Who sponsored the research in the 1950s that revealed that the criminal justice system was composed of agencies that could be connected in an intricate network of decision-making processes?

the American Bar Foundation

Explanation: The American Bar Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit national research institute established in Chicago in 1952. It was charged with expanding knowledge and advancing justice by supporting innovative, interdisciplinary and hectic research on law as well as legal processes and institutions. The American Bar Foundation is an invaluable source of information for lawyers, scholars and policy makers who seek analyses of the theory and functioning of everything pertaining to law.

All research, such as the one above, carried out by the American Bar Foundation is implemented through projects designed and conducted by a group of research faculty staff who are resident in the foundation.

lack of interest from state and local governments.

an informal structure in a bureaucracy would be something like so-called "office politics". where there's a formal structure set up for the organization, but then an informal subculture as well that has a way of organizing the bureaucracy further. this can be positive because it sets up an added degree of organization, albeit informal, within the bureaucracy.