This issue presents several articles demonstrating research in the areas of less-lethal weapons, interviewing child victims of sexual abuse, understanding crime trends, untested evidence in sexual assaults, DNA collection in sexual assault cases, performance standard to minimize risk of hazardous materials, solutions to improving forensic death investigations, and the National Institute of Justice's Data Resource Program.
This issue of the NIJ Journal presents the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice's (NIJ's) policy-relevant research results and initiatives. The research demonstrates how findings can affect daily decisions. The research presented on injuries from less-lethal weapons show that using conducted energy devices, known as Tasers, can reduce injury rates for suspects and officers when compared to other less-lethal options. Research articles on interviewing child victims of sexual abuse and on understanding crime at the level of the city block are examples of research that builds on previous work and allows for innovative ways to apply these research findings. An article on improving death investigations is about the needs of the forensic death investigation community and its response to a National Academy of Science (NAS) report. Cooperation and communication among experts was emphasized on all sides of the issue. Other research articles presented in this journal include: (1) solutions to large numbers of older, unanalyzed sexual assaults kits (SAKs); (2) research to extend the timeline for collecting samples suitable for DNA profiling in sexual assault cases; and (3) the availability of data and analytic research methods through NIJ's Data Resource Program, preserving data produced by NIJ-funded studies and available for secondary analysis by other researchers.