Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2024 171995
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is offering a FY2024 discretionary research and evaluation grant opportunity titled "NIJ FY24 Research and Evaluation on the Administration of Justice: Prosecution Practice, Justice, Case Tracking, and Workforce" (Funding Opportunity Number: O-NIJ-2024-171995; CFDA: 16.560). The program is designed to support rigorous, evidence-based research and evaluation projects that look closely at how courts and other criminal justice tools, practices, and policies affect the day-to-day administration of justice and public safety outcomes. The focus is explicitly on state, local, and tribal jurisdictions, with an emphasis on prosecution-related decisions and processes such as charging, case flow, case outcomes, and other core prosecution functions that shape what happens from case initiation through disposition.
The solicitation concentrates on four interconnected research priorities. First, it seeks projects that advance prosecution practice and resource management, meaning studies that examine how prosecutorial offices organize work, allocate staff and funding, use specialized units, adopt new technologies, or manage caseloads and backlogs, and how those operational choices influence efficiency, timeliness, and outcomes. Second, NIJ is prioritizing research that promotes fair prosecution and the impartial administration of justice, which typically includes evaluating policies and practices that may reduce bias or disparities, strengthen consistency and transparency in decision-making, and improve legitimacy and trust. This could involve examining how charging decisions, diversion eligibility, plea bargaining practices, or risk and needs tools are used in practice and whether they produce equitable results across race, ethnicity, gender, geography, income, or other relevant characteristics.
Third, NIJ is looking to fund work that builds prosecution data resources, research capacity, and transparency. This priority reflects a practical need in many jurisdictions: prosecution and court data can be fragmented across agencies, difficult to link across systems, or inconsistent in definitions and quality. Projects under this area may focus on developing improved data infrastructure, establishing common data standards, improving case tracking from arrest through prosecution and court processing, and building the ability of agencies to use data for performance measurement, evaluation, and public reporting. The intent is not just to create datasets, but to strengthen a jurisdiction's capacity to learn from its own information and to make prosecution-related operations more visible, accountable, and analytically usable over time.
Fourth, the solicitation highlights the prosecution workforce and the broader court workgroup. This includes the people and roles involved in moving cases through the justice system: prosecutors, supervisors, investigators, victim-witness staff, data analysts, as well as the wider network that interacts with prosecution in court settings (for example, courts, defense, pretrial services, law enforcement, and service providers). Research topics here can include recruitment and retention, training and professional development, workload and burnout, organizational culture, collaboration across agencies, and how workforce conditions affect performance, decision quality, morale, and ultimately case outcomes and public safety. By framing this as both "prosecution workforce" and "court workgroup," NIJ is signaling interest in studies that recognize prosecution does not operate in isolation and that system performance often depends on coordination among multiple actors.
Awards are expected to be made as cooperative agreements, which generally means NIJ anticipates a more active role in the project through ongoing engagement, milestones, and collaboration compared to a standard grant. The award ceiling is $2,000,000, and NIJ expects to make approximately three awards under this solicitation, making it a competitive opportunity aimed at well-scoped, methodologically strong projects with clear practical relevance. The original application closing date was May 8, 2024, and the solicitation was created on February 22, 2024.
Eligibility is broad and includes state governments, county governments, cities or townships, special district governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses, as well as other eligible entities identified by NIJ. The solicitation also notes units of local government as a key target audience, consistent with the program's practical focus on real-world prosecution and court administration challenges.
In practical terms, NIJ is looking for projects that can credibly answer "what works, for whom, under what conditions" in prosecution and case processing, and that can translate findings into improvements in justice administration. Strong proposals would typically be expected to use rigorous research designs (such as quasi-experimental methods, randomized trials where feasible, robust mixed-methods approaches, or high-quality implementation and process evaluations), clearly define outcomes related to charging decisions, case progression, dispositions, compliance, recidivism or public safety measures where appropriate, and address how data will be collected, linked, governed, and protected. The overall goal is to generate actionable evidence that helps jurisdictions manage resources effectively, improve fairness and legitimacy, strengthen data and transparency, and build a sustainable prosecution and court workforce capable of delivering consistent and impartial justice.Apply for O NIJ 2024 171995
- The National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ FY24 Research and Evaluation on the Administration of Justice: Prosecution Practice, Justice, Case Tracking, and Workforce" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.560.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2024-02-22.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-05-08. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1) What is the official title of this NIJ funding opportunity?
The opportunity is titled: NIJ FY24 Research and Evaluation on the Administration of Justice: Prosecution Practice, Justice, Case Tracking, and Workforce.
2) Who is offering this grant?
The funder is the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).
3) What fiscal year is this solicitation associated with?
This is an FY2024 discretionary research and evaluation opportunity.
4) What is the Funding Opportunity Number (FON)?
The Funding Opportunity Number is O-NIJ-2024-171995.
5) What is the CFDA number listed for this program?
The CFDA number provided is 16.560.
6) What is NIJ trying to accomplish through this program?
NIJ is seeking to fund rigorous, evidence-based research and evaluation that examines how courts and other criminal justice tools, practices, and policies affect day-to-day administration of justice and public safety outcomes, with an explicit focus on prosecution-related decisions and processes.
7) What parts of the justice system does this solicitation emphasize?
The emphasis is on how prosecution-related functions shape what happens from case initiation through disposition, including decisions and processes such as charging, case flow, case outcomes, and other core prosecution functions.
8) Which jurisdictions are the primary focus for proposed research?
The solicitation explicitly focuses on state, local, and tribal jurisdictions.
9) How many research priorities are described in the solicitation?
The solicitation centers on four interconnected research priorities.
10) What is the first research priority area?
The first priority is prosecution practice and resource management, including research on how prosecutorial offices organize work, allocate staff and funding, use specialized units, adopt technologies, manage caseloads/backlogs, and how those operational choices affect efficiency, timeliness, and outcomes.
11) What kinds of topics fit under prosecution practice and resource management?
Examples described include staffing and funding allocation, specialized units, technology adoption, and how offices manage caseloads and backlogs, with attention to impacts on operational performance and case outcomes.
12) What is the second research priority area?
The second priority is promoting fair prosecution and the impartial administration of justice, including evaluating policies and practices intended to reduce bias or disparities, strengthen consistency and transparency in decision-making, and improve legitimacy and trust.
13) What prosecution decisions and processes are mentioned under the fairness priority?
The solicitation specifically mentions examining how charging decisions, diversion eligibility, plea bargaining practices, and risk and needs tools are used in practice and whether they produce equitable results.
14) What kinds of disparities or equity dimensions may be examined?
The solicitation notes examining equity across characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, geography, income, and other relevant characteristics.
15) What is the third research priority area?
The third priority is to build prosecution data resources, research capacity, and transparency, recognizing that prosecution and court data can be fragmented, hard to link, or inconsistent across agencies.
16) What kinds of data and infrastructure work does NIJ describe under the data priority?
Potential work includes developing improved data infrastructure, establishing common data standards, improving case tracking from arrest through prosecution and court processing, and building agency capacity to use data for performance measurement, evaluation, and public reporting.
17) Is the goal simply to create a dataset?
No. The intent is not just to create datasets, but to strengthen a jurisdiction's ongoing capacity to learn from its own information and make prosecution operations more visible, accountable, and analytically usable over time.
18) What is the fourth research priority area?
The fourth priority addresses the prosecution workforce and the broader court workgroup, focusing on people and roles involved in moving cases through the justice system and how workforce conditions affect performance and outcomes.
19) Who is included in the prosecution workforce as described in the solicitation?
The solicitation references roles such as prosecutors, supervisors, investigators, victim-witness staff, and data analysts.
20) What does NIJ mean by the "broader court workgroup"?
It includes the wider network that interacts with prosecution in court settings, such as courts, defense, pretrial services, law enforcement, and service providers.
21) What workforce topics does NIJ indicate are of interest?
Examples include recruitment and retention, training and professional development, workload and burnout, organizational culture, cross-agency collaboration, and how workforce conditions influence decision quality, morale, case outcomes, and public safety.
22) What type of award does NIJ expect to make under this solicitation?
Awards are expected to be made as cooperative agreements.
23) What does it mean that awards are expected to be cooperative agreements?
In general terms (as described in the opportunity), this means NIJ anticipates a more active role in the project through ongoing engagement, milestones, and collaboration compared to a standard grant.
24) What is the maximum award amount (award ceiling)?
The award ceiling is $2,000,000.
25) Approximately how many awards does NIJ expect to make?
NIJ expects to make approximately three awards under this solicitation.
26) When was the solicitation created?
The solicitation was created on February 22, 2024.
27) What was the application closing date listed?
The original application closing date was May 8, 2024.
28) Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is broad and includes: state governments, county governments, cities or townships, special district governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and other eligible entities identified by NIJ.
29) Are units of local government specifically encouraged or targeted?
Yes. The solicitation notes units of local government as a key target audience, aligning with the practical focus on real-world prosecution and court administration challenges.
30) What kinds of research questions is NIJ especially interested in?
NIJ is looking for projects that can credibly answer: "what works, for whom, under what conditions" in prosecution and case processing, and that can translate findings into improvements in justice administration.
31) What kinds of research designs does NIJ expect to see in strong proposals?
Strong proposals are expected to use rigorous research designs, such as quasi-experimental methods, randomized trials where feasible, robust mixed-methods approaches, or high-quality implementation and process evaluations.
32) What outcomes or measures are mentioned as relevant to define and study?
The solicitation indicates outcomes related to charging decisions, case progression, dispositions, compliance, and recidivism or public safety measures where appropriate.
33) What expectations are mentioned around data collection and management?
Proposals should address how data will be collected, linked, governed, and protected, especially given the common challenges of fragmented or inconsistent prosecution and court data.
34) What kinds of practical impacts is NIJ hoping the research will support?
The stated goal is to generate actionable evidence that helps jurisdictions manage resources effectively, improve fairness and legitimacy, strengthen data and transparency, and build a sustainable prosecution and court workforce capable of delivering consistent and impartial justice.
35) Does NIJ encourage research that considers collaboration across agencies?
Yes. The workforce and court workgroup priority explicitly points to coordination among multiple actors and includes interest in collaboration across agencies as a factor in system performance.
36) What stage of the criminal case process is emphasized for case tracking?
The solicitation highlights improving case tracking across the continuum from arrest through prosecution and court processing, ultimately connecting to outcomes through disposition.
37) Is the solicitation limited only to prosecution offices, or can it include related court actors?
The focus is prosecution-related, but NIJ explicitly frames interest in the broader court workgroup, including courts, defense, pretrial services, law enforcement, and service providers, recognizing prosecution does not operate in isolation.
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