Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Community-Based Responses to Justice-Involved Young Adults
This bulletin proposes new institutional methods and processes for young adult justice. The authors’ primary recommendation is that the age of juvenile court jurisdiction be raised to 21, with additional, gradually-diminishing protections for young adults up to age 24 or 25.
Report: Technology-Involved Harassment Victimization: Placement in a Broader Victimization Context
NIJ-supported researchers from the University of New Hampshire analyzed response data from 791 youth, ages 10-20, related to their experience with technology-involved harassment victimization (PDF, 28 pages). Results show that 54% of harassment was in-person only, 15% involved technology only, and 31% involved both (known as “mixed incidents”). Mixed incidents were more likely to result in overall negative emotional impact, while technology-only harassment incidents were among the least problematic and upsetting to youth.
Archived Webinar: Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice
This archived webinar presents a briefing on the release of a consensus report on the state of the science on the: 1) biological and psychosocial consequences of peer victimization, and 2) risk and protective factors that either increase or decrease peer victimization behavior and consequences. The report will discuss the next steps needed in the intervention and prevention of bullying to help inform policy, practice, and future research on promising approaches to reduce peer victimization, particularly for the most at-risk populations.
Report: Campus Sexual Assault in the United States
This report includes a review of prevalence estimates for campus sexual assault in the United States published between January 2000 and February 2015. Results show that estimates of rape varied widely, largely due to differences in measurement and definitions of sexual assault among studies.
Resource: Remedial Coursetaking at U.S. Public 2- and 4-Year Institutions
This report provides an analysis of beginning postsecondary students’ coursetaking between 2003 and 2009, documenting the scope, intensity, timing, and completion of remedial coursetaking and its association with various postsecondary outcomes.
Report: Developmentally Appropriate Criminal Justice Responses to Justice-Involved Young Adults
This report (PDF, 87 pages) presents findings of an environmental scan that identified programs addressing the developmental needs of young adults involved in the criminal justice system. It also discusses legislation with provisions sensitive to the developmental level and maturation of justice-involved young adults.
Resource: Using Procedural Justice to Improve Community Relations
This video features Michael Davis, Director of Public Safety at Northeastern University, describing the concept of procedural justice and how it can be integrated into policing operations to improve community relations and address crime challenges.
Report: The Role of Technology in Youth Harassment Victimization
This bulletin (PDF, 12 pages) discusses key findings from the Technology Harassment Victimization study. Conducted between December 2013 and March 2014, this study examined technology-involved harassment within the context of other types of youth victimization and risk factors.
Report: National Survey of Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence
This report (PDF, 18 pages) by NORC at the University of Chicago describes a study that measured the nature and scope of teen dating violence, including who perpetrates such violence and who has been victimized. The study found that approximately two thirds of youth who were in a relationship, or had been in one in the past year, reported they had been victimized (69%) or perpetrated violence (63%).
Resource: Hidden Consequences: The Impact of Incarceration on Dependent Children
This article summarizes the range of risk factors facing children of incarcerated parents. It also cautions against universal policy solutions that seek to address these risk factors but do not take into account the child's unique needs, the child's relationship with the incarcerated parent, and alternative support systems. Correctional practitioners and other service providers can use this resource to better understand how their communication and collaboration can foster a safety net for children and facilitate successful re-entry for the incarcerated parent.
Resource: Considering Family Context as an Important Element in the Prevention and Intervention of the Development of Teen Dating Violence
This article describes two NIJ-funded studies that highlight the importance of family context in the development of aggression and teen dating violence. Organizations that serve parents of high-risk youth can use this information to inform how they address mental health, marital conflict, and parenting skills.
Resource: Drug Courts
This article (PDF, 2 pages) provides an overview of the varying types of drug courts. Criminal defendants and offenders, family members, criminal justice practitioners, and drug treatment professionals can use this information to understand the purpose and function of drug courts and to find related research and resources.
Report: Summary of School Safety Statistics
This report (PDF, 12 pages), developed by NIJ’s Comprehensive School Safety Initiative, draws on data collected by multiple federal agencies to examine common beliefs pertaining to school safety statistics and provides evidence to support or dispel each of them.
Report: Effects of Child Maltreatment, Cumulative Victimization Experiences, and Proximal Life Stress on Adult Crime and Antisocial Behavior
This report describes a study examining the long-term effects of child abuse and neglect to understand the pathways between child maltreatment and adult criminal behavior. Researchers compared records of abusive parenting to self-reported criminal involvement in adulthood, as well as antisocial behavior during middle childhood and adolescence.
Report: Predicting Intimate Partner Violence for At-Risk Young Adults and Their Romantic Partners
This report describes a study examining the developmental and familial pathways to intimate partner violence involvement in young adulthood and identified partner influences on intimate partner violence.
Resource: School Safety: By the Numbers
This resource (PDF, 2 pages), produced by the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative, examines statistics about school safety and violence, including the rates of school crime and school shootings, security measures in schools, the occurrence of traumatic events at school, and the role of social media in making threats. Education professionals, policymakers, and other stakeholders can use this information to develop responses to school violence.
Academic Achievement Trajectories of Homeless and Highly Mobile Students: Resilience in the Context of Chronic and Acute Risk
As featured by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the University of Minnesota released a study, Academic Achievement Trajectories of Homeless and Highly Mobile Students: Resilience in the Context of Chronic and Acute Risk, which examined academic achievement of students identified as homeless or highly mobile as compared with other students in the federal free meal program, reduced price meals, or neither. This study was partially federally funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Science Foundation.
Director’s Blog: What Caused This to Happen?
Written by NIMH Director Dr. Thomas Insel, this blog post explains the mixture of genetic and environmental factors that underly mental illness and cites recent research that suggests “bad luck” may play a role in the development of psychopathology.
NIMH Strategic Plan Aims to Focus, Accelerate Mental Health Research
NIMH has issued a new Strategic Plan for Research, which updates the strategic objectives of its 2008 plan, with a focus on balancing the need for long-term investments in basic research with urgent mental health needs. The plan includes four strategic priorities which will guide the institute’s research for the next five years:
- Define the mechanisms of complex behaviors
- Chart mental illness trajectories to determine when, where, and how to intervene
- Strive for prevention and cures
- Strengthen the public health impact of NIMH-supported research
The Anatomy of NIMH Funding
In response to calls for transparency, this blog post and corresponding white paper (PDF, 13 pages) written by NIMH director Thomas Insel provide insight into the NIMH budget, including what is funded, who is funded, and how funding decisions are made.
The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction
This brochure describes changes in the brain that occur during the teen years, and the significance of this stage of development.
Boys More Likely to Have Antipsychotics Prescribed, Regardless of Age
New research funded by NIMH analyzed antipsychotic prescription data between 2006-2010. The data show that, in children ages 1-6, boys were more than twice as likely as girls to receive an antipsychotic prescription. This pattern held true for boys and girls ages 7-12, before narrowing for those ages 13-18, and finally becoming more comparable for young men and women ages 19-24.
Share with Youth: Teen Depression
Youth-serving professionals can use this resource, developed for teens, to educate young people about depression. It contains information about the signs and symptoms of depression, places to turn to for help, effective treatments for depression, steps teens can take to feel better, and the impact depression can have on relationships.
Director’s Blog: The Brain’s Critical Balance
Written by NIMH Director Thomas Insel, this blog post highlights one of early projects of the BRAIN Initiative, launched to support scientists as they conduct research on the brain, consciousness, and behavior. This project involves scientists at NIMH and the University of Maryland who are trying to understand how the activity of individual neurons integrates into larger patterns of brain activity
Recent Event: Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder
This Twitter chat featured Dr. Ellen Leibenluft, Chair of the Section on Bipolar Spectrum Disorder and expert on severe irritability in children, who answered questions on disruptive mood dysregulation disorder submitted by Twitter users.