No, there is flexibility regarding work and travel arrangements. BJS visiting fellows may, at their discretion, work on-site at BJS for the duration of their project or make occasional visits to accommodate their schedules. Travel expenses may be allowed to make site visits with other BJS or OJP staff, to attend conferences and meetings (both local and outside of the Washington Metropolitan Area), and to participate in training. While in Washington, fellows have the benefit of access to BJS staff and an office space as well as the bureau's rich array of datasets and software. Further, some BJS datasets can only be accessed on site.
Possible projects are identified in the solicitation for the fiscal year of the fellowship. In addition, applicants may want to contact BJS staff before submitting a proposal to identify a mutually agreeable project and discuss how to best focus their work to meet BJS research needs. Although not required, this early collaboration is very helpful in ensuring that the proposed project effectively addresses the complexities often encountered in BJS data. Please note, such a consultation does not guarantee, in any way, that an application will be chosen. Applicants who want to know if their area of expertise might contribute to the work at BJS should email [email protected].
Budgets submitted for fellowships may include—
- salary
- benefits, such as life, health, and disability insurance; state workers’ compensation; retirement plan; FICA; and a public transportation stipend that does not exceed $125.00 monthly (based on actual expenses)
- travel to make site visits with other BJS or OJP staff, to attend conferences and meetings (both local and outside of the Washington Metropolitan Area), and to participate in training, including per diem expenses within the limitation of federal regulations
- indirect costs, if the applicant has an indirect rate approval with the federal government.
Budgets may not include—
- computer hardware or software (these are provided while at BJS)
- books or other reference materials
- fees for dissemination of research
- per diem expenses for meals and incidentals when traveling to Washington, DC.
In addition, fellows have access to resources at BJS, including technical support and library facilities, in-house databases and computer facilities, a laptop computer or stationary workstation, and statistical software. Limited funds are available to accommodate specialized needs for software and hardware. Salaries are commensurate with qualifications and experience. Benefits, travel, and relocation support are negotiable.
BJS Visiting Fellows Program is announced in a solicitation made available on the Funding page. The solicitation contains more information about the application deadline, where to send your application, specific application requirements, and the selection process.
If you are interested in the program or have additional questions, send an email to [email protected]. In the subject of the email specify, BJS Visiting Fellows Program.
(Affiliation at time of fellowship)
Megan Kurlychek, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
School of Criminal Justice
University at Albany, SUNY
Project: Assessing the immediate and longer-term outcomes of juveniles processed and sentenced in adult courts
Professor Janet L. Lauritsen
Associate Professor
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Project: Examining the methodological history of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
Professor David P. Farrington
Lecturer in Criminology at Cambridge University
Former President of the British Society of Criminology
President-elect of the American Society of Criminology
Project: Comparison of crime and justice in England and the U.S.
Professor Michael D. Maltz
Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois
Editor of Journal of Quantitative Criminology
Project: Development of graphical and geographical methods for analyzing criminal justice data
Professor James A. Fox
Dean of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University
Project: Investigating how different police departments classify assaults and homicides for statistical purposes
Professor James P. Lynch
Associate Professor
Department of Justice, Law and Society
American University
Project: Describing differences in punishment cross-nationally with special emphasis on the use of incarceration
Professor Roland J. Chilton
Department of Sociology
University of Massachusetts
Project: Create easy-to-use incident-based police datasets for analysis of diverse topics related to crime
KiDeuk Kim
Senior Research Associate
Justice Policy Center
The Urban Institute
Project: Examining methods to measure the recidivism of youthful offenders
Christopher Wildeman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Human Ecology
Cornell University
Project: Reviewing variations in the incarceration-mortality relationship by state and institution type
Heather Warnken, J.D., LL.M.
Legal Policy Associate
Warren Institute on Law & Social Policy
U.C. Berkeley School of Law
Project: Improving the use, dissemination, and translation of statistical data and social science findings for the crime victim assistance field
The number and percentage of unique persons who are victims of violent crime (prevalence of violent crime) and the number and percentage of unique households that are victims of property crime (prevalence of property crime) can be found using the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). See the Criminal Victimization series for prevalence rates by year. See A New Measure of Prevalence for the National Crime Victimization Survey for more information on the measurement of prevalence using the NCVS.
Organizations eligible to participate in the IPA Mobility Program include—
- state and local governments
- domestic colleges and universities that are accredited
- Indian tribal governments
- federally funded research and development centers
- other eligible organizations
Under the revised IPA Mobility Program regulations (5 CFR part 334), OJP is responsible for certifying the eligibility of “other organizations” for participation in the IPA Mobility Program.
Other eligible organizations include national, regional, state-wide, area-wide, or metropolitan organizations, with a representing member from—
- state or local governments
- associations of state or local public officials
- nonprofit organizations that, as one of their principal functions, provide services, such as professional advisory, research, educational, and developmental to governments or universities concerned with public management
- federally funded research and development centers.
An employee of a nonfederal organization must be employed by that organization in a career position for at least 90 days before entering into an IPA agreement. The Department of Justice requires that participants be U.S. citizens. Individuals excluded from participating include—
- federal, state, or local government employees serving under noncareer, excepted service, noncompetitive, time-limited, temporary, or term appointments
- elected federal, state, or local government officials
- members of the uniformed military services and the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- students employed in research, graduate or teaching assistant positions, or similar temporary positions.
Interagency Personnel Agreement (IPA) participants are selected by the BJS director or a designee and are based on the employee’s qualifications and interests, BJS needs, and the mutual benefits to BJS and the organization employing the candidate. IPA projects should focus on improving one or more of BJS’s statistical programs. BJS’s statistical programs and data collections are described on the BJS website at https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collections.
Recent BJS efforts to improve its statistical infrastructure have focused on survey design, the use of administrative records for statistical purposes, data quality assessments, and record linkage. There is a wide range of opportunities for an IPA within these general areas. For example, the survey design area includes sampling for continuous administration of establishment surveys and alternative sample designs for the National Crime Victimization Survey that address within-place explicit stratification to increase the number of victims who respond to the survey.
BJS is interested in developing survey instruments for new topical areas and aligning BJS’s surveys with other national survey instruments to facilitate comparisons. Within the area of using administrative records, BJS and the federal statistical system have interests in developing an administrative records analogue to the total survey error model for sample surveys.
Examples of other areas of interest include—
- National Crime Victimization Survey—
- -Small area estimation, using both sample data collected directly within states and model-based approaches
-Interviewing juveniles and persons younger than age 12 on sensitive topics related to criminal victimization.
- -Small area estimation, using both sample data collected directly within states and model-based approaches
- Law enforcement statistics—
- -Demonstrating the utility of incident-based crime statistics (such as the National Incident-Based Reporting System) for statistical, research, and evaluation purposes.
- Recidivism statistics—
- -Assessing the quality of criminal history records (also known as records of arrest and prosecution, or RAP sheets) for completeness and operational and statistical uses
-Imputation for item nonresponse
-Research designs for comparing the recidivism outcomes for groups of offenders.
- -Assessing the quality of criminal history records (also known as records of arrest and prosecution, or RAP sheets) for completeness and operational and statistical uses
- Federal justice statistics—
- -Assessing the quality of imputation and using the “dyad link” file in the Federal Justice Statistics Program.
- Indian country statistics—
- -Designing and conducting surveys of criminal justice systems in Indian country with assistance from experts on Indian country issues.
- Juvenile justice statistics—
- -Using existing BJS statistical program data to develop statistics on juvenile victims and offenders, and on contact of juveniles with adult criminal justice agencies.
Because the range of topics is potentially wide, individuals interested in considering an IPA arrangement should talk with BJS about their ideas.