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Up one levelAn assortment of new publications, funding opportunities, and upcoming training events.
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The National Center for Victims of Crime has published Beyond the Beat: Ethical Considerations for Community Policy in the Digital Age. This publication describes how recent advances in one-way communications (e.g., online crime statistics, crime maps, sex offender photographs and registries, offender/parolee release notices, events calendars, and email traffic alerts), and two-way approaches (e.g., online crime reporting, “virtual beat” meetings, customized crime analysis, community listservs, blogs, and online community forums) can help law enforcement combat crime. Yet these and other emerging technological tools also have the potential to endanger individual rights, community access to law enforcement, and police-community relations, as the report illustrates through real-life scenarios. Beyond the Beat offers practical suggestions for avoiding these pitfalls. Click here to download the full report.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has published the report Lives Saved in 2007 by Restraint Use and Minimum Age Drinking Laws (PDF). According to the report, 21-year-old minimum age drinking age laws have prevented an estimated 4,441 drunken driving deaths in the last five years alone. The data provided in the report have been produced by NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis since 1975.
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Twenty-five organizations collectively amassed a 263-page transition document for the new presidential administration, entitled Smart on Crime: The 2009 Criminal Justice Transition Coalition (PDF). It was released November 5, 2008. The document covers a broad array of criminal justice issues ranging from sentencing reform to victims’ services to juvenile justice. Priorities of the coalition (DOC) are spelled out in an executive summary. An entire chapter is dedicated to issues of prisoner reentry (DOC), which the organizations consider a top-level issue.
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A recent NIJ-funded experiment in five cities found that when DNA evidence was collected from burglary scenes, twice as many suspects were identified, arrested, and prosecuted. The cover story in the latest issue of the NIJ Journal (October 2008) discusses the findings and explores some policy implications. (You may also view this issue of the NIJ Journal in PDF.)
The Journal also examines radicalization in U.S. prisons and interim findings from an expert medical panel that asked, “How safe are stun guns?”
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The National Institute of Justice has released a free online training session to help investigators and crime scene specialists learn how to identify, secure, document and preserve blood, urine, saliva, skin cells, and other biological evidence at property crime scenes. Take the training.
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The February 1 registration deadline is fast approaching for NIJ’s free Technology Institute for Rural Law Enforcement, which will be held May 3-7, 2009, in San Diego, CA.
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The Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, is seeking applicants for the Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program (PDF) grant. The program aims to prevent delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership by educating students about life skills. The deadline for applications is January 22, 2009.
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The Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, will award a cooperative agreement of up to $200,000 through its Intensive Case Management for Family Members of Homicide Victims in Rural Areas (PDF) program. This demonstration project will provide funding to identify, institutionalize, and replicate promising service interventions. Eligibility is limited to nonprofit organizations and public agencies. The application deadline is January 20, 2009.
