imported>Larrykoen: /* History */ deleted study available at Internet Archive

2025-09-17T15:15:57Z

History: deleted study available at Internet Archive

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{{Short description|U.S. Department of Justice research and development agency}}
{{Distinguish|Institute for Justice}}

{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name = National Institute of Justice
| type = Bureau/Office
| seal = Seal of the United States Department of Justice.svg
| seal_width = 91px
| seal_caption = Seal of the United States Department of Justice
| logo = National Institute of Justice logo.png
| logo_width = 91px
| logo_caption = Logo of the National Institute of Justice
| picture =
| picture_width =
| picture_caption =
| formed = {{Start date and age|1968|10|21}}
| jurisdiction = [[Federal government of the United States]]
| headquarters = 810 [[7th Street (Washington, D.C.)|7th Street]] [[Northwest, Washington, D.C.|NW]]<br />[[Washington, D.C.]], United States
| coordinates =
| employees =
| budget =
| chief1_name = [[Nancy La Vigne]]
| chief1_position = Director
| chief2_name =
| chief2_position =
| parent_department = [[Office of Justice Programs|Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice]]
| motto =
| website = [http://nij.ojp.gov/ nij.ojp.gov]
}}

The '''National Institute of Justice''' ('''NIJ''') is the [[research]], development, and evaluation agency of the [[United States Department of Justice]] (DOJ).

'''NIJ''', along with the [[Bureau of Justice Statistics]] (BJS), [[Bureau of Justice Assistance]] (BJA), [[Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention]] (OJJDP), [[Office for Victims of Crime]] (OVC), and other program offices, comprise the DOJ's [[Office of Justice Programs]] (OJP).

==History==

The National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice was established on October 21, 1968,<ref>{{cite web |title=Compendium of National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Pamphlets |url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/compendium-national-institute-law-enforcement-and-criminal-justice |website=www.ojp.gov |publisher=Office of Justice Programs |access-date=30 June 2021}}</ref> under the [[Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968]], as a component of the [[Law Enforcement Assistance Administration]] (LEAA). In 1978, it was renamed as the National Institute of Justice.<ref name="policetech"/> Some functions of the LEAA were absorbed by NIJ on December 27, 1979, with passage of the [[Justice System Improvement Act of 1979]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/reports/98Guides/lblf/panel4c.htm |title=Building Better Policies on Better Knowledge |author=Tonry, Michael |access-date=2007-06-10 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070302124525/http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/reports/98Guides/lblf/panel4c.htm  |archive-date = 2007-03-02}}</ref> The act, which amended the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, also led to creation of the [[Bureau of Justice Statistics]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice |title=Federal Assistance to State and Local Law Enforcement Systems (hearing) |year=1983 |publisher=Government Printing Office}}</ref> In 1982, the LEAA was succeeded by the Office of Justice Assistance, Research, and Statistics (1982–1984) and then the [[Office of Justice Programs]] in 1984.<ref>{{cite web|title=Records of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/423.html|access-date=2007-06-10|publisher=National Archives}}</ref>

NIJ was notable among [[List of United States federal research and development agencies|U.S. governmental research organizations]] because it is headed by a [[political]] appointee of the president rather than by a [[scientist]] or a member of the [[civil service]]. The [[Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011]] removed the need for [[Appointments Clause|Senate confirmation]] of the NIJ director.<ref>{{Cite USGov|agency =
[[United States Congress]]|title=Public Law 112–166|url=https://www.congress.gov/112/statute/STATUTE-126/STATUTE-126-Pg1283.pdf#page=3|author=112th Congress|date=August 10, 2012|access-date=2025-09-17}}</ref>

In 2010, the [[United States National Research Council]] released a report on reforming the NIJ, and identified issues with its independence, budget, and scientific mission. While it considered making the NIJ separate from its current department, Office of Justice Programs, it recommended retaining the NIJ within the OJP but giving it increased independence and authority through clear qualifications for its director, control over its budget, and a statutory advisory board. It also recommended that the NIJ: (1) a focus on research rather than forensic capacity building activities,(2) increase funding for programs for graduate researchers, (3) increase transparency, and (4) do periodic self-assessments.<ref>Center for Economic, Governance, and International Studies. (2010). ''[http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12929 Strengthening the National Institute of Justice]''. National Academies Press.</ref>

The NIJ can be susceptible to political influence, as manifested, for instance, by its removal from its website of "a study showing that far-right attacks outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violence extremism" during the [[Second presidency of Donald Trump]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ornedo |first1=Julia |title=Bondi’s DOJ Censors Study Showing Who Commits Political Violence |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/doj-quietly-scrubs-study-on-far-right-attacks-after-kirk-shooting/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email |website=[[The Daily Beast]] |publisher=The Daily Beast Company |access-date=17 September 2025}}</ref> (That study remains available on the [[Internet Archive]]<ref>{{cite web|title=What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism|url=https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/306123.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206092813/https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/306123.pdf |archive-date=2025-02-06|url-status=dead|
author1-first=Steven|author1-last=Chermak|author2-first=Matthew|author2-last=Demichele|author3-first=Jeff|author3-last=Gruenewald|author4-first=Michael|author4-last=Jensen|author5-first=Raven|author5-last=Lewis|author6-first=Basia E.|author6-last = Lopez}}</ref>).

==Research areas==
[[File:Police Officer with balistic shield.JPG|left|thumb|A police officer using a [[ballistic shield]] '''NIJ''' Level IIIA{{explain|date=September 2017}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right;"
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |NIJ directors (and acting directors)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/yea.txt |title=25 Years of Criminal Justice Research |publisher=National Criminal Justice Reference Service |date=December 1994 |access-date=2008-01-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/speeches/directors.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630200700/http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/speeches/directors.htm |archive-date=2007-06-30 |title=Speeches and Presentations: NIJ Directors |publisher=National Institute of Justice |access-date=2008-01-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=United States Congress House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime |title=Federal Role in Criminal Justice and Crime Research: Joint Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Scientific Planning, Analysis, and Cooperation of the Committee on Science and Technology, House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress, First Session ... |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O6gnAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22robert+emrich%22+%22National+Institute+of+Law+Enforcement+and+Criminal+Justice%22+1969&pg=PA360 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=30 June 2021 |language=en |date=1977}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=National Research Council |title=Strengthening the National Institute of Justice |date=2010 |publisher=The National Academies Press |isbn=9780309162944 |page=31 |url=https://www.nap.edu/read/12929/chapter/4 |access-date=30 June 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
! style="width:45%;" |Name
! style="width:55%;" |Dates
|-
||[[Ralph Siu]]
||October 21, 1968–March 1969
|-
||Robert L. Emrich (acting)
||February 1969–May 1969
|-
||Henry S. Ruth Jr.
||May 1969–June 1970
|-
||Irving Slott (acting)
||June 1970–September 1971
|-
||Martin Danziger
||September 1971–August 1973
|-
||Henry Scarr (acting)
||August 1973–October 1977
|-
||Gerald Caplan
||October 1973 – 1977
|-
||Blair Ewing (acting)
||1977–1979
|-
||Harry Bratt (acting)
||1979–1981
|-
||James Underwood (acting)
||1981–1982
|-
||W. Robert Burkhart (acting)
||1982
|-
||James K. Stewart
||1982–1990
|-
||[[Charles B DeWitt|Charles B. DeWitt]]
||1990–1993
|-
||Michael J. Russell (acting)
||1993–1994
|-
||Carol V. Petrie (acting)
||1994
|-
||[[Jeremy Travis]]
||1994–2000
|-
||Julie Samuels (acting)
||2000–2001
|-
||Sarah V. Hart
||2001–2005
|-
||Glenn R. Schmitt (acting)
||2005 – June 2007
|-
||David Hagy
||June 2007 – January 2009
|-
||Kristina Rose (acting)
||January 2009 – June 2010
|-
||[[John H. Laub]]
||July 22, 2010 – January 4, 2013
|-
||[[Greg Ridgeway]] (acting)
||June 2013–June 2014
|-
||William J. Sabol (acting)
||August 2014–February 2015
|-
||[[Nancy Rodriguez (criminologist)|Nancy Rodriguez]]
||February 9, 2015 – January 13, 2017
|-
||Howard Spivak (acting)
||January 21, 2017–July 2017
|-
||David Muhlhausen
||July 25, 2017 – January 20, 2021
|-
||Jennifer Scherer (acting)
||January 20, 2021 – May 9, 2022
|-
||[[Nancy La Vigne]]
||May 9, 2022–present
|}

NIJ is focused on advancing technology for criminal justice application including law enforcement and corrections, forensics, and judicial processes, as well as [[criminology]], [[criminal justice]], and related social science research. Much of this research is facilitated by providing grants to academic institutions, non-profit research organizations, and other entities, as well as collaborating with state and local governments. Areas of social science research include [[violence against women]], [[corrections]], and [[crime prevention]], as well as program [[evaluation]].<ref name="2005ar">{{cite web |url=http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/213267.pdf |title=2005 Annual Report |publisher=National Institute of Justice |date=December 2006}}</ref>

Grants for technology development help facilitate research and development of technology and tools for criminal justice application, which is a need that the private sector is otherwise reluctant to meet. NIJ also supports development of voluntary equipment performance standards, as well as conducting compliance testing.<ref name="policetech">{{cite web |url=http://www.justnet.org |title=The Evolution and Development of Police Technology |publisher=National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) |date=July 1998 |pages=vi–vii|format=PDF}}</ref> Areas of technology research and development include [[biometrics]], communications [[interoperability]], information technology, less-lethal technologies (e.g. [[taser]]s), and officer safety including [[bullet-proof vests]]. [[Crime mapping]] and analysis is a topic that includes both technology and social science ([[geography]]) aspects. The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Centers, which are located throughout the United States, play a role in law enforcement technology development, testing, and dissemination.<ref name="2005ar"/>

In the 2000s, NIJ developed the [[National Missing and Unidentified Persons System]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.namus.gov/about.htm|access-date=2013-02-23|title=About NamUs}}</ref>

===DNA initiative===
A major area of research and support is for [[forensics]] and the president's [[DNA]] initiative. The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] developed the [[Combined DNA Index System]] (CODIS) system as a central database of DNA profiles taken from offenders. In the late 1980s and 1990s, all of the states and the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] required DNA samples to be collected from offenders in certain types of cases. The demand (casework) for [[DNA analysis]] in public [[crime laboratory|crime laboratories]] increased 73% from 1997 to 2000, and by 2003, there was a backlog of 350,000 [[rape]] and [[homicide]] cases. In 2003, President [[George W. Bush]] proposed the ''Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology'' initiative, which would include $1 billion over five years to reduce backlogs, develop and improve capacity of state and local law enforcement to use DNA analysis, support research and development to improve the technology, and additional training for those working in the [[criminal justice]] system.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/13023/13335893/downloadables/DNA%20initiative.pdf |title=Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology |publisher=White House / U.S. Department of Justice |date=March 2003}}</ref>

===Technical working groups===
{{update|section|date=March 2022}}
Technical working groups (or TWGs) were created by the National Institute of Justice to create [[crime scene]] guides for state and local [[law enforcement]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=National Institute of Justice, United States Department of Justice |title=About NIJ |date=12 December 2024 |url=http://www.nij.gov/about/Pages/welcome.aspx}}</ref> The guides were individually developed by a separate Technical Working Group tasked with a single topic. The groups were a [[multidisciplinary]] group of content-area experts from across the [[United States]]. The groups included urban and rural jurisdictions as well as Federal agencies representatives. Each participating member was experienced in the area of crime scene investigation and evidence collection in the [[criminal justice]] system from the standpoints of law enforcement, [[prosecution]], [[defense (legal)|defense]], or [[forensic science]]. The Technical Working Groups were designed to be short term in duration to respond to a topic. Longer term groups exist under other organizations such as the FBI's [[Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence|Scientific Working Group (SWG's) on Digital Evidence]].

Technology Working Group topics have included:<ref>{{cite journal |author=NIJ |title=Current Technology Working Groups |date=14 June 2021 |url=http://nij.gov/topics/technology/pages/working-groups.aspx}}</ref>

{{columns-list |colwidth=22em|
# [[Aviation]]
# [[Biometrics]]
# [[Body Armor]]
# [[Communication]]s
# Community Corrections
# [[DNA]] Forensics
# [[Cybercrime|Electronic Crime]]
# [[Explosives|Explosive Device]] Defeat
# General [[Forensics]]
# Geospatial Technologies
# Information-Led Policing
# [[Institution]]al Corrections
# Less-Lethal Technologies
# Modeling and Simulation
# Officer Safety and Protective Technologies
# [[Personal protective equipment|Personal Protection Equipment]]
# Pursuit Management
# School Safety
# Sensors and [[Surveillance]]
# [[Weapon]]s Detection
}}

During the several years of their existence they developed numerous guides including the following:
* [[Body armor]] testing for [[bulletproofing]] and [[stabproofing]]<ref>[https://cjttec.org/compliance-testing-program/compliant-product-lists/ Combination bulletproof and stab proof body Armor from NIJ testing]</ref><ref>[https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/equipment-and-technology/ballistic-resistance-body-armor-nij-standard-010107 NIJ's bulletproofing standard]</ref><ref>[https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/183652.pdf NIJ's stabproofing standards]</ref>
* Crime Scene Investigation: A Reference for Law Enforcement (pdf, 60 pages)<ref>{{cite journal |author=NIJ Technical Working Group |title=Crime Scene Investigation: A Reference for Law Enforcement |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/200160.pdf}}</ref> Published June 2004
* Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator (pdf, 72 pages)<ref>{{cite journal |author=NIJ Technical Working Group |title=Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/167568.pdf}}</ref> Published November 1999
* Fire and Arson Scene Evidence: A Guide for Public Safety Personnel (pdf, 73 pages)<ref>{{cite journal |author=NIJ Technical Working Group |title=Fire and Arson Scene Evidence: A Guide for Public Safety Personnel |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181584.pdf}}</ref> Published June 2000
* Guide for Explosion and Bombing Scene Investigation (pdf, 64 pages)<ref>{{cite journal |author=NIJ Technical Working Group |title=Guide for Explosion and Bombing Scene Investigation |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181869.pdf}}</ref> Published July 2000
* Electronic Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for First Responders (pdf, 93 pages)<ref>{{cite journal |author=NIJ Technical Working Group |title=Electronic Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for First Responders |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/187736.pdf}}</ref> First Edition published July 2001; second edition published 2008<ref>{{cite journal |author=NIJ Technical Working Group |title=Electronic Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for First Responders |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/219941.pdf}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Law Enforcement Assistance Administration]] (LEAA)
* [[National Criminal Justice Reference Service]] (NCJRS)
* [[National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center]] (NLECTC)

==References==
{{reflist}}

* {{DoJ-NIJ}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|https://nij.ojp.gov/}}
*[https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/national-institute-of-justice National Institute of Justice] in the [[Federal Register]]
*[http://www.ncjrs.org/ National Criminal Justice Reference Service]
*[http://www.justnet.org/ National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101129192020/http://www.dna.gov/ The President's DNA Initiative]
*[http://www.policeone.com/New-NIJ-Body-Armor-Standards/ New NIJ Body Armor Standards]
{{DOJ agencies}}
{{United States research agencies}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Government agencies established in 1968]]
[[Category:United States Department of Justice]]

National Institute of Justice - Revision history

imported>Larrykoen: /* History */ deleted study available at Internet Archive