Overview
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) supports high-quality, rigorous research, evaluations, and statistical analyses across a range of juvenile justice topic areas. These activities are central to OJJDP's mission to prevent and respond to youth delinquency and victimization.
OJJDP’s research provides information about the risk and protective factors that contribute to or deter youth’s involvement in juvenile justice systems. It also helps the field understand adolescent behaviors, system responses, and the interventions that are most likely to promote positive youth outcomes.
OJJDP uses this information to prioritize issues, guide the development of policies and programs, and inform training and technical assistance. OJJDP also uses the latest tools and resources to disseminate juvenile justice data, statistics, and research findings and make these findings more accessible and applicable to local needs and issues.
Looking for what works?
Visit OJJDP's Model Programs Guide (MPG) for evidence-based program, literature reviews, implementation guides, topical summaries, and more.
Seeking statistics?
Access the Statistical Briefing Book (SBB) for juvenile justice information and learn more about youth involved in juvenile justice systems.
Guidance for OJJDP Research Grantees
OJJDP awards that include research activities and those made under solicitations funded with OJJDP research funds have additional research-specific special conditions and grant requirements.
Research grantees should work with their assigned program manager on specific questions. The OJJDP Research Grantee Guidance web page outlines the general policies and procedures of those conditions.
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, and OJJDP sponsor the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD).
NACJD facilitates research in criminal and juvenile justice through the preservation, enhancement, and sharing of computerized data resources; through the production of original research based on archived data; and through specialized training workshops in quantitative analysis of crime and justice data.
DOJ and OJJDP priorities guide the research, including:
- Data collections and analyses that provide national statistics, descriptive data, and information about trends in delinquency, victimization, and juvenile justice systems.
- Basic research that explores the pathways and causes of delinquency and victimization, including longitudinal studies.
- Evaluations that increase understanding of what works (and what does not work) in preventing and reducing delinquency, victimization, and risk behavior and promoting positive developmental outcomes.