Research and Evaluation in Safety, Health, and Wellness in the Criminal Justice System, FY 2019 | NIJ 2019 15283

Opportunity Information: Apply for NIJ 2019 15283

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), part of the U.S. Department of Justice, released the FY 2019 grant opportunity titled "Research and Evaluation in Safety, Health, and Wellness in the Criminal Justice System" (Opportunity Number NIJ 2019 15283) to fund multidisciplinary research that can improve the day-to-day safety and long-term wellbeing of people working in criminal justice. The program is structured as a discretionary cooperative agreement, meaning NIJ expects to have an active role during the project period (for example, helping shape deliverables, monitoring progress closely, and supporting coordination so results are useful to the field). Overall, the solicitation is tied directly to DOJ's priority of protecting officers and other public safety personnel, and it is grounded in NIJ's Safety, Health, and Wellness Strategic Research Plan for 2016-2021.

The solicitation focuses funding on three specific research topics. The first topic looks at how fatigue and stress affect officer performance, which can include decision-making, reaction time, situational awareness, use-of-force judgments, driving performance, and other operational outcomes. Research under this area is meant to go beyond general statements about stress and instead produce evidence that agencies can use to reduce risk, whether through staffing models, shift scheduling, fatigue management approaches, training adjustments, or tools for monitoring and mitigating impairment. Because the emphasis is on research and evaluation, proposals would typically be expected to measure performance impacts with credible methods, identify practical risk factors, and test interventions or policies that could realistically be adopted by departments.

The second topic aims to strengthen strategies for officer interaction with individuals experiencing mental illness. This area reflects ongoing challenges in the field where officers are frequently first responders to behavioral health crises, and the consequences of miscommunication or poorly matched tactics can be severe for everyone involved. NIJ is looking for research that helps determine what actually improves safety and outcomes in these encounters, such as which training approaches work, how to connect people to appropriate services, what policies guide better decision-making on scene, and how to reduce escalation. The intent is to develop or evaluate strategies that can be implemented at scale, are sensitive to legal and ethical concerns, and measurably improve both public safety and the wellbeing of officers.

The third topic, "Advancing Resiliency for the Forensic Workforce," addresses stress, burnout, and vicarious trauma among professionals in forensic settings. This includes people who routinely handle distressing evidence, review graphic materials, work high-stakes cases, and operate under heavy workloads and court-driven deadlines. NIJ is explicitly interested in understanding the impact of chronic exposure to traumatic content and intense work pressures, as well as identifying how agencies can manage those effects through organizational practices, support systems, workload management, peer support, supervision models, or other evidence-based approaches. Importantly, the solicitation frames resiliency not as an individual responsibility alone, but as something that can be shaped by workplace systems and policies when backed by research.

In addition to these three topical priorities, NIJ links the solicitation to five objectives from its 2016-2021 Safety, Health, and Wellness Strategic Research Plan. Those objectives include: supporting development and promotion of strategies, policies, practices, and technologies that improve the safety of criminal justice personnel; developing policies and tools that improve safety during interactions between criminal justice personnel and the public; promoting research that improves physical and mental health across the criminal justice workforce; studying trauma and suicide among criminal justice employees; and promoting science-based tools and strategies to monitor physical and mental health. Taken together, these objectives signal that NIJ is not only interested in describing problems, but also in producing actionable knowledge, validated tools, and tested interventions that agencies can use to prevent harm, detect emerging issues early, and support workforce health over time.

On the administrative side, the opportunity was posted March 11, 2019, with an original closing date of May 27, 2019. NIJ anticipated making about seven awards, with an award ceiling of up to $3,000,000 per award. The program is categorized under law, justice, and legal services as well as science and technology and other research and development, and it falls under CFDA number 16.560. Eligibility is broad and includes state, county, and city governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations other than small businesses; individuals; and other entities as described in the solicitation's additional eligibility language. This wide eligibility reflects NIJ's intent to attract strong research teams from academia, government, nonprofits, and private-sector research organizations, especially teams capable of combining operational criminal justice expertise with disciplines such as psychology, public health, human factors, data science, organizational behavior, and evaluation.

In practical terms, the grant opportunity is designed to produce research findings and evaluated solutions that agencies can put to work, whether that means reducing fatigue-related errors, improving outcomes in mental health-related calls for service, or building healthier and more sustainable working conditions for forensic professionals. The underlying theme across all three topics is the same: improving safety and performance in high-stress public safety environments by using rigorous evidence rather than assumptions, and translating that evidence into policies, practices, and tools that can realistically be adopted in the field.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the law, justice and legal services, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Research and Evaluation in Safety, Health, and Wellness in the Criminal Justice System, FY 2019" 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 Mar 11, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 27, 2019. (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 $3,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 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), 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, Individuals, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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