OARS funding Criminal Justice

NIJ, in collaboration with other Federal agencies, is interested in funding a cooperative agreement to conduct a rigorous, multi-year demonstration project to prevent abuse, neglect, and/or financial exploitation among community-residing elderly individuals identified to be at risk. Ultimately, the demonstration project will include development and implementation of the intervention, and, pending funding, a rigorous scientific evaluation of its effectiveness. Successful proposals will develop an intervention that: 1) specifies a theory of change; 2) builds upon evidence-based violence prevention interventions in related areas; 3) identifies a rationale and strategy for selecting participants; and 4) is designed to be replicated, scaled up, and independently evaluated if the demonstration project indicates effectiveness in preventing elder abuse. Applicants may develop and test interventions to prevent either a single form or multiple forms of elder mistreatment. Initial funding under this solicitation will cover an 18-month planning phase. Upon successful completion of the planning phase, additional funding may become available to support the implementation of an 18-month pilot study.

Together with University Advancement, the Office for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship (OARS) is rolling out an new crowdfunding platform called HawksNest. Through HawksNest, alumni, family, and friends of the university can directly support the research, scholarship, and service projects of Miami University students, faculty, and staff. This is how HawksNest works: * Any Miami University student, faculty, or staff member may complete an online application to have a project considered for funding. * An internal review team assesses applications and posts approved projects on HawksNest for a maximum of 45 days. * Potential donors visit the site to learn about and pledge funds to approved projects. * Once a funding goal has been met, the project can begin! * Project managers use the site to keep donors up-to-date with information on the project's progress.

The United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) (www.ovw.usdoj.gov) is pleased to announce that it is seeking applications for the Fiscal Year 2016 Rural Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking Assistance Program. This program furthers the Department's mission by supporting projects designed to address and prevent sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in rural jurisdictions.

BJA and SAMHSA are accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2015 for grants to enhance court services, coordination, and evidence-based substance abuse treatment and recovery support services of adult drug courts. The purpose of this joint initiative is to allow applicants to submit a comprehensive strategy for enhancing drug court services and substance abuse treatment. Through this solicitation, applicants are competing for two grant awards (a grant from SAMHSA and a separate grant from BJA) for both criminal justice and substance abuse treatment funds with one application. In order to fulfill all of the requirements for this grant program, applicants should comply with the requirements outlined in this announcement as well as those incorporated by reference in the Requirements Resource Guide. These grants are authorized under 42 U.S.C. § 3797u, et seq., and section 509 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Substance Abuse Topic Area HP 2020-SA and SAMHSA's Strategic Initiative on Trauma and Justice. Drug courts funded through this grant may use federal funding and matched funding to serve only nonviolent offenders1 and must operate the adult drug court based on BJA's and the National Association of Drug Court Professionals' publication Defining Drug Courts: The Key Components, which addresses the statutory requirements. This opportunity provides drug court applicants the flexibility to identify the most appropriate evidence-based court (service/docket) model on which to base the drug court, in order to accommodate the needs and available resources of that jurisdiction, so long as the model conforms to the 10 key drug court components (see pages 9-11 of this solicitation), which describe the basic elements that define drug courts. (See page 8 for a definition of "evidence-based.")

This project will develop research-to-practice resources to advance the understanding, translation, and application of research and research-based strategies across four primary components of the juvenile justice system: (1) prevention and diversion, (2) community-based alternatives to placement, (3) detention and secure confinement, and (4) reentry. The intent of this project is to assist OJJDP, practitioners, and researchers with the translation and dissemination of research findings to be more understandable, useful, and strategically targeted. This project will collect and analyze current research findings on effective juvenile justice practices and develop innovative and easily accessible, consumable resources and tools for juvenile justice practitioners, administrators, and policymakers. The project will assist OJJDP in identifying and synthesizing relevant research into actionable, evidence-based practice tools to improve public safety and the effectiveness of the juvenile justice system.

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 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

The National Institute of Justice has a longstanding history of collaborating with and supporting the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) on research, evaluation, and programmatic projects. Over the years, the shared priorities of OVC and NIJ have resulted in a number of collective projects, workshops, and research. In 2013, OVC began Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services which called for the development of research to build a body of evidence-based knowledge on victims and victimization.   With this solicitation, NIJ is collaborating with OVC to build on three areas of research that are of interest to both agencies. These topics include: 1.     Studying the Victim-Offender Overlap. 2.     Understanding the Violent Victimization Experiences of Young Men of Color. 3.     Research on the Broader Impacts of School Shootings.    Applicants should submit proposals that address one of the three topics.

NIJ has a longstanding history of collaborating with and supporting the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) on research, evaluation, and programmatic projects. Over the years, the shared priorities of OVC and NIJ have resulted in a number of collective projects, workshops, and research. In collaboration with OVC, NIJ is seeking proposals for research on victims and victimization in the following three areas that are of interest to both agencies. 1. Studying the Victim-Offender Overlap. 2. Understanding the Violent Victimization Experiences of Young Men of Color. 3. Research on the Broader Impacts of School Shootings.

In FY 2013 the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) released the 2011-2012 findings from the most recent surveys of jail and prison inmates about incidences of sexual victimization.1 Based on this information, 4.0 percent of state and federal prison inmates, and 3.2 percent of jail inmates within the United States, reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another inmate or facility staff in the past 12 months or since admission to the facility.2 In juvenile facilities, the numbers were even more troubling. An estimated 9.5 percent of adjudicated youth in state juvenile facilities and state contract facilities (representing 1,720 youth nationwide) reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another youth or staff in the past 12 months or since admission, if less than 12 months.3 On June 20, 2012, DOJ published the Final Rule creating standards as required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The standards apply to adult prisons and jails, juvenile correctional facilities, police lockups, and community residential centers. The standards, which took effect on August 20, 2012, seek to prevent sexual abuse and to reduce the harm that it causes. The standards are grouped into 11 categories: prevention planning, responsive planning, training and education, screening for risk of sexual victimization and abusiveness, reporting, official response following an inmate report, investigations, discipline, medical and mental care, data collection and review, and audits.

The Graduate Research Fellowship in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (GRF-STEM) provides awards to accredited academic institutions to support graduate research leading to doctoral degrees in areas that are relevant to ensuring public safety, preventing and controlling crime, and ensuring the fair and impartial administration of criminal justice in the United States.

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.

NIJ is seeking proposals for basic or applied research and development projects that will: (1) increase the body of knowledge to guide and inform forensic science policy and practice, or (2) result in the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods that have the potential for forensic application. The intent of this program is to direct the findings of basic scientific research, research and development in broader scientific fields applicable to forensic science, and ongoing forensic science research toward the development of highly discriminating, accurate, reliable, cost-effective, and rapid methods for the identification, analysis, and interpretation of physical evidence for criminal justice purposes.

INL Mexico seeks innovative, cutting-edge proposals for the Police Professionalization program from organizations that aim to assist Mexico in implementing reforms consistent with the objectives of Merida Initiative Pillar II.

The purpose of the program is to enhance and/or expand the capacity of substance use disorder treatment providers to serve youth and adults with substance use disorders or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders who have been underserved and/or have special needs (e.g., elderly, ethnic and racial minorities, criminal justice involved individuals, etc.). This is referred to as the "population of focus."

NIJ's New Investigator/Early Career Program provides support for non-tenured assistant professors to conduct applied research on topics relevant to NIJ's Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) including justice systems, violence and victimization, and/or crime control and prevention. Applications must propose research led by a Principal Investigator (PI) who: was awarded a terminal degree within the four (4) years prior to September 30, 2016; holds a non- tenured assistant professor position at an accredited institution of higher education in the United States; and has not previously served as PI on an NIJ research grant or fellowship. Please note that those who have held Graduate Research Fellowships with NIJ are not deemed PIs under that award and are eligible under this solicitation. NIJ encourages applications from diverse social and behavior sciences including but not limited to criminal justice, criminology, economics, law, psychology, public health, and sociology.

NIJ is seeking applications for research that explores the relationship between theory (of any discipline) and geospatial predictive policing strategies. In particular, NIJ is seeking proposals that focus on linking theories to current policing strategies, discerning potential disconnects in the levels of analysis between theory and practice, explicating what effects this may have on findings, and, finally, addressing means of adapting theory and practice based on the results.

The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is soliciting proposals from organizations, groups, or individuals to enter into a cooperative agreement for a 12-month period to begin no later than September 15, 2013. Work under this cooperative agreement will involve the development of an instructional guide and assessment tool(s) that will help jail practitioners improve their assessment of inmate needs and management of inmate behavior. Needs are defined as the physical or psychological requirement for well-being. Inmates have a variety of needs that should be identified and managed during their stay in jail. This project will be a collaborative venture with the NIC Jails Division.

The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is seeking applications from organizations, groups, or individuals to enter into a cooperative agreement with NIC for an 18-month period to begin no later than September 15, 2013. Work under this cooperative agreement will involve convening a working group with the purpose of identifying key areas of gender-informed knowledge specific to women that will both inform a future research agenda and define a project that would further incorporate these keys areas into NIC initiatives and provide further guidance for policymakers and practitioners in their management of this population. The audience for this project is quite broad, representing all aspects of corrections (jails, prisons, and community corrections), the research and academic community, other Federal agencies, state and local entities and other related stakeholders that have an interest in this population. The deliverables from this solicitation will be based on research and theory and are meant to provide a medium to inform NIC initiatives as well as more generally the corrections field, with the goal of improved system and individual outcomes. This project will be a collaborative venture with the NIC Community Services Division.

The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is soliciting proposals from organizations, groups, or individuals to enter into a cooperative agreement for an 18-month period to begin no later than September 15, 2013. Work under this cooperative agreement will involve the development and piloting of a blended-learning curriculum, which could include the use of virtual instructor-led training (VILT), to address the safety of women inmates within correctional institutions. The audience for this curriculum represents correctional staff, volunteers, contractors, community stakeholders who work within women's correctional institutions, and community residential facilities. This project will be a collaborative venture with the NIC Community Services Division.