Priorities of the NIJ include community policing, violence against women, sentencing and corrections, court-based supervision of and services for drug offenders, and new technologies. Ways of meeting these priorities encompass research and evaluation activities; the identification of innovative programs and effective policies; and support for technology development, demonstration programs, and the improvement of research infrastructure. The NIJ seeks to foster a national dialogue on the criminal justice system, with the goal of understanding where the system is now and what directions it will take in the 21st century. Activities underway to achieve this goal are described, with emphasis on efforts to understand and break the nexus between crime and social conditions and on the development of such tools for practitioners as DNA testing, crime mapping, and standards development. The NIJ also focuses on building multidisciplinary partnerships, recognizing that many fields are related to criminal justice. Various ways of communicating research and policy findings to the field are being pursued, including electronic dissemination, conferences and seminars, and strategic planning meetings. 3 figures