Research on "Sentinel Events" and Criminal Justice System Errors | Apply Online

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) What agency is offering this grant opportunity?

This opportunity is offered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

2) What program is this funding under?

The funding is offered under NIJ's Research, Evaluation, and Development Projects program.

3) What is the CFDA number for this opportunity?

The CFDA number provided is 16.560.

4) What is the overall purpose of the NIJ Research, Evaluation, and Development Projects program?

The program aims to strengthen criminal justice policy and practice in the United States through rigorous research and evaluation.

5) What specific topic does this particular funding opportunity focus on?

This opportunity focuses on studying "sentinel events" and examining how structured "sentinel event reviews" might help criminal justice agencies learn from serious mistakes and prevent them from happening again.

6) What is a "sentinel event" in the criminal justice context (as described here)?

A sentinel event is a significant failure or harmful outcome within the criminal justice process that signals something went wrong. Examples provided include wrongful convictions, preventable in-custody deaths, botched investigations, or major breakdowns in supervision, evidence handling, or interagency communication.

7) Why does NIJ emphasize "system" weaknesses rather than focusing on one individual's error?

The opportunity is grounded in the idea that these high-stakes failures usually do not result from a single isolated mistake by one person. Instead, they tend to reflect multiple weaknesses across the system, such as issues with policies, training, incentives, resource constraints, communication gaps, decision points, and institutional culture.

8) What is a "sentinel event review"?

A sentinel event review is a structured, learning-oriented investigation of a failure intended to map out what happened, why it happened, and what changes could reduce the likelihood of the failure happening again.

9) Where have sentinel event reviews been widely used before?

The opportunity notes that similar approaches have been widely used in other fields, especially aviation and medicine.

10) How are sentinel event reviews generally different from a blame-focused investigation?

As described here, the approach is designed to move beyond blame and instead diagnose underlying conditions and processes that made the failure possible, with an emphasis on learning and prevention rather than identifying and punishing a single "bad apple."

11) What types of research questions is NIJ interested in funding under this opportunity?

NIJ is interested in research that explores whether sentinel event reviews can be adapted for criminal justice settings, what models appear most promising, what barriers exist (including legal, organizational, political, or cultural barriers), and what measurable improvements might result when agencies adopt these reviews.

12) What does NIJ mean by "adapting" sentinel event reviews to justice settings?

Based on the description, "adapting" refers to studying how a structured review process used in fields like aviation and medicine could be designed to work effectively within the realities of criminal justice organizations and processes.

13) What kinds of barriers to sentinel event reviews does the opportunity highlight?

The opportunity specifically highlights potential legal, organizational, political, and cultural barriers that could affect whether and how sentinel event reviews are implemented in criminal justice agencies.

14) What outcomes or impacts does NIJ hope this line of research will influence?

NIJ is seeking research that can show how sentinel event reviews might be implemented and how they might change organizational behavior and system performance, with the broader goal of improving fairness, accuracy, safety, and public trust in the criminal justice system.

15) What types of sentinel events are mentioned as examples?

The examples listed include wrongful convictions, preventable in-custody deaths, botched investigations, and major breakdowns in supervision, evidence handling, or interagency communication.

16) Is this opportunity primarily about research, evaluation, and evidence-building?

Yes. The opportunity is framed around rigorous research and evaluation to strengthen policy and practice, and specifically calls for research on sentinel events and sentinel event review approaches.

17) Does the opportunity suggest that sentinel event reviews could lead to measurable improvements?

Yes. NIJ indicates interest in research that assesses what measurable improvements might result when justice agencies adopt sentinel event reviews.

18) What is meant by "evidence-based learning from high-stakes errors" in this opportunity?

In context, it refers to using rigorous research and structured review processes to learn from serious failures, identify contributing system conditions, and develop changes intended to prevent recurrence and improve justice system performance.

19) What does NIJ want the field to better understand through this funded research?

NIJ wants research that helps the field understand how sentinel event reviews could be implemented in justice agencies, how they may affect organizational behavior and system performance, and how they might contribute to better outcomes such as fairness, accuracy, safety, and public trust.

20) Is the focus limited to any single type of criminal justice agency or stage of the process?

The description references failures "within the criminal justice process" and provides examples across different points (investigations, custody, supervision, evidence handling, interagency communication). It does not limit the focus to a single agency type or single stage, based on the information provided.