Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (Agency or ICJIA) is a state agency dedicated to improving the administration of criminal justice. The Authority brings together key leaders from the justice system and the public to identify critical issues facing the criminal justice system in Illinois, and to propose and evaluate policies, programs, and legislation that address those issues. The statutory responsibilities of the Authority fit into four areas: grants administration research and analysis policy and planning and information systems and technology. The ICJIA has identified the Cook County States Attorneys Office Deferred Prosecution Program as a potentially promising program and that an evaluation of such program is consistent with the current need to identify evidence based programming and practices in the criminal justice system. Therefore, ICJIA is seeking research proposals that address the evaluation of such a program currently operating in Cook County, Illinois. The topics of evidence based programming and diversion programming are areas of continuing interest within the criminal justice system in Illinois and the evaluation of such approaches will assist in guiding ICJIA policy and practices. This research project is to include an assessment of program operation and design, as well as an assessment of program impact. Overall, the study will describe if and how the Deferred Prosecution Program produced a more effective response to first time felony offenders. The Vendor will be responsible for: (1) developing a research design, (2) providing continuing feedback to the ICJIA concerning the research design and progress of the research, (3) carrying out the research in a manner that provides quality information, contributes to the understanding of criminal justice issues and complies with accepted principles of confidentiality and standards relating to social science research, (4) delivering a final research / evaluation report and data file(s) to ICJIA, in a form and manner specified by ICJIA, and (5) completing the project within the required timeframe.
