If you are interested in the program or have additional questions, send an email to [email protected]. In the subject of the email specify, BJS Visiting Fellows Program.
BJS has one current visiting fellow:
- Heather Warnken, J.D., LL.M., a visiting fellow working across BJS and the Office for Victims of Crime
Brief Biography and Project Description
Heather Warnken, J.D., LL.M.
Heather Warnken is a visiting fellow working across BJS and the Office for Victims of Crime in the first-ever fellowship designed to improve the use, dissemination, and translation of statistical data and social science findings for the crime victim assistance field. Prior to coming to BJS, she has served since 2011 as a legal policy associate at the Warren Institute on Law & Social Policy at U.C. Berkeley School of Law. While at the Warren Institute, she led multidisciplinary projects using research and collaborative partnerships to bridge the gap between research, policy, and practice, including two statewide needs assessments on how to improve access to services and compensation for underserved victims of crime. She also worked with the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department to develop policies and procedures to improve outcomes for youth. She served as law clerk to the Honorable Joseph F. Murphy, Jr., Court of Appeals of Maryland, has provided pro bono direct legal services in domestic violence and child welfare-related matters, and was a 2015 Women's Foundation of California Criminal Justice Fellow. She holds an LL.M. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.
(Affiliation at time of fellowship)
Megan Kurlychek, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
School of Criminal Justice
University at Albany, SUNY
Project: Assessing the immediate and longer-term outcomes of juveniles processed and sentenced in adult courts
Professor Janet L. Lauritsen
Associate Professor
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Project: Examining the methodological history of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
Professor David P. Farrington
Lecturer in Criminology at Cambridge University
Former President of the British Society of Criminology
President-elect of the American Society of Criminology
Project: Comparison of crime and justice in England and the U.S.
Professor Michael D. Maltz
Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois
Editor of Journal of Quantitative Criminology
Project: Development of graphical and geographical methods for analyzing criminal justice data
Professor James A. Fox
Dean of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University
Project: Investigating how different police departments classify assaults and homicides for statistical purposes
Professor James P. Lynch
Associate Professor
Department of Justice, Law and Society
American University
Project: Describing differences in punishment cross-nationally with special emphasis on the use of incarceration
Professor Roland J. Chilton
Department of Sociology
University of Massachusetts
Project: Create easy-to-use incident-based police datasets for analysis of diverse topics related to crime
KiDeuk Kim
Senior Research Associate
Justice Policy Center
The Urban Institute
Project: Examining methods to measure the recidivism of youthful offenders
Christopher Wildeman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Human Ecology
Cornell University
Project: Reviewing variations in the incarceration-mortality relationship by state and institution type
The Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended, 18 U.S.C. 921, et seq., establishes the following categories of persons who are prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm — any person pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 922(g) and (n) who:
-- has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
-- is a fugitive from justice;
-- is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance;
-- has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution;
-- is an illegal or unlawful alien or a non-immigrant alien (with certain exceptions);
-- has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
-- having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship;
-- is subject to a domestic violence protection order that meets certain requirements;
-- has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence; or
-- is under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.
The NICS Improvement Act was enacted in the wake of the April 2007 shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech. The Virginia Tech shooter was able to purchase firearms from an FFL because information about his prohibiting mental health history was not available to the NICS and the system was therefore unable to deny the transfer of the firearms used in the shootings. The NICS Improvement Act seeks to address the gap in information available to NICS about such prohibiting mental health adjudications and commitments and other prohibiting backgrounds. Filling these information gaps will better enable the system to operate as intended to keep guns out of the hands of persons prohibited by federal or state law from receiving or possessing firearms.
The NICS is administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). A NICS check includes a check of three databases maintained by the FBI, including the:
- Interstate Identification Index (III), a database of criminal history record information,
- National Crime Information Center (NCIC) which includes information on persons subject to civil protection orders and arrest warrants, and
- NICS Index which includes the information contributed by federal and state agencies identifying persons prohibited from possessing firearms who are not included in the III or NCIC, such as persons with a prohibiting mental health history or who are illegal or unlawful aliens.
If a NICS check identifies a person as falling within a prohibited category, the FBI advises the FFL that the transfer is "denied." Individuals can appeal denials and seek the correction of the information in the FBI databases by either applying to the FBI or the federal or state agency that contributed the information to the FBI.
The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, Pub. L. 110-180 ("NICS Improvement Act"), was signed into law by the President on January 8, 2008. The NICS Improvement Act amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 ("the Brady Act") (Pub. L. 103-159), under which the Attorney General established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The Brady Act requires Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to contact the NICS before transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person for information on whether the proposed transferee is prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under state or federal law.
The NICS Improvement Act grant programs do not supplant NCHIP. Rather, the NICS Improvement Act grants are to be made in a manner "consistent with" and "in accordance with" NCHIP. The major difference from NCHIP is that the NICS Improvement Act grants may only be used for specified purposes related to achieving the completeness goals for the records directly related to NICS checks. In addition, the NICS Improvement Act authorizes a separate grant program for funding that is dedicated to be used by state courts systems, where most of the disposition information missing from the national repositories originates.
For further information on any of these topics, please email the Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison, U.S. Department of Justice.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is available to answer questions about whether existing state laws meet the standards for state relief from disability programs contemplated in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act. ATF is also available to provide technical assistance to states seeking to establish such programs under the Act. State questions and requests for assistance can be directed to ATF at [email protected]. See also State Relief from Disabilities Program Criteria and Federal Relief From Disabilities Program Criteria.
For fiscal year 2009, $10 million has been appropriated. There are two conditions that each state must satisfy before being eligible to receive grants:
-- First, a state must provide to the Attorney General a "reasonable estimate," based on a methodology established by the Attorney General, of records subject to the Act's completeness requirements; and
-- Second, a state must certify, to the satisfaction of the Attorney General, that the state has implemented a program permitting persons who have been adjudicated a mental defective or committed to a mental institution to obtain relief from the firearms disabilities imposed by law as a result of such adjudication or commitment. This relief must be granted, in accordance with principles of due process, by a state court, board, commission, or other lawful authority. The relief must be based on a finding that the circumstances of the disability and the person's record and reputation are such that the person will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to the public safety and that the granting of relief would not be contrary to the public interest.