Strengthening the National Institute of Justice
Charles F. Wellford, Betty M. Chemers, and Julie A. Schuck, Editors
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. 2007-IJ-CX-0001 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Justice. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2010). Strengthening the National Institute of Justice. Committee on Assessing the Research Program of the National Institute of Justice, C.F. Wellford, B.M. Chemers, and J.A. Schuck, Editors. Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine
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The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
COMMITTEE ON ASSESSING THE RESEARCH PROGRAM OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE
CHARLES F. WELLFORD (Chair),
Department of Criminology, University of Maryland
GEORGE F. SENSABAUGH, JR. (Vice Chair),
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
CHARLES E. ANDERSON, JR.,
Engineering Dynamics Department, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
ROBERT D. CRUTCHFIELD,
Department of Sociology, University of Washington
JOEL S. ENGEL,
JSE Consulting, Armonk, New York
JOHN L. HAGAN,
Department of Sociology, Northwestern University
ADELE V. HARRELL, Independent Consultant,
Washington, DC
DAVID D. JENSEN,
Knowledge Discovery Library, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
TRACEY L. MEARES,
Yale Law School
EDWIN MEESE III,
Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC
DANIEL S. NAGIN, H.J.
Heinz School of Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
ALEX R. PIQUERO,
College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University
CHARLES H. RAMSEY,
Philadelphia Police Department
MARY ANN SAAR, Independent Consultant,
Baltimore
JAY A. SIEGEL,
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis
CAROL H. WEISS,
Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University
BETTY M. CHEMERS, Study Director
CAROL PETRIE, Director,
Committee on Law and Justice
JULIE ANNE SCHUCK, Research Associate
JACQUELINE R. SOVDE, Program Associate
COMMITTEE ON LAW AND JUSTICE
JAMES Q. WILSON (Chair),
University of California, Los Angeles
PHILIP J. COOK (Vice Chair),
Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University
CARL C. BELL,
Community Mental Health Council, Inc., Chicago
ROBERT D. CRUTCHFIELD,
Department of Sociology, University of Washington
GARY LaFREE,
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland
JANET L. LAURITSEN,
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri, St. Louis
GLENN C. LOURY,
Department of Economics, Brown University
CHARLES F. MANSKI,
Department of Economics, Northwestern University
TRACEY L. MEARES,
Yale Law School
TERRIE E. MOFFITT,
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University
RUTH D. PETERSON,
Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice Research Center, Ohio State University
ROBERT J. SAMPSON,
Department of Sociology, Harvard University
JEREMY TRAVIS,
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
DAVID WEISBURD,
Department of Administration of Justice, Center for Evidence Based Crime Policy, George Mason University
PAUL K. WORMELI,
IJIS Institute, Ashburn, Virginia
JANE L. ROSS, Acting Director
BETTY M. CHEMERS, Senior Program Officer
LINDA DEPUGH, Administrative Assistant
Preface
Experience strongly suggests that few people or organizations seek public assessments of their performance. This is especially true for government agencies, for which the consequences of such reviews can be painful and seldom seem to result in agency enhancements. It was therefore both surprising and exciting when the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) asked the National Research Council (NRC) to conduct an assessment of its operations, research, and impact. Although NIJ was prompted to seek this review by the requirements of the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) process and the results of some assessments by the Government Accountability Office, the agency’s genuine interest in having a comprehensive and objective assessment impressed me as well as the other members of the committee. Having worked at NIJ for a year following completion of my graduate work and in a number of different capacities over the years since then, I knew how important the decision of the NIJ leadership to seek this review was to the committee’s ability to conduct the assessment.
While the committee received admirable cooperation from NIJ and other components of the U.S. Department of Justice, the reader will see that our assessment was at times limited by the absence of basic data describing NIJ’s work and accomplishments. Time and again, information that any effective agency would be expected to maintain as part of its review of its operations was difficult to access or not available. We detail these problems in the report and call for changes in management and record-keeping that, if implemented, will mean that future assessments will not face this problem.
A vibrant and effective federal research agency addressing issues of crime and justice continues to be vital to an improved ability to reduce crime and increase justice. The committee concluded this after a careful review of NIJ and a consideration of the role that other federal, state, and nonprofit organizations can and do play in advancing knowledge about crime and justice. Nothing in this report should be construed to suggest otherwise. We expect there will be debate about some of our recommendations, but there should be no debate on whether an NIJ is important to facing the “challenge of crime in a free society.”
This report is the product of collective contributions. We could not have completed our work without the assistance of the NRC staff who provided wise counsel as well as invaluable support in drafting our report, and of numerous scholars, practitioners, policy officials, and program mangers who met with the committee and provided the information, data, and research necessary for our assessment.
We are grateful for the involvement of staff from NIJ. The director, deputy directors, and division chiefs briefed the committee on their programs and fielded numerous questions. These staff included David Hagy, director; Marc Caplan, chief, Operational Technologies Division; Christine Crossland, acting chief, Violence and Victimization Research Division; Thomas Feucht, executive science advisor and previous director of the Office of Research and Evaluation; William Ford, acting chief, Information and Sensor Technology Division; Nancy Merritt, chief, Justice Systems Research Division; John Morgan, director, Office of Science and Technology; Winifred Reed, chief, Crime Control and Prevention Research Division; Mike Sheppo, chief, Investigative and Forensics Sciences Division; Cindy Smith, chief, International Center, Office of the Director; and Edwin Zedlewski, senior science advisor. We also recognize the NIJ staff that assisted the committee in assembling documents and data on the agency and clarifying information on their programs. These included Portia Graham, associate director, Office of Operations; Jolene Hernon, director, Office of Communications; Angela Moore Parmley, acting director, Office of Research and Evaluation; John Picarelli, social science analyst; and George Tillery, associate director, Office of Science and Technology. A special note of thanks goes to Patrick Clark, senior social science analyst, and Karen Stern, social science analyst, who served as the NIJ liaisons to the committee.
We also thank the many individuals who served as presenters and discussants at our meetings and provided perspective on NIJ from the field as well as inside the Department of Justice. These included Richard Thornburgh, former U.S. Attorney General (1988-1991); Janet Reno, former U.S. Attorney General (1993-2001); Alfred Blumstein, J. Erik Jonsson university professor, urban systems and operations research, Carnegie Mellon
University; Charles Bostian, alumni distinguished professor, electrical and computer engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University; Ronnie Earle, district attorney, Travis County, Texas; Michael J. Farrell, deputy commissioner, New York City Police Department; Jeff Frazier, global justice and public safety director, Cisco Systems, Inc.; Bruce Goldberger, professor, toxicology, University of Florida College of Medicine and ex officio trustee of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; Martin F. Horn, commissioner, Corrections and Probation, New York City; Gary LaFree, professor, criminology and criminal justice and director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland; John M. Pellegrino, director, Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, U.S. Army Research Laboratory; Richard Rosenfeld, professor, criminology and criminal justice, University of Missouri; David G. Ross, former circuit court judge, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Maryland; and Howard Silver, executive director, Consortium of Social Science Associations.
We are particularly grateful that several former Department of Justice officials took time out of their schedules to meet with committee members. We thank former NIJ directors Sarah Hart, James K. Stewart, and Jeremy Travis for their perspectives on challenges facing NIJ as well as NIJ’s role in priority setting and dissemination, and former assistant attorneys general, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Deborah Daniels and Laurie Robinson for their perspectives, respectively, on the need for a criminal justice research institute and on transition activities of the new administration and their effect on NIJ. Laurie Robinson, at the time she briefed the committee, was director, Master of Science in Criminology Program at the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, and has since been reappointed as assistant attorney general, OJP.
We also received briefings from agency directors and program division directors of several federal research agencies. We thank those individuals who provided perspective on the roles and responsibilities of a research agency: Wilson Compton, director, Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research, National Institute of Drug Abuse; Rolf Dietrich, deputy director, Research Division, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Christopher Doyle, director, Infrastructure and Geophysical Division, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Naomi Goldstein, director, Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Wayne Goodman, director, Division of Adult Translational Research, National Institute of Mental Health; Patricia Gruber, director of research, Office of Naval Research; Susan Haire, project officer, Law and Science Program, National Science Foundation; Ralph Hingson, acting director, and Vivian Faden, deputy director, Division of Epidemiology and Prevention, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; David Lightfoot, assistant director, Social,
Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate, National Science Foundation; Richard Nakamura, deputy director, National Institute of Mental Health; Kevin Neary, deputy assistant secretary for research, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Monitoring, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Lynn Okagaki, commissioner, National Center for Education Research, U.S. Department of Education; Georgeanne Patmios, assistant director, Division of Behavioral and Social Research, National Institute on Aging; Norka Ruiz Bravo, director, Office of Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health; Eric Steel, director, Program Office, National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Grover (Russ) Whitehurst, director, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
In addition to these public briefings, we reviewed published literature and legislation, documents assembled by NIJ, as well as reports prepared for the committee. We were thankful to have the opportunity to review a report on the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data submitted by Kaye Marz, archive manager, and Christopher D. Maxwell, associate research scientist, from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan. We are also grateful to Nicola Smith, University of Maryland, who prepared a report on NIJ’s graduate research and W.E.B. Du Bois fellowship programs and assisted the committee in our citation analyses. We thank Scott McBride and Donna Kenly from Hollander Cohen & McBride Marketing Research for conducting a web-based survey of criminal justice researchers and practitioners and assembling and summarizing the data in a report for the committee.
On behalf of the committee, staff conducted site visits to some of NIJ’s technology centers and interviewed 26 current and former NIJ staff to learn more about its processes, programs, and achievements. We are grateful to those who helped make the site visits informative including Troy Krenning, director, National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, Rocky Mountain; Kevin Lothridge, director, Forensic Science Center of Excellence; Andy Mazzara, director, Weapons and Protective Systems Technology Center of Excellence; Raj Nanavati, director, Sensors, Surveillance, and Biometric Technologies Center of Excellence; Joe Peters, director, Border Research and Technology Center; and Brian Regli, former director, Communications Technologies Center of Excellence.
We are also thankful to the current and former NIJ staff that agreed to be interviewed. The interviews included staff from every division within the Office of Research and Evaluation, two of the three divisions within the Office of Science and Technology, and every function (administration, special advisors, international crime, and communications) within the Office of the Director and as a whole covered the scope of NIJ’s operations from the 1970s to present. Each interview consisted of three parts: (1) employee history
and professional background; (2) questions related to grant processes and roles; and (3) questions on NIJ’s mission and impact. Since our invitation to the interviewees indicated that responses would remain anonymous and all names would be kept confidential, we do not recognize them by name here. However, we acknowledge that without their candor and insight into agency processes we would not have gained as complete an understanding of NIJ.
This study and its report have also benefited from the valuable assistance of many NRC staff within the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Betty Chemers was the study director. As such, she organized meetings, identified sources of information and conducted analyses, and worked tirelessly with the committee to integrate their ideas, writings, and conclusions into a sound report. Julie Schuck, as research associate, assembled background documents, created databases of award histories when none was available, and assisted in drafting and editing this report. Carol Petrie, director, Committee on Law and Justice, provided perspective on NIJ’s history and helped us integrate our work with prior NRC studies. This study also benefited from the counsel and experience of Barney Cohen, Anne-Marie Mazza, and Daniel Cork, NRC staff who oversaw relevant assessments of other federal agencies and research programs. Jacqui Sovde, program associate, made sure meetings were organized and conducted in a professional manner and assisted in the editing and formatting of this report. Several others provided administrative support as needed including Barbara Boyd, Linda DePugh, and Anthony Mann. We greatly appreciate the efforts undertaken by Eugenia Grohman, Christine McShane, Jane Ross, Kirsten Sampson Snyder, and Yvonne Wise to complete the review and editing processes and bring this report to fruition.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Todd R. Clear, Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration, John Jay College; Max M. Houck, Forensic Science Initiative, West Virginia University; Rick Kern, Office of the Director, Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission; Janet Lauritsen, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri, St. Louis; Michael D. Maltz, Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice Research Center, Ohio State University; Stan Orchowsky, Office of the Research Director, Justice Research and Statistics Association, Washington,
DC; Robert J. Sampson, Department of Sociology, Harvard University; Robert Santos, Statistical Methods Group, The Urban Institute, Washington, DC; Joan C. Weiss, Office of the Executive Director, Justice Research and Statistics Association, Washington, DC; Chuck Wexler, Office of the Executive Director, Police Executive Research Forum, Washington, DC; Tara Wildes, Office of the Chief, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Jacksonville, Florida; and Paul Wormeli, Office of the Executive Director, IJIS Institute, Ashburn, Virginia.
Although reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before it was released. The review of this report was overseen by John C. Bailar III, Department of Health Studies (emeritus), University of Chicago, and Gary LaFree, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland. Appointed by the NRC, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Charles F. Wellford, Chair
Committee on Assessing the Research Program of the National Institute of Justice
Tables, Figures, and Boxes
TABLES
4-1 |
Analysis of Final Research Reports, |
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5-1 |
Types of NIJ Grant Products, |
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6-1 |
Program Performance Measures as Reported in the PART by NIJ, |
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6-2 |
Publication/Citation Analysis of Articles Linked to NIJ Support in Five Journals, |
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A-1 |
Unavailable or Incomplete Information Requested by the Committee, |
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D-1 |
Types of NIJ Materials Published, |
FIGURES
3-1 |
NIJ award funding history, 1995-2008 (in constant 2008 dollars), |
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3-2 |
Number of awards by category, 1995-2008, |
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3-3 |
ORE funding history, 1994-2008 (in constant 2008 dollars), |
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3-4 |
OST funding history, 1994-2008 (in constant 2008 dollars), |
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4-1 |
ORE employees and budget (in constant 2008 dollars), |
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4-2 |
OST employees and budget (in constant 2008 dollars), |
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4-3 |
Number of ORE and OST employees for budget years 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2008 (in constant 2008 dollars), |
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5-1 |
Total studies submitted to NACJD by year, |
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5-2 |
NACJD user access by year, |
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5-3 |
History of OST spending by functional efforts (in constant 2008 dollars), |
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6-1 |
The limited assessment of NIJ, |
BOXES
2-1 |
Legislative Language of Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, |
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2-2 |
List of NIJ Directors, |
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3-1 |
ORE and OST Research Areas, |
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3-2 |
Comparison of Award Topics, 1995 and 2006, |
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3-3 |
Policing Innovations During the 1980s and 1990s, |
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3-4 |
Drug Treatment Programs, |
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3-5 |
1401 Technology Transfer Program, |
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3-6 |
Creation of a National Institute of Forensic Science, |
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4-1 |
Technical Working Groups (TWGs), |
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5-1 |
The Continuum from Development of Technologies to Adoption into Practice, |
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5-2 |
Descriptions of NLECTC Resources, |
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5-3 |
NIJ Publications and Products in FY 1999, |
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6-1 |
Highly Cited Articles, |
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6-2 |
Examples of Performance Measures, |
Acronyms
AAG Assistant Attorney General
ABA American Bar Association
ACA American Correctional Association
ADAM Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring system
AG Attorney General
AHRQ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
APM Analysis, Planning and Management
ASA American Sociological Association
ASC American Society of Criminology
ASCLD American Society of Crime Lab Directors
ATF Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives
BIS-WDS Brijot Imaging Systems–Weapons Detection System
BJA Bureau of Justice Assistance
BJS Bureau of Justice Statistics
BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics
BPI OJP Business Process Improvement
BRTC Border Research and Technology Center
BRTD U.S. Border Patrol Technology Demonstrations
BSR Behavioral and Social Research
BTC NIJ’s Breaking the Cycle Program
CAPRAD Computer Assisted Pre-Coordination Resource and Database System
CAPS Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy
CBO Congressional Budget Office
CBRN Chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear
CBRNE Chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear, and high-yield explosives
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CLAJ Committee on Law and Justice
CLIP Crime Laboratory Improvement Program
CMS Community Management Staff
CNSTAT Committee on National Statistics
CODIS Combined DNA Index System
COE Center of Excellence
COMPSTAT the name given to a strategic problem-solving process or “strategic control system” first implemented by the New York City Police Department; short for computer statistics or comparative statistics
COPS Community Oriented Policing Services
COSSA Consortium of Social Science Associations
COTR OJP Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative
COTS commercial-off-the-shelf
COV Committee of Visitors
CPTED Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
CRISP Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects
CRS Congressional Research Service
CSR Center for Scientific Review
DARE Drug Abuse Resistance Education
DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DEA Drug Enforcement Administration
DEPR Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research
DHS U.S. Department of Homeland Security
DMA Drug Market Analysis Program
DOC U.S. Department of Commerce
DoD U.S. Department of Defense
DoEd U.S. Department of Education
DOJ U.S. Department of Justice
DOL U.S. Department of Labor
DPCPSI Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives
DRP Data Resources Program
DUF Drug Use Forecasting system
EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
ESIP Equipment Systems Improvement Program
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation
FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FOIA Freedom of Information Act
GAO U.S. Government Accountability Office
GIS geographic information systems
GMS Grant Management System
GPA Grant Progress Assessment Program
GPRA Government Performance and Results Act
GRF Graduate Research Fellowship
GS general schedule or grade service (refers to pay level)
HHS U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
HRSA Health Resources and Services Administration
HUD U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
IAA Interagency Agreement
IACP International Association of Chiefs of Police
ICAM Information Collection for Automated Mapping project (Chicago PD)
ICP-OES inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy
ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
IES Institute of Education Sciences
IPT Integrated Product Team
IRB Institutional Review Board
JAG Justice Assistance Grants
JD Juris Doctor
JRSA Justice Research and Statistics Association
JUSTNET Justice Technology Information Network
LAPD Los Angeles Police Department
LEAA Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
LECTAC Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Advisory Council
LEEP Law Enforcement Education Program
LESL Law Enforcement Standards Laboratory
MAPS Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety Program
MD Maryland
MMW millimeter wave
MOA memorandum of agreement
MOU memorandum of understanding
MPD District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department
NACJD National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
NAS National Academy of Sciences
NCJRS National Criminal Justice Reference Service
NDIS National DNA Index System
NFC National Finance Center
NFSIA Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act
NFSTC National Forensic Sciences Technology Center
NIA National Institute on Aging
NIAAA National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
NIBIN National Integrated Ballistic Information Network
NIDA National Institute of Drug Abuse
NIH National Institutes of Health
NIJ National Institute of Justice
NILECJ National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
NIMH National Institute of Mental Health
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
NLECTC National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center
NPR National Performance Review
NRC National Research Council
NSB National Science Board
NSF National Science Foundation
NYC New York City
NYPD New York City Police Department
OASH Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health
OCFO-BD Office of the Chief Financial Officer-Budget Division
OCOM Office of Communications
OERI Office of Educational Research and Improvement
OGC Office of the General Counsel
OIG DOJ Office of the Inspector General
OJARS Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics
OJJDP Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
OJP Office of Justice Programs
OLES Office of Law Enforcement Standards
OLETC Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization
OLP Office of Legal Policy
OMB Office of Management and Budget
ONDCP Office of National Drug Control Policy
ONR Office of Naval Research
ORE Office of Research and Evaluation
OST Office of Science and Technology
OVC Office for Victims of Crime
OVW Office on Violence Against Women
PAR Performance and Accountability Report
PART Program Assessment Rating Tool
PBMA Planning, Budget, Management and Administration Office
PD police department
PHDCN Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods
PI principal investigator
POSC Program Office Solicitation Coordinator
PREA Prison Rape Elimination Act
PSN Project Safe Neighborhoods
RAC Regional Advisory Council
R&D research and development
RDT&E research, development, testing, and evaluation
RFP request for proposal
RSAT Residential Substance Treatment Programs
SACSI Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative
SAMHSA Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
SBE Directorate of Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
SES Senior Executive Service
SES Social and Economic Sciences
SETA Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance
SME subject-matter expert
SRG Scientific Review Group
SSCI Social Science Citation Index
S&T science and technology
STOP (Services, Training, Officers, and Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grants
SVORI Serious Violent Offender Re-entry Initiative
TAPAC Technology Assessment Program Advisory Council
TAPIC Technology Assessment Program Information Center
TATP triacetone rriperoxide