contest creates an opportunity for schools, law enforcement, and other child advocates to discuss the issue of missing and/or exploited children with children, parents, and guardians and to promote child safety.

OJJDP will invite the national winner to Washington, DC, to participate in the National Missing Children’s Day commemoration in May 2013, at which he or she will receive an award for the winning artwork.

Resources:

Visit the poster contest resource page for additional information, including contest rules and submission deadlines http://mecptraining.org/poster-contest/poster-contest-resources.

Access resources for missing/or and exploited children and their families on the OJJDP Web site http://www.ojjdp.gov/childabduction.html.

this year's assessment, both adolescent births and violent crime victimization declined. The report also reveals that the number of children living in poverty increased. OJJDP is 1 of 22 federal agencies that constitute the forum. Print copies can be ordered online from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service https://www.ncjrs.gov/.

’ Rights Week (NCVRW) by promoting victims’ rights and honoring crime victims and those who advocate on their behalf. As a prelude to NCVRW, extraordinary victim service providers, allied professionals, and crime victims who have been nominated by their colleagues and peers are honored during the National Crime Victims’ Service Awards Ceremony. If you know of persons or programs deserving of a National Crime Victims’ Service Award, please nominate them now at https://ovcncvrw.ncjrs.gov/awards/default.html.

Nominations are due September 5.

iminal Justice System: The Role of Data and Research,”
Wednesday, September 5, from 10:00 am–11:30 am in OJP’s 3rd Floor Ballroom, 810 7th Street, NW.

Following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans invited the Vera Institute of Justice to examine the city’s court and jail operations. For five years, Vera has been tracking arrest-to-first-appearance time, custodial arrests versus summonses, the granting of pretrial release, and many other decision-making points in the criminal justice system. Like many other jurisdictions, New Orleans had never collected court, jail, and other justice system data in ways that could guide policy development. Vera’s work has demonstrated to key stakeholders—including legislators and executive officials—that data analysis can be critical to understanding such issues as how police officers manage their time or how large a jail should be built to hold future criminal offenders. Come and learn more about how this research can affect criminal justice policies in the years to come!

Michael P. Jacobson is the author of Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration. A professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Dr. Jacobson was the New York City Correction Commissioner from 1995 to 1998 and the city’s Probation Commissioner from 1992 to 1998. In October 2010 he was appointed to the New York State Permanent Sentencing Commission.

The seminar is FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Yolanda Curtis at Yolanda.Curtis@usdoj.gov or 202-305-2554. You must RSVP to gain access to the OJP building. Please allow 20 minutes to get through security. More: http://www.nij.gov/nij/events/research-real-world.htm