Longitudinal Research on Delinquency and Crime, FY 2019 | NIJ 2019 16111

Opportunity Information: Apply for NIJ 2019 16111

The Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) funding opportunity titled "Longitudinal Research on Delinquency and Crime, FY 2019" (Funding Opportunity Number NIJ 2019 16111) supports interdisciplinary, science-driven research aimed at explaining how delinquency and crime begin, continue, escalate, and eventually stop across a person's development. The central focus is on longitudinal, prospective data collection, meaning researchers are expected to follow people over time and measure experiences and outcomes as they unfold rather than relying only on retrospective accounts. NIJ is looking for studies that strengthen developmental and life-course understanding of criminal behavior by clarifying causal ordering, identifying when key risk factors emerge, and pinpointing protective factors that can reduce the likelihood of offending or support desistance. A major intended payoff is practical: by isolating malleable (changeable) risk and protective factors, the research should help guide better prevention and intervention strategies and improve responses to delinquent and criminal trajectories.

The solicitation is structured around two application categories. Category 1 funds the initiation of new longitudinal research studies. These proposed new studies are expected to sample populations that are diverse across race, ethnicity, and gender, and that also represent different geographic contexts, including rural, suburban, and urban communities. NIJ places particular emphasis on selecting a young enough cohort so researchers can measure precursors to delinquency before delinquent behavior is established, allowing clearer tests of developmental pathways and causal sequencing over the life course. Category 1 also includes an initial research design planning phase. If NIJ makes multiple awards under Category 1, recipients would be expected to participate in collaborative planning across projects, with a key goal of aligning or harmonizing core measures where feasible. That comparability is intended to make findings more replicable across sites and to allow stronger cross-study conclusions rather than producing isolated, noncomparable datasets.

Category 2 supports the extension or expansion of existing or ongoing longitudinal studies. The intent here is to leverage already-established cohorts and data infrastructure to deepen understanding of delinquency and crime risk and protective factors over time. Rather than starting from scratch, applicants can propose adding waves of data collection, expanding measurement domains, extending follow-up into new developmental periods, or otherwise enhancing an existing study so it better captures life-course dynamics related to offending, persistence, escalation, and desistance.

Across both categories, NIJ encourages researchers to build on the established literature on risk and protective factors while also incorporating emerging topics relevant to delinquent and criminal behavior. While the opportunity statement does not enumerate specific emerging topics, the emphasis signals openness to new or evolving influences on delinquency and crime provided they are grounded in theory, measured rigorously, and integrated into longitudinal designs that can clarify timing and mechanisms.

From an administrative and eligibility standpoint, this is a discretionary grant under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category (CFDA 16.560). Eligible applicants include a broad range of entities: state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and other applicants as described in the opportunity's additional eligibility guidance. The opportunity was created on June 14, 2019, with an original closing date of August 13, 2019. NIJ anticipated making one award, with an award ceiling of $1,000,000.

In practical terms, NIJ is signaling that it wants rigorous, long-term, developmentally informed studies that can move beyond correlation to better understand how and why delinquency and crime unfold, with enough diversity and measurement consistency to make the results broadly informative and usable for policy and practice.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Longitudinal Research on Delinquency and Crime, FY 2019" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 14, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 13, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for NIJ 2019 16111

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