Criminal Justice Research and Development Graduate Research Fellowships

The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs funds graduate research fellowships supporting doctoral dissertation research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and social and behavioral sciences relevant to criminal justice challenges, with the most recent grant award dated August 1, 2017 (CFDA 16.562).

The program has been active since 1995 and has issued 106 awards totaling $5.2 million in combined federal obligations. Award activity has been inconsistent: after averaging 11 awards annually from 2013–2017, no awards appear in the portfolio after August 2017. The assistance-type mix is predominantly Project Grants (92 percent of awards), with smaller shares of Cooperative Agreements (4 percent), Block Grants (3 percent), and a single Formula Grant (1 percent).

Recent awards span forensic science, criminal justice policy, and law enforcement research. Representative funded projects include sex and ancestry estimation methods in human skeletal remains ($114,366), seasonal effects on carrion decomposition and insect colonization in time-of-death estimation ($142,069), cybersecurity and safety challenges in autonomous vehicles ($146,419), identification and detection of cosmetics transferred during physical assaults ($145,251), and optimization of hair analysis pretreatment parameters for drug screening ($146,637). Several awards also address social and behavioral dimensions: civilian information provision to police ($32,000), post-conviction prosecutorial assistance pathways to exoneration (reversed award), and the intergenerational consequences of incarceration ($0 obligation).

Funding is concentrated within the Department of Justice. The National Institute of Justice accounts for 36 awards and $3.6 million in federal dollars obligated (69 percent of total). The broader Office of Justice Programs accounts for 68 awards and $1.6 million (31 percent). Together these two entities represent 98 percent of all awards and funding.

Recent opportunities posted in January 2018 solicited graduate research in STEM disciplines and social and behavioral sciences under two separate tracks: NIJ-2018-13638 (GRF-STEM, due March 12, 2018) and NIJ-2018-13640 (Social and Behavioral Sciences, due March 12, 2018). Both target accredited academic institutions sponsoring doctoral students whose dissertation research addresses ensuring public safety, preventing and controlling crime, or ensuring fair criminal justice administration. STEM awards provide up to three years of support (usable over five years), offering $35,000 annually for student stipend and related costs plus up to $15,000 annually for tuition, fees, and research expenses. No opportunities currently open are present in the source.