Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bureau of Justice Statistics
	Seal of the United States Department of Justice
	Logo of the Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bureau/Office overview
Formed	December 27, 1979; 45 years ago
Jurisdiction	United States government agency
Headquarters	810 7th Street NW; Washington, D.C., United States
Bureau/Office executive	Alex Piquero, Director;
Parent department	Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Website	bjs.ojp.gov

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.^[2]

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.

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.^[3]^[4] 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".^[5]

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^[6]
Eric Lichtblau^[7]

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.^[8] Alex Piquero is the current BJS Director.

References

^ "The BJS Director". www.bjs.ojp.gov. 2022-08-15. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
^ "About the Bureau of Justice Statistics". U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Archived from the original on 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2006-09-27.
^ Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ) at bjs.gov
^ Census of Jails (COJ) at bjs.gov
^ Todd D. Minton, Zhen Zeng, Ph.D., and Laura M. Maruschak. 2021. Impact of COVID-19 on the Local Jail Population, January-June 2020. BJS Special Report NCJ 255888.
^ "The Injustice Department" Archived 2015-09-09 at the Wayback Machine, The Weekly Standard (Volume 011, Issue 05), October 17, 2005.
^ "Profiling Report Leads to a Demotion". The New York Times, August 24, 2005.
^ Hanna Kozlowska, 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

External links

Official website
most recent reports
Research, Evaluation, and Statistics account on USAspending.gov

[August_15-1] "The BJS Director". www.bjs.ojp.gov. 2022-08-15. Retrieved 2022-08-16.

[US_Bureau_of_Justice_Statistics,_about_web-site-2] "About the Bureau of Justice Statistics". U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Archived from the original on 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2006-09-27.

[3] Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ) at bjs.gov

[4] Census of Jails (COJ) at bjs.gov

[5] Todd D. Minton, Zhen Zeng, Ph.D., and Laura M. Maruschak. 2021. Impact of COVID-19 on the Local Jail Population, January-June 2020. BJS Special Report NCJ 255888.

[6] "The Injustice Department" Archived 2015-09-09 at the Wayback Machine, The Weekly Standard (Volume 011, Issue 05), October 17, 2005.

[7] "Profiling Report Leads to a Demotion". The New York Times, August 24, 2005.

[govexec-8] Hanna Kozlowska, 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

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v t e Federal Statistical System of the United States
Principal agencies	Census Bureau Bureau of Labor Statistics National Center for Education Statistics National Agricultural Statistics Service National Center for Health Statistics Energy Information Administration Bureau of Economic Analysis Economic Research Service Bureau of Justice Statistics National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (National Science Foundation) Statistics of Income Division (Internal Revenue Service) Bureau of Transportation Statistics Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (Social Security Administration)
Other agencies	Economics and Statistics Administration Office of Immigration Statistics HUD USER
As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the principal agencies of the Federal Statistical System have statistical activities as their core mission and conduct much of the government’s statistical work.

v t e United States Department of Justice
Headquarters: Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building Merrick Garland, Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Deputy Attorney General
Deputy Attorney General	Justice Management Division Criminal Division National Security Division Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Drug Enforcement Administration Federal Bureau of Investigation Bureau of Prisons (National Institute of Corrections * Federal Prison Industries) United States Marshals Service Executive Office for Immigration Review (Board of Immigration Appeals) Office of the Pardon Attorney Office of Professional Responsibility Office of Tribal Justice Professional Responsibility Advisory Office Executive Office for Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Executive Office for United States Attorneys United States Attorneys' Offices INTERPOL Washington--United States National Central Bureau United States Parole Commission Office of Legal Counsel Office of Legal Policy Office of Legislative Affairs Office of Public Affairs Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Special Counsel's Office
Associate Attorney General	Office of Justice Programs Office on Violence Against Women Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Office of Information Policy Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States Antitrust Division Civil Division Civil Rights Division Environment and Natural Resources Division Tax Division Executive Office for United States Trustees Community Relations Service Office for Access to Justice
Assistant Attorneys General	Antitrust Division Civil Division Civil Rights Division Criminal Division National Security Division Environment and Natural Resources Division Justice Management Division Tax Division Office of Legal Counsel Office of Legal Policy Office of Legislative Affairs Office of Justice Programs
Solicitor General

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	Germany United States France BnF data Australia Czech Republic Israel
Other	IdRef

Programs

See also

BJS Directors

References

External links