Bureau of Justice Statistics
{{Short description|U.S. criminal justice data agency}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name = Bureau of Justice Statistics
| type = Bureau/Office
| logo = Logo of the Bureau of Justice Statistics.svg
| logo_width = 91px
| logo_caption = Logo of the Bureau of Justice Statistics
| seal = Seal of the United States Department of Justice.svg
| seal_width = 91px
| seal_caption = Seal of the United States Department of Justice
| formed = {{Start date and age|1979|12|27}}
| preceding1 =
| jurisdiction = United States government agency
|headquarters = 810 7th Street NW
Washington, D.C., United States
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| chief1_name = Alex Piquero{{cite web|title=The BJS Director|url=https://bjs.ojp.gov/bjs-director|website=www.bjs.ojp.gov|access-date=2022-08-16|language=en|date=2022-08-15}}
| chief1_position = Director
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| parent_department = Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
| website = {{url|bjs.ojp.gov}}
}}
{{Criminology}}
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of criminal and civil justice systems at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels. Established on December 27, 1979, BJS collects, analyzes, and publishes data relating to crime in the United States. The agency publishes data regarding statistics gathered from the roughly fifty-thousand agencies, offices, courts, and institutions that together comprise the U.S. justice system.{{cite web|url=http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/aboutbjs.htm |title=About the Bureau of Justice Statistics |publisher=U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics |access-date=2006-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926003905/http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/aboutbjs.htm |archive-date=2006-09-26 |url-status=dead }}
The mission of BJS is "To collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government."
BJS, along with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and other program offices, comprise the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) branch of the Department of Justice.
They collect data for Census of State and Local Law
Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA).
Programs
The BJS conducts the Annual Survey of Jails of a sample of about 950 U.S. jails, and a periodic Census of Jails covering all U.S. jails.[https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/annual-survey-jails-asj Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ)] at bjs.gov[https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/census-jails-coj Census of Jails (COJ)] at bjs.gov
Data from these programs was used to show that local jails in the U.S. had a sharp decline in inmates from February to May, 2020 of perhaps 185,000 inmates, more than 20% of the inmate population, in response to the danger of covid-19 on a crowded incarcerated population. Many inmates were given an "expedited release".Todd D. Minton, Zhen Zeng, Ph.D., and Laura M. Maruschak. 2021. [https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/icljpjj20.pdf Impact of COVID-19 on the Local Jail Population], January-June 2020. BJS Special Report NCJ 255888.
See also
{{Portal|United States|Politics}}
BJS Directors
In 2005, the Bush administration replaced BJS Director Lawrence Greenfeld after he refused to remove certain racial statistics from a report, despite having published similar statistics in 2001. The following two references provide analysis and initial reporting, respectively.
- Josephf M. Bessette[http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/186zjffr.asp "The Injustice Department"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909185304/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/186zjffr.asp |date=2015-09-09 }}, The Weekly Standard (Volume 011, Issue 05), October 17, 2005.
- Eric Lichtblau[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/politics/24profiling.html "Profiling Report Leads to a Demotion"]. The New York Times, August 24, 2005.
More recent directors have included Jeffrey H. Anderson, Jeffrey Sedgwick, Michael Sinclair, John Jay Professor James P. Lynch, and former Deputy Director William Sabol.
Until 2012 the position of the BJS Director required a Senate approval, but since 2012 the post only requires the President's appointment.Hanna Kozlowska, [https://www.govexec.com/management/2017/12/trumps-man-charge-us-crime-data-known-his-football-rankings/144240/ Trump’s Man In Charge Of U.S. Crime Data Is Known For His Football Rankings], Government Executive, December 1, 2017. Accessed July 31, 2018 Alex Piquero is the current BJS Director.
References
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External links
{{commons category|United States Bureau of Justice Statistics}}
- {{Official website|https://bjs.ojp.gov }}
- [http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pba&tid=0&dcid=0&sid=0&iid=0&sortby=dt most recent reports]
- [https://www.usaspending.gov/federal_account/015-0401 Research, Evaluation, and Statistics] account on USAspending.gov
{{US Statistical Agencies}}
{{DOJ agencies}}
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Category:Government agencies established in 1979
Category:National statistical services
Category:Statistical organizations in the United States