Advancing Science: News from the NIJ Director

Last month, NIJ launched the Innovations in Community Perceptions Challenge ─ an open competition to develop methods that accurately capture community perceptions of police and public safety.

This challenge is part of our strategy to inform improvements in police-community relations and to receive important feedback on changes in policies and practices.

The deadline to submit an entry is July 31, 2023, with a $175,000 prize pool to be awarded among winning entries!

SUBMIT

I'd like to express a huge thanks to everyone who attended and was involved in the success of the NIJ National Research Conference! Over 700 of you joined us in-person and via livestream as we hosted 52 panel discussions and presentation sessions. We also featured 51 poster presentations, 30 of which were submitted by graduate students, and sponsored an additional 25 students to receive travel scholarships to attend the conference.

I couldn’t be more grateful for and inspired by the level of engagement between researchers and practitioners at this year’s conference. Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing follow-up content and resources, so be sure to subscribe to get updates as soon as it's available.

We just released a two-part podcast “Driving Down Gun Violence,” hosted by NIJ Senior Advisor Dr. Tamara Herold and featuring three NIJ LEADS scholar graduates serving in different law enforcement agencies and positions.

Their success stories and takeaways on how focusing on science and evidence-based practices improved policing strategies beyond just enforcement are both inspiring and instructive.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Last week, I was honored to travel with OJP Assistant Attorney General Amy Solomon to visit with residents and staff of the Restoring Promise initiative at Turbeville Correctional Institution in South Carolina. Restoring Promise is a joint initiative between the Vera Institute of Justice and MILPA to establish housing units for young adults in prison that are grounded in human dignity and principles of restorative justice.

The visit coincided with the release of an NIJ-sponsored research report documenting that this approach to prison culture change resulted in significant reductions in violence and is well suited for replication.

READ THE REPORT