The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research, development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice. NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and other program offices, comprises the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) branch of the Department of Justice.
NIJ partners with state and local practitioners and policymakers to advance law enforcement technology.
Notable research areas include:
- Standards for police bullet-proof vests
- Interoperable communications for law enforcement, first responders and public safety personnel
- DNA initiative for solving cold cases and protect the innocent from wrongful prosecution
- Crime mapping and analysis
- Critical incident technologies
- Less-lethal technologies (e.g. tasers)
NIJ also advances criminology, criminal justice, and related social science research, with specific focus is on violence and victimization, drugs, corrections and incarceration, community policing and crime prevention, and international crime control. NIJ also conducts program evaluation.
Much of this research is facilitated by providing grants to academic institutions, non-profit research organizations, and other entities.
-NIJ is notable among 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.
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