Research to Reduce Trauma for Child Pornography Victims, Fiscal Year 2021 | O NIJ 2021 97002

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2021 97002

The Department of Justice, through the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), offered this Fiscal Year 2021 discretionary grant opportunity to fund rigorous scientific research aimed at identifying best practices that can reduce trauma experienced by children involved in child pornography investigations. The central focus is not only on understanding harm, but on producing evidence-based guidance for how investigative and justice-system processes can be handled in ways that minimize additional psychological distress for child victims. The solicitation is framed within DOJ priorities that include advancing civil rights, increasing access to justice, supporting crime victims, protecting the public from evolving threats, and strengthening trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

The competition (Funding Opportunity Number O-NIJ-2021-97002) is structured as a research and development grant under CFDA 16.560. NIJ limited eligibility primarily to accredited research universities and other higher-education institutions, including public/state-controlled and private institutions, with additional eligibility details referenced in the full announcement. The funding cap for a single award was $1,500,000, and NIJ anticipated making one award. The solicitation was posted April 26, 2021, with an application deadline of June 3, 2021.

A key feature of this opportunity is its emphasis on applied, real-world research that may require partnerships with criminal justice agencies or other relevant organizations (for example, law enforcement units, prosecutors, child advocacy centers, or victim service providers). For proposals that rely on such partnerships, NIJ required strong letters of support from each partnering agency, signed by an appropriate decision-making authority. These letters were not meant to be generic endorsements; they needed to confirm the agency's commitment to participate and, importantly, to acknowledge the project’s data-sharing and archiving obligations.

The solicitation places heavy weight on data stewardship and long-term research value. Any de-identified data produced, obtained, or provided through the project must be archived by the grant recipient with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the conclusion of the award. Applicants and partners were encouraged to review NACJD policies and protections in advance so that data management, confidentiality safeguards, and compliance expectations could be built into the project design from the start. If an award was made, the grantee would be expected to have a formal written agreement with partnering agencies in place by January 1, 2022, and that agreement had to include a provision specifically ensuring that the NACJD data archiving requirement would be met.

Finally, the solicitation clarifies how project teams should be organized for funding purposes. Even when multiple agencies collaborate and federal funds support work across partners, only one entity may apply as the official applicant organization. Any additional participating organizations that will receive and spend award funds must be included as subrecipients rather than co-applicants. This structure is intended to keep program accountability clear, ensure a single entity is responsible for compliance, and still allow complex multi-agency research collaborations to operate under one coordinated award.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Research to Reduce Trauma for Child Pornography Victims, Fiscal Year 2021" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 26, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 03, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O NIJ 2021 97002

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