The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is the primary statistical agency of the Department of Justice. BJS collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, crime victims, and criminal justice operations. BJS also provides financial and technical support to state, local, and tribal governments to improve their statistical capabilities and the quality and the utility of their criminal history records. BJS provides statistical information to the President, Congress, other officials, and the public with accurate, timely, and objective data about crime and the management of criminal justice.

Visit the BJS website to learn more about BJS.

BJS Leadership

Kevin M. Scott, Ph.D.
Acting Director

About Kevin

Principal Deputy Director Kevin M. Scott, PhD, currently serves as the head of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the primary statistical agency of the Department of Justice responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating statistics on crime, individuals who commit crimes, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. Dr. Scott has been with BJS since 2017 and brings a wealth of subject matter expertise, statistical knowledge, and management skills.

While at BJS, Dr. Scott has served in multiple executive leadership roles. Since 2021, as Deputy Director of Statistical Operations, he oversaw administration of BJS’s data collections as a member of the senior leadership team. From 2017 to 2021, he headed the Law Enforcement Statistics Unit, supervising data collections that covered federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and training academies, forensic laboratories, and medical examiners and coroners' offices. During this time, he also supervised the Judicial Statistics Unit, which is responsible for the Federal Justice Statistics Program and BJS’s prosecution, indigent defense, and judicial statistics data collections.

Prior to joining BJS, Dr. Scott worked as an analyst for the Congressional Research Service, as an analyst for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and as the Director of the Policy Analysis Unit in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy. Kevin earned his PhD and MA in Political Science at The Ohio State University, and his BA in Political Science at the University of Oklahoma (Norman).

Contact BJS

Email BJS
Main Line: 202-307-0765