Research and Evaluation on the Administration of Justice, Fiscal Year 2021

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is authorized to conduct or authorize multiyear and short-term research and development concerning the criminal and civil justice systems. With this solicitation, NIJ seeks proposals for rigorous research and evaluation projects examining the impact of pretrial strategies on the administration of justice and public safety. Specifically, NIJ seeks applications for projects examining the impact on the administration of justice and public safety of pretrial detention healthcare, data-driven interventions, prosecutorial discretion, decriminalization of certain offences, and bail reform. Applications proposing research involving partnerships with criminal justice or other agencies, should include a strong letter of support, signed by an appropriate decision-making authority from each proposed, partnering agency. A letter of support should include the partnering agency's acknowledgement that de-identified data derived from, provided to, or obtained through this project will be archived by the grant recipient with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the conclusion of the award. Applicants and their potential partners are encouraged to review the NACJD's policies and protections at (NACJD). If selected for award, grantees will be expected to have a formal agreement in place with partnering agencies by January 1, 2022. That formal agreement must include a provision to meet the data archiving requirements of the award. In the case of partnerships that will involve the use of federal award funds by multiple partnering agencies to carry out the proposed project, only one entity/partnering agency may be the applicant (as is the case with any application submitted in response to this solicitation); any others must be proposed as subrecipients. This solicitation supports DOJ Strategic Objective 3.1: Combat violent crime, promote safe communities, and uphold the rights of victims of crime. It also supports Objective III.B: Research the Impact of Court Strategies on the Administration of Justice and Public Safety, of the National Institute of Justice Courts Strategic Research Plan 2020-2024.