The National Institute of Justice is the scientific research, development, and evaluation agency of the US Department of Justice. Each year, NIJ identifies needed topical research in the physical and social sciences, solicits proposals from universities and other research institutions to conduct that research, and awards grants to fund the selected proposals.
criminal justice
JEDI, CAUSE Team to Offer Resources for JEDI-Informed Teaching
Recently, a group involved in both JEDI and CAUSE came together to create a space to host resources for JEDI-informed statistics teaching: the JEDI-CAUSE website. Each entry is relevant to statistics and data science education and has a JEDI theme.
The United States Needs to Fill the Gaps in Its Crime Statistics
Janet L. Lauritsen says the US lacks sufficient data for many types of crime of great concern to society, and this is particularly the case for crimes falling under federal jurisdiction.
Meet Alex Piquero, Head of the Bureau of Justice Statistics
Alex R. Piquero was appointed by President Joe Biden in June of 2022 to serve as director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and sworn in August 15, 2022.
A Stormy Spring Sprouts Blossoms of Optimism
Rob Santos hopes we see a spring season that blossoms with health, tolerance, and friendship.
Alicia Carriquiry
Working on applications has been Alicia Carriquiry’s passion and the reason she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Today, she leads CSAFE, a National Institute of Standards and Technology Center of Excellence with a focus on forensic statistics.
HRDAG Answers Human Rights Questions on Large Scale
The Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) uses data science to answer questions about human rights on a large scale, from determining chain of command and accountability in international cases of genocide to evaluating whether artificial intelligence–based tools used by the US criminal justice system are fair.
Kristian Lum: A Statistician Inspired by Human Rights
Building on an interest in mathematics while in high school, Kristian Lum went into college set on a math degree. However, what she expected was a connection between the problems and reality—something she didn’t find in higher mathematics. It wasn’t until she took a course in statistics that she really discovered her passion, because she could use quantitative skills to tackle real-world problems.
Data for Good Highlights at JSM 2019
David Corliss highlights a few special sessions at JSM this year that offer opportunities to make an impact with statistical science.
Kristian Lum
For as long as she can remember, Lum has enjoyed math and logic puzzles. Her interest in math took off in high school when she took calculus from an excellent professor at the local community college. She has concentrated on applying statistics to important problems in human rights ever since and is the lead statistician at the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, where she examines the use of machine learning in the criminal justice system.