Research on "Sentinel Events" and Criminal Justice System Errors

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The purpose of the National Institute of Justice Research, Evaluation, and Development Projects grants program (CFDA 16.560) is to encourage and support research, development, and evaluation to improve criminal justice policy and practice in the United States. NIJ is interested in encouraging further research on a relatively new area of study in criminal justice research- an exploration of the use of sentinel event reviews to improve justice systems overall. Mistakes, or negative outcomes, in the criminal justice system are rarely caused by one single act or actor. Often, mistakes signal multiple weaknesses in the criminal justice system or process. Thus, corrections to such errors need to go beyond traditional remedies that focus on removing the "bad apple" responsible for the event to those that address the underlying system level problems that contributed to the event. Sentinel event review processes have been used in other fields, notably aviation and medicine, and NIJ would like to sponsor research projects that explore the use of these reviews in the criminal justice system.

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