1st Annual International Meeting of Directors of Government-based Research Institutes

November 10, 1998

Washington, DC

The National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, hosted a meeting for Directors of Government-based criminal justice research institutes on November 10, 1998, in Washington, D.C. There were 24 representatives from 18 different research institutes present for the discussions. During opening comments, the NIJ Director, expressed his hope that the meeting would serve as the beginning of an international community among criminal justice research institutes similar to the ones convened for the meeting.

The meeting began with each participant providing an overview of their organization's research topics, related communication and dissemination activities, agency organization and funding, and what each hoped to see developing from the discussions.

Similar issues, interests, and priorities evolved from the introductions given by each attendee. Generally, the attendees indicated a growing reliance on the Internet for responding to inquiries, dissemination of information and publications, information gathering and comparison, and as a forum for targeted discussion. These Internet activities were seen as viable mechanisms for overcoming time and distance barriers, and for eliminating the replication of research already completed by other organizations or countries.

Additional meetings and information products along with more immediate access to research information were seen as important to:

• Laying a foundation for the planning of global comparative and collaborative preventive efforts;
• Establishing best practices in various criminal justice areas;

  Forging a relationship between technology and the social sciences to better capture current and evolving crime and criminal justice research issues; and

• Continuing a discussion of the natural tension arising from the need to protect the independence of researchers, while at the same time meeting the research needs of governmental organizations. In this context, a preeminent concern is to ensure that research informs policy.

The participants explored common thematic and operational areas of interest for continued examination and discussion, as well as methods for continuing their developing relationships. Common areas for possible research collaboration discussed during the meeting included:

• Economic, organized, and white collar crime;
• Corruption in law enforcement agencies;
• Connections between drugs/alcohol and crime;
• Youthful offenders and alternative dispositions for them;
• Locally collaborative strategic planning for crime prevention;
• Violence against women; and
• New programs for drug-involved and sexual offenders.

Organizational and operational areas of interest that evolved from the discussion were:

• Electronic and hard copy best practices for information dissemination; cross-national and cooperative publication arrangements or series;
• Standard data collection frameworks, consensus on a standard criminal justice terminology, and standardized categories for measuring crime rates;
• More effective connection of justice research with practice and government policy;
• Modeling of criminal justice systems in order to predict correctional needs and the impact of sentencing;
• Combining technology and social science to better address criminal justice topics;
• A model for involved research, fostering strategic practice; and
• More internationally based research programs.

As the meeting concluded, the group proposed meeting in 1999 prior to the American Society of Criminology meeting in Toronto. Other ways to continue relationships and discussions among international justice ministries between the yearly meetings would include the continued use of the Internet for informal communications between the participants on issues of mutual interest.