Document Type
Report
Publication Date
2019
Abstract
The Nebraska Center for Justice Research (NCJR) was established in 2014 with a mission to develop and sustain criminal justice research capacity internal to the State of Nebraska. Our goal is to assist the Legislature, justice agencies, practitioners, foundations, and stakeholders with research and evaluation to reduce recidivism, promote the use of evidence-based practices, and improve public safety. This annual report summarizes the activities and financial status of NCJR in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. In this past year, NCJR once again crafted our Adult Justice in Nebraska report to provide a foundation of data trends in areas such as law enforcement and corrections for the Legislature at the beginning of the legislative session. NCJR also completed a report assessing the effectiveness of the ShotSpotter audio shot detection system in Omaha as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiatives. NCJR Director, Ryan Spohn, completed a report for the Bureau of Justice Assistance that summarized the results of a multi-state “immersion” training of the Blue Courage initiative, which focuses on law enforcement officer health, well-being, and professional success. Finally, NJCR staff produced 16 monthly and quarterly reports for Nebraska’s Vocational and Life Skills inmate reentry initiative. In regards to NCJR’s academic mission, our faculty and graduate students placed multiple publications in academic journals and presented at the annual conferences of the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, the Omaha-area Heartland Juvenile Service Association, and the Nebraska Juvenile Justice Association. From a budgetary standpoint, we continue to be encouraged by the well-balanced budgetary profile of NCJR that includes state funding, contracts with local agencies, federal grants, and funding by local foundations. The diversity of our funding profile not only broadens the impact of our research, training, technical assistance, and evaluation activities across the state, but also allows us to provide “matching” funding for products that benefit from both public and private dollars. Our state appropriation is only 35% of our budget, suggesting that for every state dollar invested, NCJR attracts two additional dollars in external funds. In summary, 2018-2019 was another productive year with a substantial output of research, evaluation, and academic products. In addition, we continue to build research partnerships, collaborations, and relationships with agency and community stakeholders. We look forward to learning from these experiences and increasing our capacity to serve the Nebraska community in subsequent years. On a very sad note, we lost a very special friend, colleague, and faculty affiliate in Dr. Benjamin Steiner, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, who passed this yea
Recommended Citation
Nebraska Center for Justice Research, University of Nebraska at Omaha and Spohn, Ryan E., "Annual Report 2019" (2019). Reports. 66.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/ncjrreports/66