National Institute of Justice Annual Report to Congress 1996

• NCJ Number: 166585
• Date Published: August 1997
• Length: 106 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Report (Annual/Periodic)

Annotation

This report describes to Congress how the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research and development arm of the U.S. Justice Department, achieved its mission of providing knowledge on crime control and achieving justice in 1996.

Abstract

Chapters discuss both new and continuing initiatives in NIJ's portfolio of research and evaluation investments. One significant achievement in 1996 was the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. This effort involved a massive longitudinal study in which researchers enrolled and interviewed 7,000 children, youths, and their caregivers. Participants will be tracked for the next 5-7 years, analyzing their development to gain insights into the family and neighborhood factors that encourage prosocial or antisocial behavior. NIJ's Drug Use Forecasting Program celebrated its 10th year of providing data from quarterly surveys and drug screening of arrestees. It also continued building the social science research and evaluation agendas related to community policing, violence against women, sentencing and corrections, and drug courts prompted by the 1994 Crime Act. More than $19.9 million in Crime Act funds were awarded for research in 1996, and 14 new solicitations were issued in these areas. Development of technologies to detect concealed weapons moved at a faster than anticipated pace last year. NIJ became a partner in a unique interagency consortium involving nine Federal offices in an initiative that focuses on the abuse of children and the elderly, partner violence, sexual violence, and perpetrators and victims of multiple episodes of family violence. In 1996, NIJ developed a blueprint for research, evaluation, and development to help set the foundation for knowledge that will inform criminal justice policy in the next century. NIJ is focusing its activities around five strategic challenges: rethinking justice, breaking the cycle, understanding the nexus, creating the tools, and expanding horizons. Appendixes list awards made in fiscal year 1996, recent NIJ publications, and partnerships.