NIJ FY 09 Research and Development on Impression Evidence | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The NIJ FY 09 Research and Development on Impression Evidence solicitation (Funding Opportunity Number NIJ 2009 1939) is a National Institute of Justice grant opportunity aimed at strengthening how crime laboratories and investigators handle impression evidence. NIJ, which serves as the research, development, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Justice within the Office of Justice Programs, is looking for research that produces practical, evidence-based tools and knowledge that can directly improve public safety and the administration of justice. The overall purpose is to support projects that make it easier to identify, document, preserve, and analyze impression evidence in ways that are more reliable and useful in real casework.

The solicitation is centered on research and development that improves the full workflow of impression evidence, from the crime scene to the laboratory. NIJ is specifically interested in tools and technologies that make impression evidence work faster and more efficient, broaden where and when techniques can be used, and reduce burdens on laboratories and agencies. That includes innovations that are more rugged for field conditions, less costly for agencies with limited budgets, and less labor intensive for practitioners who are managing large caseloads. In practice, this could involve better collection hardware, improved imaging and visualization techniques, new preservation methods, or streamlined analytical approaches that reduce turnaround time without sacrificing quality.

A major emphasis is on moving forensic comparisons toward measurable, defensible conclusions by developing tools that provide quantitative measures or statistical evaluations. In other words, NIJ is encouraging proposals that go beyond purely subjective comparisons and that help examiners express the strength of a match (or non-match) using validated metrics, probability models, error-rate studies, or other statistically grounded frameworks. The intent is to improve the scientific footing of impression evidence comparisons and help ensure that conclusions are transparent, reproducible, and understandable for investigators, courts, and juries.

NIJ also highlights the need to better understand how impression evidence changes over time and under different environmental conditions. Proposals are invited that examine the effects of factors like weather, temperature, moisture, substrate type, wear, contamination, or aging on the quality and interpretability of impressions. This focus reflects the reality that many impressions degrade quickly or are altered by routine conditions at scenes, and improving knowledge in this area can lead to better protocols for prioritizing, collecting, and interpreting evidence that may be fragile or time-sensitive.

Another priority is research into the unique forensic characteristics present in impression evidence. NIJ is looking for work that helps clarify what features are truly individualizing, how those features arise, how stable they are, and how reliably they can be detected and compared across different capture methods and surfaces. This can include foundational studies that map variability, persistence, and discriminating power in specific impression types, with the goal of producing clearer standards, better training, and stronger scientific support for conclusions reached in casework.

The solicitation defines impression evidence broadly. It primarily includes, but is not limited to, firearm and tool marks, footwear impressions, tire impressions, bite marks, and friction ridge detail (such as fingerprints). Beyond the general impression evidence research topics, NIJ calls out a specific interest in an innovative and cost-effective approach to capturing and comparing ballistic images, with the potential to strengthen the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN). That aspect of the solicitation is aimed at improving how ballistic evidence is digitized and compared so that the national network can operate more effectively, potentially increasing the speed and accuracy with which shootings are linked across cases and jurisdictions.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity using a cooperative agreement mechanism, meaning NIJ may have substantial involvement during the project period (for example, through collaboration, coordination, or oversight consistent with cooperative agreements). The activity categories include law, justice and legal services as well as science and technology research and development. Cost sharing or matching is not required. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning applications are open to a wide range of entity types as allowed by the solicitation’s terms. The opportunity was posted on November 13, 2008, with an application closing date of December 29, 2008, and it was archived on January 29, 2009. The CFDA number associated with this program is 16.560 (National Institute of Justice Research, Evaluation, and Development Project Grants). The listing notes an expected number of awards as 100, while award floor and ceiling are shown as 0, which typically indicates that specific dollar limits were not stated in the summary record and would need to be confirmed in the full solicitation document.

For support, the announcement provides two main contact pathways: Grants.gov technical submission assistance through the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline (1-800-518-4726) or support@grants.gov, and programmatic or solicitation-requirements questions through Lois Tully, Deputy Chief, Investigative and Forensic Sciences Division, at 202-307-0694 or lois.tully@usdoj.gov.

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Previous opportunity: NIJ FY 09 Research and Development in the Forensic Analysis of Trace Evidence

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