NCJ Number
237356
Date Published
June 2009
Length
56 pages
Annotation
This summary of the proceedings of the 2009 NIJ Conference held in Arlington, VA, on June 15-17 presents day-by-day annotations of presentations, plenary panels, and workshops that reflected the conference themes of connection, innovation, and protection.
Abstract
On Monday, a brief welcome and opening remarks were followed by a plenary panel on "Homicide in the U.S." The morning panels addressed the prevention of gun violence in Chicago, closing prisons and reducing corrections costs, the prevalence and measurement of elder abuse, housing foreclosures and their connection to crime, legal and privacy issues linked to current communications technology, new perspectives on policing, and using forensic evidence to solve crime. The luncheon keynote address was presented by Clea Koff, a forensic anthropologist involved in evidence collection and presentation for International Criminal Tribunals. The early afternoon concurrent panels addressed alternative sentencing for drug offenders, the safety of conducted energy devices, forensic testing at the crime scene, domestic violence shelters, geographic tools for analyzing crime, international trends in fighting child pornography, research on children at risk, and what works in offender supervision. Late afternoon concurrent panels and forensic science demonstrations/poster session addressed pathways to crime, drug law enforcement, specialized courts, school violence prevention, sexual assault in underserved populations, and policing in an age of terrorism. On Tuesday, a "Poster Session Breakfast" was followed by a morning plenary panel that examined what works in probation and parole. Afternoon concurrent panels addressed advances in digital forensics; identifying missing persons; crime and geographic issues; reentry issues; and studies of sexual assault evidence, terrorism, and violence in schools. Wednesday consisted of concurrent panels on issues dealing with the topics of building safer communities, corrections, courts, forensic science, policing, and violence and victimization.