New Zealand Crime and Victims Research Fund accepting applications

Wed 09 Aug 2023

The Ministry of Justice is accepting applications for grants to support research projects addressing issues in the justice sector, including family violence and sexual violence. Applications are due by 15 October 2023.

photo looking down on a table with a group of people working on laptops and notebooks

The New Zealand Crime and Victims Research Fund has a total of $450,000 available for grants to support research projects. Of this, $150,000 is ringfenced for Kaupapa Māori research.

Applications for research grants are due by 15 October 2023.

Academics, postgraduate students, government agencies, private research organisations and non-government organisations including iwi organisations and service providers with research capability can apply for the research grants.

The purpose of the New Zealand Crime and Victims Research Fund is to support research that aligns with the objectives of the New Zealand Crime and Victims Research (NZCVR) programme — the Ministry of Justice’s research agenda that aims to improve understanding of victimisation in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) New Zealand Crime and Victims Research Fund information notes:

"Research that addresses enduring issues for the justice sector and supports the objectives of the NZCVR programme are preferred. Topics of particular interest include:

• Trust in the law and justice institutions

• Family violence and sexual violence

• Fraud and deception

• Reporting and help-seeking

• Perceptions of safety

• Therapeutic justice interventions

• Priority populations: Māori, LGBTQIA+, disabled people, migrants, elders."

It also notes that:

"The proposed research should build upon findings derived from the NZCVS [New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey] in some way. This could include using NZCVS data, or addressing a question raised by the NZCVS results."

For more information and the application see the Ministry of Justice New Zealand Crime and Victims Research Fund.

For questions contact the NZCVR team on research@justice.govt.nz.

If there are funds remaining after this grant round, there will be another funding round opening on 15 January 2024 and closing 1 April 2024.

Related research and reports

MOJ statistics and reports

MOJ released the 5th round of findings from the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) in June 2023. The survey provides estimates of a range of offences that includes sexual assault, intimate partner violence and controlling behaviours. The MOJ media release highlighted that Māori, people who identify as LGBT+ and people who are separated from a partner or spouse were significantly more likely to experience at least one crime. Also see the NZ Police media release summarising results of public perceptions about crime and Police from the Police Module in the NZCVS.

In March 2023 MOJ published the Topical report: Controlling behaviours and help-seeking for family violence. The report explores findings from new questions that were added for Cycle 4 of the NZCVS related to controlling behaviours. While the report notes several limitations of the data and questions, it highlights that:

18% of respondents experienced harm from controlling behaviours perpetrated by a partner, ex-partner or family/whānau member
Māori, people with diverse sexualities, young people and women were more likely to experience harm from controlling behaviours
Women were more likely than men to experience some impacts of controlling behaviours
People were more likely to report harm from controlling behaviours if they experienced other offending from family members
Victims of family violence were most likely to seek help from family/whānau, friends and neighbours.

In March 2023, the Ministry of Justice published the report Attrition and progression of reported sexual violence victimisations in the criminal justice system 2017 to 2022. It describes the outcomes that victims of sexual violence experience through the criminal justice process. This includes both trial and conviction outcomes, and outcomes associated with the Police investigation process prior to any charges being filed. The report is intended to be published annually, providing regular monitoring over time. It follows the initial MOJ research on sexual violence and attrition in the criminal justice system.

Also see the recently published MOJ factsheet on Child victims of sexual violence in the criminal justice system that looks at sexual assaults of children reported to the Police in 2019, and how those reports progressed through the criminal justice system.

Other recent research and statistics from MOJ include:

Justice Sector Projections 2022 - 2032 report provides estimates for trends over the next 10 years in court inflow, remand rate, conviction, imprisonment, sentence length and more (also see the MOJ media release Justice Sector Projections Released and the Legal Aid Projection 2021 - 2027)
Statistics on criminal charges and convictions from 2013 to 2022 including statistics related to children and young people, family violence offences, sexual violence offences, Family Court and more (also see the justice data tables)
Youth Justice Indicators Summary Report April 2023 provides statistics related to the youth justice system based on data from NZ Police, Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Justice (see the Beehive media release Latest statistics show youth justice system is working).