Research Fellowship Programs

Solicitation for Proposals

ASA/BJS Small Grants Research Program for Analysis of Crime and Justice Data

The American Statistical Association (ASA) Committee on Law and Justice Statistics announces a small grant program for the analysis of Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and other justice-related data. This program is designed to encourage the creative and appropriate use of these data to inform substantive and methodological issues. Other than these criteria, there are no restrictions placed on the topic of a submission. Dissertation research may qualify for these funds and young investigators are encouraged to apply. Research is to be completed within a two-year period. Awards are typically in the range of $25,000 to $30,000, although exceptional projects as high as $40,000 will be considered. Proposals must be received by January 15, 2010. Â Decisions will be announced by April 1, 2010.

Evaluation Criteria

Submissions will be evaluated on the following 3 criteria, each weighted equally:

Originalityâ€”show that the research would tell us something that we do not know about crime and criminal justice or about the application of statistics to these issues;
Significanceâ€”establish the methodological or substantive importance of the research to the law and justice community;
Feasibility and qualityâ€”demonstrate that the datasets â€“ can support the research, the proposed statistical methods are the most suitable for the project, and the researcher has the ability to complete the project.

Examples of Possible Topics

National Crime Victimization Survey

Explore NCVS (and other available data) to identify victim vulnerabilities in terms of neighborhood, lifestyle, socio-economic status, social contexts, etc.
Test strategies for providing reliable estimates of most rare forms of victimization.
Assess the influence of missing data on annual estimates.
Explore available data on victimization of institutionalized populations (e.g., in nursing homes, jails, or other group quarters); assess offense types, prevalence, and possible impact on victimization rates; examine characteristics of victims and perpetrators.

National Incident-Based Reporting System

Link NIBRS data with other small-area, geographically-based data resources to explore their effects on crime.
Study the effect of state variations in law and justice practices on the nature of crime reported to police.
Analyze and demonstrate the utility of NIBRS for planning and development activities.

Law Enforcement

Analyze the relationship between criminal behavior and the characteristics of law enforcement agencies and communities.
Explore and describe how program data such as Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring and Drug Use Forecasting can be used to inform criminal justice operations.
Analyze the relationship of Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring data to other national statistical data on drug use and crime.

Prosecution and Adjudication

Analyze recent trends in post conviction capital case processing and outcomes.
Analyze prosecutorial decisions to downgrade initial charges at adjudication.
Study the effect of varying state legislation on the nature of criminal court processing.
Study racial disparity in the criminal court processing.

National Prisoner Statistics

Analyze correlates of post-prison recidivism, such as mental health conditions, substance use, supervision experiences, and post-prison employment.
Identify and analyze factors affecting the slowing of the growth in U.S. prison populations.
Develop models for identifying and estimating the relationship between incarceration rates and crime rates.
Conduct a cost/benefit analysis of longer prison terms.
Study the relationship between unemployment and imprisonment.Â
Examine mortality among correctional populations.
Investigate the unintended consequences of imprisonment.
Study factors influencing the aging of the prison population.
Devise record-linkage methods for improving data on correctional outcomes.
Analyze racial disparities in sentencing and time served.

Federal Justice

Changes in the nature and characteristics of cases prosecuted in the 94 Federal districts.
Study trends in sentencing variation in Federal districts.
Analyze arrest and prosecution data for Federal immigration cases.

Civil Justice

Examine the impact of appellate litigation on civil trial court outcomes.
Investigate trends in medical malpractice trial litigation.
Analyze the effect of tort reformsâ€”such as the collateral source rule or caps on non-economic or punitive damagesâ€”on civil trial litigation in state courts.
Compare civil bench trials to civil jury trials in state courts by taking into account selection biases and effects.

Most BJS data collections are available online through the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. Federal Justice Statistics data are also available from the Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center. Information about secondary research using BJS data is available at the American Statistical Association's Guide to Abstracts and Bibliographies.

Active Awards

The External Effects of Black Male Incarceration on Black Women

From War to Prison: Examining the Relationship between Military Service and Criminal Activity

Mental Disorder, Violence and Victimization among Offenders In and Out of Prison

The Effects of the Formal and Informal Control Interaction on Deviance and Disorder

Community and Organizational Influences on Law Enforcement Retention and Turnover

For a complete listing of ASA/BJS researchers please go to http://www.amstat.org/careers/pdfs/ASABJSResearchers.pdf

How to Submit

The following documents need to be submitted electronically in a single PDF file, not to exceed 30 pages to Joyce@amstat.org:

Abstract. The abstract should consist of no more than 250 words, be the first page of the application, and include the names of the datasets to be analyzed.
Proposal. The proposal should be no more than ten (10) pages double-spaced (excluding abstract and supporting material).
Supporting material. In addition to the abstract and proposal, the application should include a bibliography, tables, budget, budget narrative, appendices, and curriculum vitae. The entire application (abstract, proposal, and supporting material) should be no more than thirty (30) pages.

If the principal investigator is a graduate student, the chair of the student's dissertation committee should send a current curriculum vita and letter supporting the proposal. Budgets should specify the number of hours required of key personnel and their cost. Equipment purchases should be justified in an attached budget narrative. All budgets should include a visit to BJS to present the research and to discuss follow-up research with BJS staff. This visit should occur after most of the research has been completed but before the final documents have been written. We anticipate that up to $2,000 of the budget will be devoted to this visit. Additional funding to present at other conferences will be considered, payable at 50% of the cost.

Proposals should:

Describe the research questions, indicating the originality of the research and its substantive or methodological significance for the law and justice community;
Describe the dataset to be used and the proposed analysis;
Demonstrate that the data can support the research question, e.g., show that the variables contain adequate information and that there is a sufficient number of cases
Outline the specific tasks to be done, who is to do them, and within what timeframe;
Provide the specifications of the final project deliverables (e.g., analytic paper, statistical models, dataset, etc.). Deliverables should include details on the methodologies used. If a data file is one of the deliverables, the deliverables should include the syntax used to create it; and
Identify any unique problems that may be encountered in the research and how the researcher proposes to overcome them.

Proposals should be submitted to:	For more information about this solicitation:
American Statistical Association Committee on Law and Justice Statistics c/o Joyce Narine 732 North Washington Street Alexandria, VA 22314 1943 joyce@amstat.org	Bureau of Justice Statistics Ramona Rantala 202-307-6170 askbjs@usdoj.gov Subject: ASA RFP