policy information that can 

be used to conduct local research and

evaluation projects and to inform local

policy decisions about drug abuse. 

The program is now in place in 35 sites.

Pending approval by Congress and the

President, increased funding will expand

ADAM to encompass 75 cities. 

Violence Against Women and

Family Violence Program. Compared

to other criminal justice topics, the body

of scientific evidence about the nature,

causes, and incidence of violence

against women and family violence is

fairly limited. NIJ’s extensive portfolio 

of research and evaluation in this area

contains both projects funded solely by

NIJ and projects funded through interagency partnerships. The research will

continue to build knowledge about the

effectiveness of the criminal justice 

system’s response to family violence. 

Project on Human Development in

Chicago. Understanding the complexities of family, peer, and neighborhood

influences on criminal behavior is 

the goal of the Project on Human

Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Now in its 5th of 8 years, the

project is leading to answers about both

group and individual behavior in a

social context as it examines how 

individual personalities, family relationships, school environment, and type 

of community interact over time to 

contribute to delinquency, criminal

behavior, and prosocial development. 

Breaking the Cycle

When research uncovers the connections between crime and social conditions—as it did with the connection

between drug abuse and subsequent

criminal behavior—NIJ then experiments

with programs and policies that attempt

to break the linkages. 

Among several efforts related to breaking the cycle of drug abuse and crime

are two that are focused on offenders.

One, the Breaking the Cycle program, is

examining the hypothesis that drug testing of arrestees, mandatory treatment,

and other interventions provided to

offenders with a history of illicit drug use

will reduce their drug abuse and criminal

behavior. The hypothesis is being tested

in three adult and two juvenile court 

systems around the country.

The other, the Residential Substance

Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program,

which NIJ supports in partnership with

the Corrections Program Office, focuses

on incarcerated offenders. Several past

evaluations of corrections-based 
7

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

substance abuse treatment efforts 

indicate that significant reductions in

recidivism rates are possible among

chronic abusing felons. 

NIJ’s portfolio of RSAT grants is evaluating a number of different types of 

drug treatment services to incarcerated

inmates to determine how effective the

programs are in helping offenders break

out of their cycle of drug abuse and

criminal behavior. 

Creating the Tools

One of NIJ’s missions is to develop, 

test, and evaluate new and transferable

techniques, practices, and technologies

that address practitioners’ needs. To

ensure that criminal justice practitioners

will benefit from its investments, NIJ

regularly consults with approximately

100 practitioners and policymakers who 

are members of the Law Enforcement

and Corrections Technology Advisory

Council (LECTAC). NIJ then translates

the LECTAC recommendations into a

cohesive research and development

agenda. 

Projects that create tools for practitioners include ones that are looking for

technology to improve communication

so jurisdictions can talk to one another,

technology to detect concealed

weapons, alternatives that will make

high-speed pursuit safer, and improved

computer-based training methods. 

DNA. One tool—the use of forensic

DNA techniques—has already made 

a fundamental impact on the way law

enforcement investigations are conducted. DNA testing is making it possible 

to convict many more criminals and

exonerate innocent suspects earlier. 

NIJ is overseeing direction of the

National Commission on the Future of

DNA Evidence, which was established

by Attorney General Janet Reno to recommend courses of action and means

to improve the use of DNA technology

in the investigation of criminal cases.

Crime Mapping. Mapping is another

tool that is reshaping the way public

safety agencies do business. It allows

communities to look at their problems

Crime Mapping Research Center

Crime mapping permits exploration of spatial and temporal dimensions of

crime and enhances the ability to see crime in the context of other social

forces, such as income distribution, health care, transportation systems, and

demographic patterns.

The researchers and technical specialists in NIJ’s Crime Mapping Research

Center serve State and local law enforcement and corrections practitioners

through:

• Research, including fellowships, staff-conducted research, and grants.

• Evaluation of current and best practices.

• Development of training programs, a national geocoded data archive, 

and new analytic software.

• Information, technical assistance, and instructional components involving

hands-on training workshops, conferences, a Web site, and a listserv.
8

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

and formulate potential solutions 

in new ways. NIJ established the Crime

Mapping Research Center in 1996 as a

partnership between NIJ’s Office of

Research and Evaluation and Office of

Science and Technology (see Crime

Mapping Research Center). The Center

is headquartered at NIJ in Washington,

D.C., and coordinates its efforts with

the National Law Enforcement and

Corrections Technology Center (see

National Law Enforcement and

Corrections Technology Center).

Standards Development. NIJ 

pioneered the development of some 

of the technologies and product 

standards that are now commonplace

in criminal justice—for example, soft

body armor and advances in the use 

National Law Enforcement 

and Corrections Technology Center

NIJ’s National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center

(NLECTC) system focuses on specific technologies within a linked web of

centers serving law enforcement, corrections, and other criminal justice professionals.

NLECTC consists of a national headquarters (in Rockville, Maryland) and four

regional centers (in Rome, New York; Charleston, South Carolina; Denver,

Colorado; and El Segundo, California) that are colocated with an organization or agency specializing in at least one specific area of research and

development. 

NLECTC provides assistance and information on:

• Specific products and technology developments. 

• How to assess technology needs and transfer technology. 

• Where to get more information about specific types of technology. 

Each regional center has its own local advisory committee that provides

input from State and local agencies.

NIJ also supports the Border Research and Technology Center in San Diego,

California, which focuses on developing and enhancing border research and

technology, and the Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization in Wheeling, West Virginia, which evaluates technologies for commercialization and promotes such opportunities with manufacturers and

technology developers. 

The newest addition to the NLECTC system is the National Center for

Forensic Science in Orlando, Florida, which will draw upon the expertise of

its host facility, the University of Central Florida, and focus on arson and

explosives research.

The NLECTC Web page, JUSTNET, can be accessed at http://www.nlectc.org.
9

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

of DNA science in forensics. The 

development of standards and the 

testing of equipment against these 

standards will continue to be a major

part of NIJ’s science and technology

program. 

Expanding the Horizons

NIJ is committed to looking beyond 

traditional boundaries—both geographic and intellectual—to develop a

full understanding of crime and justice

issues. Criminal enterprises and activities

have extended their reach beyond

national borders, presenting new 

challenges for criminal justice systems

around the world. It is becoming more

common for crime emanating from

other countries to touch American lives. 

International Center. To respond 

to the globalization of crime, the 

National Institute of Justice created 

the International Center in 1997. The

Center fosters dialog among American

researchers, practitioners, and policymakers and their counterparts in other

countries.

The mission of the International Center

is fourfold: to stimulate, facilitate, evaluate, and disseminate both national and

international criminal justice research

and information.

Specific activities include: 

• The International ADAM program, a

partnership among criminal justice

organizations in a number of countries that is providing a framework

for global assessment of drug use

and for strengthening nations’ 

drug control policies and their 

coordination. 

• The International Visiting Fellowship

program.

• The International Visitor program,

which in 1998 hosted 117 visitors

from 34 countries. 

• The United Nations Crime and

Criminal Justice program, which links

14 research organizations through

annual meetings and an electronic

network. 

• Research partnerships between 

U.S. and foreign-based researchers. 

Multidisciplinary Partnerships. NIJ 

also expands its horizons through its

many multidisciplinary partnerships in

research, evaluation, and technology.

The wider research community of educators, public health specialists, engineers, and psychologists, for example,

are contributing their paradigms and

insights into what works in criminal 

justice. 

Many fields touch criminal justice.

Research that starts as social or forensic

science often evolves to include epidemiology, technology, geography, 

psychology, life-course studies, and 

prevention research, and NIJ is taking

advantage of these natural collaborative

efforts. 

Some of NIJ’s research partners 

include scientists and policymakers at

the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention; the National Institutes of

Health; and the U.S. Departments of

Defense, State, Transportation, and

Commerce.
10

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

NIJ makes its research interests known

through competitive solicitations that

are announced on the NIJ Web page

(http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij) and in

the Federal Register and the Commerce

Business Daily. Information also is 

available from the DOJ Response 

Center at 800–421–6770. 

As a science agency, NIJ is firmly 

committed to a competitive process 

awarding grants and contracts to

researchers, laboratories, and supporting organizations. 

Successful applicants for NIJ funds 

must demonstrate to independent 

peer review panels that (1) the gap in

knowledge they propose to fill is critical

to understanding crime and justice and

is highly relevant to policy, (2) the proposed research design is rigorous, and

(3) the proposed researchers are highly

qualified to execute that design within 

a reasonable budget. 

NIJ’s staff-conducted research program

must meet these same rigorous standards of peer review, budget review,

and policy relevance. 

NIJ’s extramural research program consists of two types of funding strategies:

solicitations for investigator-initiated

research and directed, or specific,

research. 

Each year, NIJ publishes a list of 

awards made during the fiscal year 

(see NIJ Awards in Fiscal Year 1999, NCJ

179016) and a list of ongoing grants

made during previous years (see NIJ

Research Portfolio, 4th Edition, NCJ

179017).

Investigator-Initiated

Research

Researchers may propose their own

study concepts in NIJ’s open competition for grants, called “InvestigatorInitiated Solicitations.” These solicitations conceptualize broad criminal 

justice themes for investigators to 

consider, including both the social 

sciences and the physical sciences, 

but virtually any criminal justice topic

may be proposed. 

Typically, grants under this type of 

solicitation range between $25,000 

and $300,000 and last for 1 to 2 years. 

NIJ actively encourages applicants from

a broad variety of disciplines so that 

the resulting research reflects different

approaches to the challenges of crime

and justice. 

Directed Solicitations

NIJ identifies specific areas of interest in

its “Directed Solicitations.” Often, NIJ’s

directed solicitations are developed in

partnership with another Federal

agency with a related interest in the

topic. For example, the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention has

partnered with NIJ on solicitations

directed at violence against women. 

The amount of funds available for 

solicitations varies from year to year 

and depends on decisions made by

Congress regarding NIJ’s appropriations. 

After enactment of the 1994 Crime Act,

the Department of Justice decided it

would evaluate and conduct basic

Participating in NIJ Projects 

and Programs

direct solicitations

investigator-initiated research http://www. ojp.usdoj.gov/nij 800–421–6770
11

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

research on each of the major Crime

Act initiatives to help guide policy and

practice in the future (see “Crime Act

Initiatives” and exhibit 3). Many of NIJ’s

directed solicitations are linked to Crime

Act initiatives.

Crime Act Initiatives

NIJ’s research agenda related to the Crime Act has focused on violence against

women, drug courts, sentencing, corrections, and policing and law enforcement. 

Violence Against Women. NIJ is supporting an extensive portfolio of basic research

and program evaluation on issues ranging from arrest policies and rural domestic 

violence to child victimization and batterer intervention. A large proportion of the

portfolio is funded in collaboration with other Federal agencies. 

Courts, Sentencing, and Corrections. NIJ’s ongoing partnership with the

Department of Justice offices created with passage of the Crime Act has been 

especially productive. The commitment of NIJ and the Corrections Program Office,

for example, to enhance local research capacity by building researcher-practitioner

partnerships has generated numerous researcher-practitioner teams. These teams

are working to improve models to predict institutional capacity, develop techniques

to estimate the health-care needs of corrections populations, validate correctional

classification instruments, and develop standard research protocols to determine 

the effectiveness of varied drug treatments. 

Additional grants funded under the Violent Offender Incarceration/Truth-inSentencing Program (Title II, subtitle A) include examinations of the impact of

changes in State sentencing practices. The RSAT program, which has provided an

extensive set of both process and outcome evaluations of the correctional drug treatment programs, also is funded through the program. The RSAT program contributes

to understanding about the kinds of programs implemented, the clients served, and

barriers to implementation. The outcome evaluations will examine the extent to

which participation in drug treatment has a positive effect on postrelease outcomes. 

The Drug Court Program Office and NIJ continue to cooperatively fund several evaluations of drug courts. Projects are underway in almost 20 sites. The evaluations are

documenting the development of this type of court and creating a foundation for

subsequent outcome evaluations. Furthermore, they are developing a conceptual

model for describing this judicial innovation. 

Policing and Law Enforcement. NIJ’s Corrections and Law Enforcement Family

Support Program, created by Title XXI of the Crime Act, is supporting research, 

evaluation, and demonstration programs to reduce job-related stress and its 

consequences for law enforcement and corrections personnel and their families. 

The Crime Act has supported a significant investment in research and evaluation 

on and development of new technology to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, including funds to improve State-operated 

DNA laboratories and technology and techniques for responding to domestic 

counterterrorism.
12

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

Exhibit 3: Allocation of NIJ Crime Act Funds by R&D Area, in Millions, FY 1999

Policing

Violence Against Women

Sentencing and Corrections

Law Enforcement

Family Support

Law Enforcement

Technology

DNA Laboratory

Improvement

Residential Substance

Abuse Treatment

$20.0

$1.5

$15.0

$2.4

$2.2

$2.0

$1.8
13

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

Congress has directed NIJ to disseminate findings from its research, development, and demonstration activities to

policymakers and practitioners at all 

levels of government, to the research

community, and to the general public. 

NIJ uses a variety of mechanisms to 

fulfill this congressional mandate: 

the World Wide Web, traditional print

media, videotapes, conferences, and 

a clearinghouse of information—the

National Criminal Justice Reference

Service (NCJRS). 

To contribute to the national dialog 

on the justice system, NIJ will publish a

series of volumes, called Criminal Justice

2000, that will foster greater understanding, both conceptually and 

empirically, of the state of our knowledge and the directions it will take in

the 21st century.

Electronic Dissemination

Electronic means of communicating

have come to play a larger role in NIJ’s

communications strategy, with NIJ’s

Web page as its central component.

(See “NIJ Online Resources.”) Visitors 

to the Web page can get information

about funding opportunities, browse

through and download publications,

and learn more about NIJ’s programs

and products. 

Information Clearinghouse

In conjunction with the other agencies

within the Office of Justice Programs,

NIJ disseminates findings (via electronic

means and traditional mechanisms)

through the Nation’s largest clearinghouse of information. The National

Criminal Justice Reference Service 

maintains an electronic library 

of more than 145,000 abstracts of 

documents related to crime and justice

and features a sophisticated online

search engine. 

Conferences and Seminars

NIJ provides a number of opportunities

each year for personal contact and

exchange of information among the

various criminal justice professions. For

example, dialog between researchers

and practitioners is fostered at an annual Research and Evaluation Conference,

which typically draws more than 800

participants to learn more about findings of NIJ-supported research, and an

annual Science and Technology conference, which showcases developments 

in the physical sciences related to crime

and justice. Hundreds of police managers, crime analysts, geographers, 

and researchers also attend NIJ’s annual

crime mapping research conference,

which features numerous panels and

workshops conducted by leading

experts. 

In addition, NIJ representatives exhibit

at approximately 175 conferences a

year, answering questions and distributing reports and other research and 

evaluation material. 

In 2000, NIJ will continue its popular

Research in Progress seminars and

Perspectives on Crime and Justice 

lectures. At the Research in Progress

seminars, researchers describe their

Communicating Results to the Field

electronic dissemination

information clearinghouse

conferences and seminars

strategic planning meetings
14

NIJ Research Prospectus 2000

ongoing projects and present preliminary findings. The Perspectives on

Crime and Justice lecture series brings

nationally recognized scholars to

Capitol Hill to discuss research perspectives on the challenges of 

contemporary crime and justice 

issues policymakers face. 

Strategic Planning

Meetings

To help shape NIJ’s research, development, and evaluation agenda, NIJ sponsors a number of planning meetings

each year. In 1999, for example, more

than 50 researchers, administrators, 

and practitioners from all over the

country attended a meeting to delineate successful, collaborative, and 

interdisciplinary responses to child

abuse. The meeting was cosponsored

by NIJ, the Office of Juvenile Justice 

and Delinquency Prevention, and 

the Office of Community Oriented

Policing Services.

Such strategic planning meetings help

NIJ stay in touch with the researchers,

practitioners, and policymakers who 

are in daily contact with the people 

and issues of the criminal justice system.

NIJ Online Resources

NIJ Web Page:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij

Funding opportunities, publications,

programs, and products 

National Criminal Justice

Reference Service (NCJRS):

http://www.ncjrs.org

Information clearinghouse for the

Office of Justice Programs 

Justice Technology Information

Network (JUSTNET):

http://www.nlectc.org

Technology programs and products

JUSTINFO.NET: 

http://www.justinfo.net

Forum that works with the United

Nations Crime Prevention and

Criminal Justice Programme

Network

National Archive of Criminal

Justice Data (NACJD):

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/nacjd

Information about data collections

from NIJ-funded studies

NIJ Crime Mapping 

Research Center:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/cmrc

Online site for information about

crime mapping 

PAVNET Online:

http://www.pavnet.org

Partnerships Against Violence

Network (PAVNET) 

Other useful electronic sources:

JUSTINFO, the bimonthly free online

newsletter from NCJRS, is delivered

via e-mail. To subscribe, send an 

e-mail message to listproc@ncjrs.org

and in the body of your message,

type “subscribe justinfo,” and 

your name.
For more information about the National Institute of

Justice and to obtain an electronic version of this

report, please visit NIJ’s World Wide Web site at

http://www.ojp.usdoj/nij or contact:

National Criminal Justice Reference Service

P.O. Box 6000

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

Phone: 800–851–3420 or 301–519–5500

E-mail: askncjrs@ncjrs.org