February 7, 2024

20510 Dear Chairs Granger and Murray, Ranking Member DeLauro, Vice Chair Collins: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to urge the highest possible funding level in the final FY 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) within the Department of Justice. [...] Specifically, we ask that Congress appropriate no less than the Senate level of $35.5 million for the National Institute of Justice and $42.5 million for the Bureau of Justice Statistics (totaling $78 million for the Research, Evaluation, and Statistics account within the Office of Justice Programs). [...] NIJ and BJS collectively serve as the research and data- gathering arm of the Department of Justice, filling an important role in helping to understand and implement science-based strategies for crime prevention and control. [...] In addition, due to a lack of purchasing power, NIJ was not able to issue funding solicitations in FY 2022 on topics such as: the intersection of homelessness and the criminal justice system; preventing and mitigating the impact of mass shootings; victimization experiences of immigrant populations; White collar crime; and social science research related to forensic science. [...] Bureau of Justice Statistics The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) produces high-quality data on many aspects of the United States criminal justice system, including corrections, courts, crime type, law enforcement personnel and expenditures, federal processing of criminal cases, Indian country justice statistics, and victims of crime.