NCJ Number
82283
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Special research projects funded by the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (NILECJ) in the areas of courts management, corrections planning, community crime prevention, hardware development, and police science are reviewed by several NILECJ research directors.
Abstract
NILECJ's Office of Research Programs funds research at universities and nonprofit research centers. It has 7 divisions and funds 50-60 grants per year. Courts and court management projects cover four types of programs: the development of mechanisms for evaluating and measuring the performance of courts and related agencies, the testing and development of methods to improve criminal justice efficiency and quality, and evaluation of current practices and laws in different States and areas of the country. Corrections research projects encompass both practical and theoretical research. Among the practical projects are a national survey on women's correctional programs and studies of inmate survival in prison, homicides in groups under restraint, and correctional standards and goals implementation costs. Community crime prevention research focuses on how citizens and community groups relate to the physical environment, crime victims' needs and problems, and the development of more effective policies and procedures for dealing with specific crimes. Work on hardware development and equipment covers the isolation of hardware problems, hardware production in response to specific problems, equipment standards development, and crime laboratory equipment development. Projects illustrative of police science research include studies on officer response time, internal discipline, the criminal investigation process, patrol functions, the reliability and use of polygraphs, and the development of effective police performance measures.