Longitudinal Research on Delinquency and Crime

Overview

<p>The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), is seeking applications for funding to conduct an expansion or extension of one or more ongoing/existing longitudinal research studies that focus on delinquency and crime throughout the life-course of the individual. The research findings are intended to inform efforts to prevent the onset of delinquency and to intervene in the lives of juvenile and young adult offenders. This project furthers the Department’s mission by supporting the development of new knowledge and tools to address the challenges of crime and justice in the United States.</p> <p>The primary objective of this solicitation is to identify malleable risk and protective factors, which can be effectively targeted in efforts to prevent the onset of delinquency and to intervene in the lives of juvenile and young adult offenders.</p> <p><strong>OJP Policy Priority Areas</strong><br>In FY 2021 and in addition to executing any program-specific prioritization that may be applicable, OJP will give priority consideration to applications as follows:</p> <ul> <li>Applications that address specific challenges that rural communities face.</li> <li>Applications that demonstrate that the individuals who are intended to benefit from the requested grant reside in high-poverty areas or persistent-poverty counties.</li> <li>Applications that offer enhancements to public safety in economically distressed communities (Qualified Opportunity Zones).</li> </ul> <p>OJP policy priority consideration will consist of receiving additional points in the application scoring process.</p> <p><strong>Study Methodologies</strong></p> <ul> <li>Applicants should clearly describe the existing or ongoing longitudinal study that would be expanded or extended under this solicitation, with a discussion of the existing or original research questions, sample (size, selection criteria, demographics, and attrition to date), data sources and access agreements, data collection to date, study variables and measures, data analysis, findings to date, and associated publications/reports to date.</li> <li>Applicants should articulate why this particular existing or ongoing longitudinal study provides a sound basis for investigation of developmental and life-course crime and delinquency in relation to this solicitation’s potential expansion/extension.</li> <li>Applicants should demonstrate an understanding of relevant research efforts to date, and justify how the proposed study would contribute to our understanding of how effectively to prevent delinquency and to intervene in the lives of youth offenders.</li> <li>Applicants should clearly describe how the expansion/extension effort would enhance the current study. As an example, this might entail additional research questions, primary data collection on additional variables, identification of additional data sources, extended number of waves of data collection, enlargement of the sample, examination of extended developmental periods or intergenerational influences on risk and protective factors, additional analysis, increased generalizability of findings, and/or increased utility of findings for policy and practice.</li> <li><span>Applicants are encouraged to approach the etiology of delinquency and crime from a multi-disciplinary perspective, recognizing the holistic development of the child and adolescent in the context of the family, school, peers, and community influences.</span></li> <li>Applicants are encouraged to incorporate an examination of topics such as the effects of trauma, child sexual abuse/exploitation, and runaway experiences on the risk for further victimization and/or delinquency and crime.</li> <li>In order to guide the selection and inclusion of factors to be investigated, applicants should articulate a theoretical framework. Emphasis should be placed on the identification of malleable risk and protective factors in order for this research to inform the design of more effective strategies for both prevention of, and intervention in, delinquent and criminal behavioral trajectories.</li> <li><span>Under this solicitation, NIJ emphasizes that the expansion or extension of an ongoing study will include prospective data collection to advance our knowledge of developmental and life-course engagement in delinquency and crime. In addition, applicants may also seek to harvest administrative data sources, particularly those that may be linked at the individual research subject level.</span></li> <li>Applicants should clearly describe the plans for the study sample, data management, data analysis plans, project products, dissemination, and data archiving.</li> <li>Applicants should describe the potential impact of this study in terms of the stated purpose and goal of this solicitation.</li> <li>Applicants should identify the limitations of the proposed study and their approach to addressing anticipated challenges. This might include such considerations as generalizability of findings, recruitment and retention of the sample, data access concerns, missing data, or protection of human subjects.</li> <li>Applicants may choose to address as a part of their research design how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted delinquency and crime trajectories from a developmental and life-course perspective.</li> <li><span>Applicants should provide a detailed timeline for the proposed study.</span></li> </ul>