Forging a Major NIJ (National Institute of Justice)/Corrections Partnership

NIJ's partnership commitment is reflected in the NIJ Research Plan: 1995-1996, which gives special emphasis to research partnerships with other Federal agencies involved in corrections and with private foundations. Prior to developing a special research solicitation on the boot camp program, NIJ held a strategic planning session with criminal justice practitioners and researchers to ensure that the solicitation and subsequent awards would address appropriate objectives and priorities. Another facet of NIJ's commitment to corrections is its initiative to develop technology that will create a safer and more secure correctional environment. NIJ's intensified focus on corrections is also reflected in its initiative on health and justice. Operating since 1993, the initiative is built on prior years' NIJ-sponsored research in areas where health and crime intersect, such as health care in correctional facilities. To help launch the initiative and to provide continuing guidance, NIJ established and collaborates with a working group of professionals from a wide spectrum of organizations involved in health and justice. Issues addressed under this initiative are mental health services and the cost of correctional health care. Another NIJ corrections effort has focused on special offender populations in prisons, such as incarcerated mothers and their children. A final example of NIJ efforts to develop a stronger partnership with the corrections field is NIJ's developing research initiative on sentencing issues and the consequences of sentencing decisions.