The Department of Justice Welcomes New Leadership to the National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics

WASHINGTON, June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Assistant Attorney General Laurie O. Robinson today welcomed the confirmation of two new directors within the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Early today, the U.S. Senate confirmed John H. Laub, Ph.D., as the new director for the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and James P. Lynch, Ph.D., as the new director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

"I am pleased to welcome these two renowned researchers to the Department of Justice," said Assistant Attorney General Laurie O. Robinson. "Supporting basic social science research, while expanding our inventory of evidence based approaches, is one of the President's priorities. We welcome the expertise and experience that they bring to their respective bureaus, and look forward to their leadership within the Office of Justice Programs."

Laub, a distinguished professor from the University of Maryland's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, will be the first criminologist in four decades to serve as director of NIJ. He also is a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. His areas of research include crime and deviance over the life course, juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice, and the history of criminology. He has published widely and has won three major book awards for his work.

Lynch, a distinguished professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at John Jay College in New York, was previously a professor in the Department of Justice, Law, and Society at American University, where he also served as chair of the Department. Throughout his career, Lynch has focused on measurement issues in criminal justice data and statistics. His work with Al Biderman on the nation's two crime measures—the Uniform Crime Report and the National Crime Victimization Survey—is the authoritative source comparing national crime statistics. He has published three books and numerous articles on crime statistics, victimization surveys, victimization risk, and the role of sanctions in social control.

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), a component of the Office of Justice Programs, is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice and is dedicated to researching crime control and justice issues. NIJ provides objective, independent, evidence-based knowledge and tools to meet the challenges of crime and justice, particularly at the state and local levels. The Institute actively solicits the views of criminal justice and other professionals and researchers to inform its search for the knowledge and tools to guide policy and practice.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), a component of the Office of Justice Programs, is the primary statistical agency of the Department of Justice. BJS collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, crime victims, and criminal justice operations. BJS annually publishes data on criminal victimization, populations under correctional supervision, and federal criminal offenders and case processing. BJS also provides financial and technical support to state, local, and tribal governments.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Laurie O. Robinson, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has five component bureaus: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime. In addition, OJP has two program offices: the Community Capacity Development Office, which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). More information can be found at http://www.ojp.gov.

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SOURCE Office of Justice Programs - U.S. Department of Justice