The Office of Justice Programs’ National Institute of Justice will spend $2.7 million on "rigorous research" to increase knowledge about the connections between race, crime, violence and the administration of justice in the U.S., the National Institute of Justice reports. The W.E.B. Du Bois Program of Research on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Justice System supports work that advances policies designed to reduce disparities. These interventions may affect policing practices, individuals’ access to defense resources, pre-trial release practices, charging decisions, access to treatment services, post-release programming or any other point at which disparity is evident. NIJ says it is interested in identifying those interventions that have the greatest potential to affect an individual’s progress out of the justice system.
“The integrity of our justice system depends on our willingness to reckon with the glaring racial inequities that have, for far too long, undermined its legitimacy and impaired its effectiveness,” said OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Amy Solomon. “The W.E.B. Du Bois Program follows the path that Du Bois himself blazed, supporting scientific exploration and looking ahead to the day when equal justice before the law is no longer just an ideal but a reality.” The W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program invests in training professionals from the fields of social and behavioral sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics to conduct qualitative and quantitative research. Grants will go to the University of California Irvine, Arizona State University, Ohio State University and the RAND Corp.