Thanks to those of you who have provided feedback on Crime Solutions – both critics and fans alike! Please know that NIJ welcomes this input, and we are continuing to solicit and respond to that valuable feedback. At the 2024 NIJ Research Conference, we held two feedback sessions that included practitioners and researchers, some familiar with CrimeSolutions and some just learning about the clearinghouse. We heard both praise and concerns and came away with some new ideas that we are excited to explore and potentially implement.
As for changes that are already underway, I am pleased to share that the program rating instrument is rounding into shape. We are fine-tuning and preparing the new web-based instrument that will allow us to rate programs by outcome, as we do with practices. While that is happening, we are conducting background research on the programs that we prioritized for re-review, including looking for more recent evaluations.
We also continue to train reviewers on the new outcome-based instrument, and NIJ plans to post an open call for new reviewers in the coming months. We will select a limited number of new reviewers with expertise in evaluation research and one or more topics, including law enforcement, crime prevention, victims, drugs, juvenile justice, courts, and correction. New reviewers will be trained and certified on the revised program rating instrument. We will reach out to CrimeSolutions and other NIJ subscribers so keep an eye out for an email inviting application if you are interested and please don’t hesitate to share the opportunities with your network.
Based on feedback we received at the NIJ conference, we also are planning to host two webinars. One will introduce the recent improvements to Crime Solutions and walk attendees through the new program profiles and other changes to the site. The other will dive deeper into the new program scoring instrument to give everyone a peak under the hood.
At NIJ we are striving to be transparent in our policies and practices. Doing so means keeping the field updated on our plans and soliciting input on changes before they are made. That means that we are reliant on you to provide suggestions along the way, which we will take under serious consideration in the interests of serving the field. Stay tuned for more updates on Crime Solutions changes in a future email, and thanks in advance for your engagement.
I invite you also to review my past communications regarding the changes coming to CrimeSolutions from February and July 2024.
With best regards,
Nancy La Vigne, Ph.D.
Director, National Institute of Justice