James P. Lynch Confirmed as Director of BJS

On Tuesday, June 22, 2010, the U.S. Senate confirmed James P. Lynch, Ph.D., as director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (OJP Press Release). Mr. Lynch was distinguished professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York before being nominated by President Obama to be director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Throughout his career, Mr. Lynch has focused on measurement issues in criminal justice data and statistics. Notably, his work with Al Biderman on the nation's two crime measures—the Uniform Crime Report and the National Crime Victimization Survey—is the authoritative work on comparing national crime statistics. <Full bio>.

BJS/JRSA 2010 National Conference
BJS and the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) will hold their annual National Conference, Using Statistics and Research to Improve Justice Policies and Practices, on October 28-29, 2010 in Portland, Maine.

Redesign of the National Crime Victimization Survey

BJS is redesigning the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to improve its methodology, assure its sustainability, and increase its value to national and local stakeholders. In support of this effort, Westat, Inc. has released the following report: NCVS Task 4 Report: Summary of Options Relating to Local Area Estimation. Visit the new NCVS redesign page for more information about this project.

State Court Processing Statistics Data Limitations Advisory

BJS has issued a data advisory on the State Court Processing Statistics Data Limitations. The advisory describes limitations of the data collection that must be considered when analyzing SCPS data, drawing any conclusions based on the data, and citing BJS reports.