Strengthening the National Institute of Justice (2010) / Chapter Skim
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5 Building a Research Infrastructure and Guiding Policy and Practice
5 Building a Research Infrastructure and Guiding Policy and Practice
Pages 145-186
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From page 145... ...
Few university-based researchers worked in this area, there were few doctoral programs that excelled in research training, and not-for-profit and other private-sector research capabilities devoted to these topics were almost nonexistent. In fact, included in the functions assigned to NIJ was the charge to support the growth of crime and criminal justice research and to take steps to encourage research utilization.
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From page 146... ...
We examine these forensic capacity-building grant programs as well as NIJ's technology assistance activities to determine what, if any, impact they have had on its ability to fulfill its mission as a research agency. We conclude the chapter with a description and appraisal of NIJ's dissemination efforts to provide information to its state and local constituents as well as the criminal justice research field.
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From page 147... ...
have documented how federal funding, including support from NIJ, has influenced the growth and direction of criminology as a science. Fellowship Programs The Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968 calls for the institute to "carry out programs of instructional assistance consisting of research fellowships." From the beginning, it has provided support to doctoral students in their research through the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 1969)
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From page 148... ...
Of those who have 3 Report prepared by Nicola Smith for the committee meeting January 8-9, 2009, on NIJ Fellowship Programs. 4 On the basis of information on 51 of the recipients, 425 publications were authored, which included 287 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 69 technical reports, 61 chapters, and 8 books.
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From page 149... ...
The Tier 2 journals include Criminology and Public Policy, Justice Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, Law and Social Inquiry, Psicotherma, Journal of Health and Social Behaior, and Aggression and Violent Behaior. 5 Report prepared by Nicola Smith for the committee meeting January 8-9, 2009, on NIJ Fellowship Programs.
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From page 150... ...
The Du Bois fellowship complements NIJ's other fellowship programs and provides talented researchers early in their professional career with an opportunity to elevate independently generated research and ideas to the level of national discussion (Crossland, 2008)
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From page 151... ...
Over time, there may have been some deviation from 11 Publicationsinclude articles in peer-reviewed journals, books, chapters, and technical reports. 12 Report prepared by Nicola Smith for the committee meeting January 8-9, 2009, on NIJ Fellowship Programs.
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From page 152... ...
Our very impressionistic observation is that the program attracted many well-known criminal justice researchers and practitioners, many of the projects undertaken by the fellows have had influence on criminal justice practice and policy, and NIJ staff thought that many of the fellows played important roles in developing the agency's research plans and programs. The absence of better records on this program left the committee in a position of recognizing the potential value of this type of effort but with no way to assess that value.
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From page 153... ...
According to NACJD records, from January 2000 to October 2008, there was data "activity" (defined as data acquired, released, or preserved only, or designated as "no data to 13 Our review of the data archive program included conversations with current and former staff at NIJ and the University of Michigan, responses to questions posed by the committee to archive staff, a site visit to the archive, and consideration of a report on the archives prepared by Kaye Marz and Christopher Maxwell. The committee notes with appreciation the contribution of the report prepared by Marz and Maxwell made to this section.
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From page 154... ...
STRENGTHENING THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE Number of Studies Year FIguRE 5-1 Total studies submitted to NACJD by year. SOURCE: Report prepared for the committee by Kaye Marz and Christopher Maxwell, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.
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From page 155... ...
Neither NIJ nor NACJD was able to provide us with the total number of awards that should have their data archived. However, records from NACJD as well as our own efforts to identify principal investigators in the archive database (see citation analysis in Chapter 6)
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From page 156... ...
In the period 2005-2008, NIJ made 16 awards under the Data Resources Program solicitation, an average of 4 awards per year. Most of these awards addressed effects on crime trends, such as mental illness, neighborhood dynamics, legal deterrents, and incarceration.
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From page 157... ...
Sponsored Training on Data Acquisition and Use From 1994 to 2001, DRP sponsored a one-week workshop on crime and justice data as part of the ICPSR Summer Training Program in Quantitative Methods. The program resumed in 2008 with the sponsorship of the Workshop on the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods.
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From page 158... ...
and supported by funds from legislative mandates, such as the President's DNA Initiative and earmarks to the National Law Enforcement Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) , as well as from OST base funds.
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From page 159... ...
• Providing technology assistance ↓ by applying federal resources and expertise to specific problems • Providing access to available federal technology, such as a database • Providing training in the use of technology • Assisting with access to federally supplied technology • Funding the acquisition of or access to equipment and/or technology Assistance SOURCE: Adapted from Schwabe, Davis, and Jackson (2001, pp.
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From page 160... ...
15 The RAND report was based on findings from the nationwide Law Enforcement Technology Survey and a similar Forensics Technology Survey, conducted in late spring and early summer 2000; interviews conducted throughout the year; focus groups conducted in autumn 2000; and review of an extensive, largely nonacademic literature. The report examined the technologies in use or needed by law enforcement agencies at the state and local levels, for the purpose of informing federal policy makers as they consider technology-related support for these agencies.
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From page 161... ...
Through its testing and evaluation and standards programs, NIJ has been able to help criminal justice agencies make informed procurement, deployment, applications, operating, and training decisions for over 35 years. The current Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES)
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From page 162... ...
In the new standards development process, NIJ iden of NIJ's Technology Assessment Program in the mid-1980s. In 1994, the NIJ National Law Enforcement Technology Center was established to take over the functions of the Technology Assessment Program Information Center.
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From page 163... ...
Comparative evaluations field-test equipment in order to make test data available to law enforcement agencies as well as vendors. This testing has been performed on patrol vehicles; patrol vehicle tires (including testing of winter tires)
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. Success of the standards programs has increased the call for more standards (Schwabe, Davis, and Jackson, 2001; Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Advisory Council, 2008)
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From page 165... ...
The Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968 authorized the institute "to make recommendations for action which can be taken by Federal, State, and local governments and by private persons and organizations to improve and strengthen law enforcement." Thirty-four years later with the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, NIJ moved beyond making recommendations and has a current legislative mandate to "provide technology assistance, information, and support for law enforcement, corrections, and criminal justice purposes." From funds appropriated by Congress specifically from 1995 to 2008, the NLECTC centers have been able to provide resources to law enforcement agencies, public safety personnel, and vendors. Such resources include facilities and guidance for testing and evaluating technologies 20See http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/technology/assistance.htm [accessed July 28, 2009]
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From page 166... ...
In making these resources available to the criminal justice field at no charge, the centers support the transfer and adoption of technology into practice by law enforcement and corrections agencies, courts, and crime laboratories and stand ready to provide technology assistance, information, and support for its adoption. A 2001 RAND report provides examples of noteworthy NLECTC early accomplishments (Schwabe, Davis, and Jackson, 2001)
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From page 167... ...
As Congress recognized the power of DNA profiling to identify perpetrators of crimes and to exonerate persons charged with or convicted of crimes they did not commit, it passed initiatives to increase the use of this technology in the criminal justice system. The DNA Identification Act of 1994, part of the Crime Act, modified the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968 "by inserting provisions regulating funding of DNA analysis laboratories and authorizing the collection of an index of DNA records and samples."21 In 1996, with funds made available under the Crime Act, OST initiated major efforts, through the Forensic DNA Laboratory Improvement Program, to assist state and local crime laboratories with upgrading their equipment and developing simpler, quicker, and more portable methods of DNA testing (National Institute of Justice, 1997)
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From page 168... ...
NIJ's Forensic Capacity-Building Solicitations Since 2002, there have been nine types of solicitations, administered through OST, to sustain congressional directives and allocations. The programs resulting from these directives include • he Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program, t • the Forensic DNA Capacity Enhancement Program, • Forensic DNA Unit Efficiency Improvement, • he Convicted Offender and/or Arrestee DNA Backlog Reduction t Program, • the No Suspect Casework DNA Backlog Reduction Program, • Solving Cold Cases with DNA, • the Forensic Casework DNA Backlog Reduction Program, • Using DNA Technology to Identify the Missing, and • the Postconviction DNA Testing Assistance Program.
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From page 169... ...
The Forensic DNA Capacity Enhancement Program (FY 2004-2006) offered states and units of local government with existing crime laboratories that conduct DNA analysis funds to improve laboratory infrastructure and analysis capacity so that DNA samples can be processed efficiently and cost-effectively.
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From page 170... ...
on providing direct services and assistance to individual law enforcement agencies and crime laboratories. Furthermore, NIJ puts a lot of resources into assessing these forensic capacity-building programs.
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From page 171... ...
failure to provide guidance to grantees regarding programmatic requirements or to ensure grantee compliance with these requirements, failure to effectively monitor grantee financial and programmatic activities, failure to evaluate grantee effectiveness in meeting program objectives, and failure to ensure that performance reports were submitted in a timely fashion. The most recent audit, of the Convicted Offender DNA Backlog Reduction program (U.S.
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From page 172... ...
In the following sections, we provide a brief overview of the size and scope of NIJ's current dissemination activities, how its products and audiences have changed over time to reflect its current portfolio, and its efforts to assess its dissemination activities. 27 The committee found only one public reference to the peer-reviewed publications of NIJ supported researchers, in a presentation by Margaret Zahn at the NIJ meeting called Stimulating the Adoption of NIJ Research Results (December 12, 2008)
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From page 173... ...
In addition to the resources budgeted to the Communication Division, OST expends its own funds to support and manage certain dissemination activities. For example, about 30 percent of the NLECTC system budget, approximately $4 million, goes toward informational activities.
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As reflected in its annual reports to Congress, NIJ dramatically changed the scope and focus of its dissemination activities in 2002 from what it had produced during the previous 6 years.31 During the period FY 1995-2001, NIJ published, either in hard copy or electronically, a variety of documents geared to inform the criminal justice field about the latest social science and technology research findings. Through the late 1990s, there was a heavy emphasis on producing reports based on NIJ research grants.
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From page 175... ...
5 publications resulting from NIJ research forums and conferences 2 guides on batteries and police body armor 2 equipment performance reports on auto-loading pistols and vehicle tires SOURCE: National Institute of Justice (1999, Appendix C)
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From page 176... ...
. By producing fewer documents for the research community, NIJ appears to have abandoned an important strategy for encouraging interest in criminal justice research and for keeping researchers informed about its research activities.
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From page 177... ...
Web-only Document Varies with content Varies with content (20-500 printed pages) research tool that was of value to the scholarly community and contributed to NIJ's stature as a research institute.32 With the shift in the NIJ budget to one in which technology-related research activities receive heavy support, it is not surprising that there has also been a marked shift in the number of reports that focus on technology and, in particular, forensic science.
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From page 178... ...
An example that was touted by NIJ was the regular appearance of articles authored by NIJ staff or others writing about NIJ research activities in Corrections Today, a monthly publication produced by the American Correctional Association with a monthly distribution of 36,000. The committee reviewed these articles because of criticism from national corrections leaders regarding NIJ's failure "to do a good job of marketing to constituents" and a failure to disseminate executive summaries of NIJ research as well as other information of use to corrections but not necessarily produced by NIJ.
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From page 179... ...
Former and current NIJ staff members who were interviewed reported that from time to time there are disagreements with OJP management over NCJRS policies and practices, but no details were offered. One observation was made that OJP centralized management of NCJRS has appeared to impact NIJ in the degree to which NIJ as an organization is visible at various conferences and meetings.
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From page 180... ...
NIJ's Assessment of Its Dissemination Activities NIJ relies on several methods to assess the quality and utility of its dissemination activities. These include direct feedback from users from a regular 800 number, flyers attached to periodicals, and occasional NCJRS user surveys and focus groups.
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From page 181... ...
In the past three decades, NIJ has developed and sustained fellowship programs at three levels: (1) doctoral candidates, (2)
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From page 182... ...
These mandates include funds for the NLECTC system and associated technology assistance activities and the more recent congressional appropriations for the DNA backlog reduc tion and crime laboratory improvement programs. Funds for fo rensic laboratory capacity-building and forensic training activities, such as the Paul Coverdell, DNA Backlog Reduction, Solving Cold Cases, and Forensic DNA Unit Efficiency Improvement programs, swamp the NIJ program and now represent more than half of the
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From page 183... ...
These considerations lead us to question whether the DNA backlog reduction and the forensic laboratory capacity-building programs properly belong in NIJ. Relocation of these programs to bureaus more accustomed to managing assistance programs to state and local agencies such as the Bureau of Justice Assistance or the Community Policing Ori ented Services office would remove a major distraction from NIJ's ability to focus on its research mission.
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From page 184... ...
Management of N the fellowship programs has not been as efficient as one would
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From page 185... ...
The need for new and diverse research ers studying crime and justice issues is as critical today as it was when NIJ was founded. Expanded fellowship programs, especially ones that more effectively reach out to new disciplines, could be an important component of a federal research agency for crime and justice studies.
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From page 186... ...
• IJ has not lived up to its potential in contributing to the de N velopment of a resource database for use by the criminal justice research community. Although a significant fraction of the data in the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data originates from NIJ grant activities, too many grantees continue to ignore requirements for submitting data generated by their grants to the data archive.
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