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BJA's mission is to provide leadership and services through grant administration and criminal justice policy development to support local, state, and tribal justice strategies to achieve safer communities. Driving BJA's work in the field is the following principles: to reduce crime, recidivism, and unnecessary confinement, and promote a safe and fair criminal justice system. To implement our strategies consistent with these principles, BJA supports effective criminal justice policy, programs, information sharing, and collaborations within state, local, and tribal agencies and communities, and promotes the use of data, research, and information to increase the effectiveness of criminal justice programs. BJA has four primary components: Policy, Programs, Planning, and the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Office. The Fellows will work in the Policy Office, which provides national leadership in criminal justice policy, training, and technical assistance to further the administration of justice. It also acts as a liaison to national organizations that partner with BJA to set policy and help disseminate information on best and promising practices. To address emerging issues and build capacity to improve the administration of criminal justice, BJA launched the BJA Visiting Fellows Program in FY2012. The intent is to leverage state, local, or tribal subject-matter expertise to assess areas of need and to develop strategies, tools, and policies in collaboration with BJA staff for the benefit of the criminal justice field. By hosting up to five Fellows with FY 2014 funds, BJA will collaborate with practitioners and researchers to build capacity to address gaps in priority and emerging issues in the criminal justice field.

The goal of the Criminal Justice Collaboration and Partnership Program (CJ-CAP) is to provide an opportunity for police, investigators, judges, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, court administrators, civil society actors, correctional officers, relevant Ministry of Justice or Interior officials, and other criminal justice sector representatives from host-country nations to produce sustainable, long-term change within their institutions and criminal justice systems through a coordinated and integrated approach to tackling cross-sectoral criminal justice problems. This program centers on potential thematic areas designed at breaking down silos and encouraging cooperation between law enforcement (police and investigators), justice (judges, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and administrators), corrections officials, and civil society or relevant ministry officials, as appropriate, in the criminal justice system with an aim to develop innovative solutions to address fixable criminal justice problem areas.

The Smart Prosecution Initiative, administered by BJA, is part of BJA's "Smart Suite" of crime fighting programs including Smart Policing, Smart Probation, and Smart Pretrial. Funding for this initiative is anticipated through the FY 2015 appropriation. BJA established the "smart suite" over five years ago with the creation of the Smart Policing Initiative. The smart suite supports criminal justice professionals in building evidence-based, data-driven criminal justice strategies that are effective, efficient, and economical. BJA's smart programs represent a strategic approach that brings more "science" into criminal justice operations by leveraging innovative applications of analysis, technology, and evidence-based practices. Historically, prosecutors have worked tirelessly to address criminal justice problems in their community. In recent years they have recognized a need to adopt innovative strategies and to engage in data-driven decision making to proactively contribute to crime prevention and response. They also recognize the effectiveness of collaborating with other criminal justice partners, stakeholders and the community to reduce violent crime and achieve safer communities. The Smart Prosecution model builds off of the lessons learned from BJA's other smart suite programs and seeks to pair action researchers with prosecutor offices to develop solutions-such as "hot spot" strategies, sophisticated crime analysis, offender-based policies, and risk and needs assessment-that create prosecution strategies in an effort to break down information silos, advance communities, improve public trust and confidence in the justice system, and increase public safety. Smart Prosecution seeks to act as a catalyst, promoting criminal justice and non-criminal justice information sharing to improve results for communities. Lessons learned from Smart Prosecution will develop a rich body of evidence for use by prosecutors nationally as they seek to work w

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking applications under its Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) Program. This program provides awards to accredited universities for doctoral research that uses criminal justice data or statistical series and focuses on crime, violence, and other criminal justice-related topics. BJS invests in doctoral education by supporting universities that sponsor students who demonstrate the potential to complete doctoral degree programs successfully in disciplines relevant to the mission of BJS, and who are in the final stages of graduate study. The ultimate goal of this solicitation is to increase the pool of researchers using criminal justice statistical data generated by BJS, thereby contributing solutions that better prevent and control crime and help ensure the fair and impartial administration of criminal justice in the United States. Applicant institutions sponsoring doctoral students are eligible to apply only if the doctoral research dissertation has direct implications for criminal justice policy and practice in the United States. BJS encourages institutions to consider doctoral students from social and behavioral sciences, mathematics, or statistics academic disciplines for their applications. Applicant institutions are strongly encouraged to sponsor minority and female student candidates. Awards are anticipated to be made to successful applicant institutions in the form of a cooperative agreement to cover a fellowship for the sponsored doctoral student. Each fellowship potentially provides up to 3 years of support, usable over a 5-year period. For each year of support, BJS provides the degree-granting institution a stipend of $35,000, usable toward the student's salary and related costs, and up to $15,000 to cover the student's tuition and fees, research expenses, and related costs (see B. Federal Award Information). If the doctoral student's dissertation is not completed and delivered to BJS within the 5-year perio

NIJ is seeking applications for the funding to maintain and enhance the National Juvenile Justice Data Analysis Program to ensure that vital statistical information is available to the field regarding juvenile risk behaviors, juvenile victimization and offending, and the juvenile justice system’s response to law-violating behavior. These important data inform juvenile justice policy and practice at the federal, state, and local levels. This solicitation will support efforts in assembling juvenile justice-related data sets, analyzing and reporting on complex data and issues, and developing publications and online resources to make juvenile justice data easily accessible to the general public. The successful applicant will also work closely with NIJ and OJJDP to further develop and implement innovative dissemination strategies and tools that facilitate the use of juvenile justice data. This solicitation supports the U.S. Department of Justice’s priority of promoting public safety and reducing crime by producing and disseminating vital statistical information on a range of topics related to juvenile crime, victimization, and justice involvement.

The Smart Defense Initiative, administered by BJA, is part of BJA's "Smart Suite" of criminal justice programs including Smart Pretrial, Smart Policing, Smart Supervision, and Smart Prosecution. BJA established the Smart Suite over 5 years ago with the creation of the Smart Policing Initiative. The Smart Suite supports criminal justice professionals in building evidencebased, data-driven criminal justice strategies that are effective, efficient, and economical. BJA's smart programs represent a strategic approach that brings more "science" into criminal justice operations by leveraging innovative applications of analysis, technology, and evidence-based practices. In many states, the public defense delivery system is in crisis, with too many defendants lacking access to quality advice and representation. In addition to being a matter of constitutional concern, this void can contribute to over-incarceration, reduced confidence in the justice system, and other inequities. Without quality effective representation, a defendant may not be treated fairly, may not understand the process, and may not get the benefit of available alternatives to incarceration for first-time or low-level offenses. Additionally, ifthese issues are not addressed, victims are ill-served and the criminal justice system's shared goals of justice and public safety go unmet. To help jurisdictions strengthen state and local public defense delivery systems, BJA is releasing this competitive grant announcement. Under Smart Defense, BJA is seeking applicants who are interested in developing innovative, data-driven approaches to improve their public defense delivery systems guided by the Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System. This program is funded under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (Pub. L. No. 113-76).

Healthy, vibrant communities are places that provide the opportunities, resources, and an environment that children and adults need to maximize their life outcomes, including high-quality schools and cradle-to-career educational programs; high-quality and affordable housing; thriving commercial establishments; access to quality health care and health services; art and cultural amenities; parks and other recreational spaces; and the safety to take advantage of these opportunities. Unfortunately, millions of Americans live in distressed communities2 where a combination of crime, poverty, unemployment, poor health, struggling schools, inadequate housing, and disinvestment keep many residents from reaching their full potential. Research suggests that crime clustered in small areas, or crime "hot spots," accounts for a disproportionate amount of crime and disorder in many communities. The complexity of these issues has led to the emergence of comprehensive place-based and community-oriented initiatives that involve service providers from multiple sectors, as well as community representatives from all types of organizations, to work together to reduce and prevent crime and to revitalize communities.In many ways, community safety and crime prevention are prerequisites to the transformation of distressed communities, including the revitalization of civic engagement. Addressing community safety is the role of criminal justice agencies, the community, and its partners as a whole. To improve and revitalize communities, all relevant stakeholders should be included: law enforcement and criminal justice, education, housing, health and human services, community and faith-based non-profits, local volunteers, residents, and businesses.Given the significant needs and limited resources of some of these communities, local and tribal leaders need tools and information about crime trends in their jurisdiction and assistance in assessing, planning, and implementing the most effective

BJA, in a public/private partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts, launched the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) in 2010 as a multistaged process in which a jurisdiction reduces unnecessary incarceration, increases the cost-effectiveness of its criminal justice system and reinvests savings into high-performing public safety strategies.  JRI jurisdictions reinvest these cost savings into high-performing initiatives that make communities safer. In addition to reducing prison populations, justice reinvestment encourages states to embrace a culture of greater collaboration, data-driven decisionmaking, and increased use of evidence-based practices. While the full impact of justice reinvestment reforms is not yet known, the policies enacted in JRI states hold great promise to reduce prison populations, achieve substantial cost savings, and avert future growth.  However, many of the states found similar factors driving populations and costs for example, parole and probation revocation rates; sentencing policies and practices that favored incarceration of low-risk offenders over alternatives and that resulted in long lengths of stay; insufficient or inefficient community supervision, services, and support; and parole system processing delays and denials. The policy responses to these issues also overlapped, sharing themes of evidence-based practices and data-driven decisionmaking, including risk and needs assessments; accountability measures such as performance and outcome measure reporting; earned credits to encourage compliance with conditions of community supervision; sentencing changes; swift, certain and fair responses to technical probation and parole violations, mandatory post-incarceration supervision requirements; problem-solving courts; streamlined parole processes and expanded parole eligibility; and re-entry programs to reduce recidivism.

BJA, in a public/private partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts, launched the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) in 2010 as a multistaged process in which a jurisdiction reduces unnecessary incarceration, increases the cost-effectiveness of its criminal justice system and reinvests savings into high-performing public safety strategies.  JRI jurisdictions reinvest these cost savings into high-performing initiatives that make communities safer. In addition to reducing prison populations, justice reinvestment encourages states to embrace a culture of greater collaboration, data-driven decisionmaking, and increased use of evidence-based practices. While the full impact of justice reinvestment reforms is not yet known, the policies enacted in JRI states hold great promise to reduce prison populations, achieve substantial cost savings, and avert future growth.  However, many of the states found similar factors driving populations and costs for example, parole and probation revocation rates; sentencing policies and practices that favored incarceration of low-risk offenders over alternatives and that resulted in long lengths of stay; insufficient or inefficient community supervision, services, and support; and parole system processing delays and denials. The policy responses to these issues also overlapped, sharing themes of evidence-based practices and data-driven decisionmaking, including risk and needs assessments; accountability measures such as performance and outcome measure reporting; earned credits to encourage compliance with conditions of community supervision; sentencing changes; swift, certain and fair responses to technical probation and parole violations, mandatory post-incarceration supervision requirements; problem-solving courts; streamlined parole processes and expanded parole eligibility; and re-entry programs to reduce recidivism.

The Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA), enacted July 29, 2010, requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to establish and implement a tribal data collection system (P.L. 111- 211, 124 Stat. 2258, § 251(b)). Coverage of Indian country crime and criminal justice statistics is an important priority for BJS and the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). BJS maintains more than 40 different data series, some of which provide information on crime and the criminal justice response in Indian country. BJS intends to expand its portfolio on Indian country to provide more useful and current information on crime and criminal justice response in tribal justice systems. Approximately every 4 years, BJS conducts the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA). CSLLEA provides data on over 18,000 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in the United States. CSLLEA captures data on each agency's number of sworn and civilian personnel and the law enforcement functions each agency performs. The 2008 CSLLEA collected data from 178 tribal law enforcement agencies operating in Indian country and provided a profile of tribal law enforcement by type of agency, the number of full-time sworn employees, population and reservation sizes, operating costs per resident, and functions performed on a regular basis. The information was published in Tribal Law Enforcement, 2008 (NCJ 234217, BJS web, June 2011). The 2014 CSLLEA, which is currently in the field, will collect similar information in addition to data on race and Hispanic origin of full-time sworn personnel, employment and transitional services provided to military veterans, special recruitment efforts, the number of hires and separations by type, the number of civilian deaths by cause of death, types of technology used by the agency, and characteristics of the agency's dispatch center. These data will be collected from all of the more than 18,000 state, local, and tribal agencies nationwide; however

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is seeking applications for funding of innovative doctoral dissertation research in the social and behavioral sciences that is relevant to providing solutions to better ensure public safety, prevent and control crime, and ensure the fair and impartial administration of criminal justice in the United States. This program furthers the Department's mission by sponsoring research to provide objective, independent, evidence-based knowledge and tools to meet the challenges of crime and justice, particularly at the State and local levels   Eligible applicants are limited to degree-granting academic institutions in the United States and its territories. To be eligible, the institution must be fully accredited by one of the regional institutional accreditation agencies recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. Under this solicitation, the applicant institution must apply as the sponsoring institution for the doctoral candidate who will be conducting criminal-justice-related research in a discipline relevant to NIJ's mission. An eligible applicant may submit more than one application, as long as each application proposes a different project in response to the solicitation. (Applicants should also review and consider the "Duplicate Applications" note under How to Apply in Section D. Application and Submission Information.) NIJ may elect to make awards for applications submitted under this solicitation in future fiscal years, dependent on the merit of the applications and on the availability of appropriations.

The purpose of the National Institute of Justice grants program is to encourage and support research, development, and evaluation to improve criminal justice policy and practice in the United States. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) have entered into a partnership to request applications under this Data Resources Program (DRP) solicitation for original research using existing data available from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) and other public sources.

Through this solicitation, NIJ will provide small planning grants to develop proposals for new and innovative criminal justice research projects involving federally recognized tribes (or tribally based organizations) and which represent a new tribal-researcher investigator partnership. The following research topics are of particular interest to the U.S. Department of Justice: (1) The impact of concurrent criminal jurisdiction on the administration of justice in Indian country and Alaska; (2) The effectiveness of the criminal justice response to the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs [e.g., methamphetamine, heroin and other opioids including fentanyl, diverted pharmaceuticals, synthetic drugs, and analogues); (3) Crime prevention and intervention efforts; (4) Criminal offending; (5) Enhancing investigations and prosecutions; (6) Provision, role, and impact of forensic science services (including medico legal death investigation); (7) Murdered, missing, and trafficked women and girls; (8) Violent crime reduction; (9) Responding to and reducing victimization; (10) Strengthening tribal justice systems (e.g., evaluating tribal healing to wellness courts tribal-state collaborations, wellness court collaborations, technology-based court systems to improve court operations and outcomes, tribal-reentry programs); (11) Developing and testing tools and technologies to improve criminal justice policy and practice (e.g., unmanned aircraft systems, body-worn cameras, drug-detecting technology, location-based technology, digital devices or applications, victim technology-based services)

ection 101 of the Second Chance Act authorizes the Department of Justice to award grants to counties and states to improve reentry outcomes for incarcerated youth. The Second Chance Act Program supports counties and states in refining and implementing improved collaborative strategies to address the challenges that reentry and recidivism reduction pose. Implementing a cooperative and wide-ranging plan for reducing recidivism is challenging for even the most sophisticated juvenile justice agencies and requires an intensive systemwide realignment to address gaps in programs and services to improve outcomes for youth in contact with the juvenile justice system. This program will provide grants to support counties and states that have developed a recidivism reduction plan to better align juvenile justice policy, practice, and resource allocation with what research shows works to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for youth in contact with the juvenile justice system. OJJDP expects that a committee, task force, or working group will designate an agency to act as the legal applicant for this grant program. This solicitation will support counties and states that illustrate their readiness to implement a planning strategy developed and coordinated among multiple systems, to track implementation progress, and to show progress toward sustainable changes.

NIJ is seeking proposals for multiple criminal justice research projects involving researcher-practitioner partnerships as well as capturing detailed descriptions of these collaborations. While other NIJ solicitations often encourage researcher-practitioner partnerships, this solicitation directly focuses on supporting criminal justice research and evaluation activities that include a researcher-practitioner partnership component. Within the context of the proposed research or evaluation project, the partnerships can be new or ongoing. NIJ intends to support criminal justice research in two areas related to new and ongoing researcher-practitioner collaborations. Proposals must fall under one of the following program areas: 1. Junior Faculty Grant Program to Promote Criminal Justice Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships. 2. Criminal Justice Researcher-Practitioner Fellowship Placement Program.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking applications under its Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) Program. This program provides awards to accredited universities for doctoral research that uses criminal justice data or statistical series and focuses on crime, violence, and other criminal justice-related topics. BJS invests in doctoral education by supporting universities that sponsor students who demonstrate the potential to complete doctoral degree programs successfully in disciplines relevant to the mission of BJS, and who are in the final stages of graduate study. The primary goal of this solicitation is to increase the pool of researchers using criminal justice statistical data generated by BJS, thereby contributing solutions that better prevent and control crime and help ensure the fair and impartial administration of criminal justice in the United States.

 This purpose of this grant is to: educate, train, and produce materials for law enforcement, criminal justice practitioners, and treatment providers to reduce justice costs, reduce recidivism, improve access to services and service delivery, and reduce disproportionality of punishment in the criminal justice system. The grant recipient shall:* Use expert practitioners in the fields engaged in law enforcement, criminal justice systems planning, and drug courts, specifically law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, probation and parole officers, corrections officials, treatment providers, and criminal justice and public health policymakers. * Provide in-person training and jurisdiction-specific technical assistance to a variety of demographically-composed areas at the state, local, and tribal levels.* Include ONDCP policy priorities in the development and execution of training and technical assistance program and educational materials: o evidence-based treatment, medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders, o overdose prevention, o diversion programming with comprehensive case management and service provision* Collect and analyze data from jurisdictions engaged in grantee programming on alternatives to incarceration to determine the effectiveness of the trainings and on-site assistance.

BJA is seeking applications for funding under the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program. This program provides cross-system technical assistance to Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) grantees. It furthers the Departments mission by increasing criminal justice capacity to reduce violence and increase support of law enforcement to address challenges when encountering people with Mental Illnesses or co-occurring mental illnesses and substance abuse during calls for service, within the courts, and correctional/detention settings. Through the TTA program, JMHCP grantees will receive the necessary support to reduce and assist the number of people with mental illnesses who enter and move through the criminal justice system.

BJA seeks applications for a Technical Assistance Provider (“TA Provider”) to assist in the establishment and facilitation of national-level technical assistance to approximately 20 to 25 demonstration sites in furtherance of the Sentinel Events Initiative (SEI). SEI is an effort led by the National Institute of Justiceâ€Â" the US Department of Justice’s research, development, and evaluation agencyâ€Â"to explore whether an all-stakeholder, forward-looking, non-blaming review of unanticipated events that signal an underlying system weakness in criminal justice can be used to understand areas of system risk and weaknesses, reduce the occurrence of these outcomes, increase safety, and augment the criminal justice system’s ability to fulfill its mission. Drawing heavily from similar successful efforts in the fields of medicine and transportation, this scientific inquiry aims to determine a) whether sentinel event reviews (SERs) can be implemented and routinized in a criminal justice context, b) whether these reviews can inform policy and practice improvements to mitigate the risk of analogous errors or weaknesses in the future, c) whether changes in policy and practice maximize the criminal justice system’s ability to meet its mission of reducing crime, protecting the public, and advancing the administration of justice, and d) whether these reviews are sustainable over time.

With this solicitation, NIJ seeks applications for funding of multidisciplinary research projects addressing three topics: 1) The impact of fatigue and stress on officer performance. 2) Enhancing strategies for officer interaction with mentally ill individuals. 3) Advancing Resiliency for the Forensic Workforce- Understanding the Impact and Management of Stress, Burnout, and Vicarious Trauma. This solicitation supports the U.S. Department of Justice’s priority of protecting officers and other public safety personnel. This solicitation also supports the following five objectives of the NIJ Safety, Health, and Wellness Strategic Research Plan 2016-2021 (August 2016): 1) Objective I.2: Support development, and promote strategies, policies, practices, and technologies that enhance the safety of criminal justice personnel. 2) Objective I.4: Develop policies, strategies, and technologies to promote safety in criminal justice interactions with the public. 3) Objective II.1: Promote research to improve the physical and mental health of individuals working in the criminal justice system. 4) Objective II.2: Study both trauma and suicide among criminal justice employees. 5) Objective II.4: Promote science-based tools and strategies to monitor physical and mental health.

The justice system is an important target for HIV prevention and treatment, as an estimated 25% of all people living with HIV will pass through the justice system each year. As well, a high proportion of people with opioid use disorder (OUD) and people who inject drugs (PWID) pass through the justice system each year. OUD and injection drug use elevate HIV risk. Community re-entry from incarceration is a time of heightened risk for substance use relapse, opioid-related mortality, HIV risk behaviors, and discontinuation of HIV treatment. Justice involved people who have HIV, or who are at elevated risk for HIV, should have the opportunity to receive evidence-based HIV services appropriate to their level of risk. These include screening, initiation on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) or highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and engagement in related substance use disorder treatment services. HIV treatment-as-prevention can help reach the goal of ending the HIV epidemic in the United States. This initiative aligns with the NIH-OAR priority of reducing the incidence of HIV, and with the President's objective to End the HIV Epidemic by 2030.