Resources
- CQ Researcher
A full-text database of Congressional Quarterly Researcher, presenting overviews of current topics. Coverage includes overviews, chronologies, pro and con points of interest, and bibliographies of additional resources.
Note: After signing in, please select CQ Researcher from the tiles of CQ Press collections.
- Credo Reference
Credo Reference provides full-text online access to hundreds of multidisciplinary reference book collections, including art, history, law, medicine, psychology, technology, bilingual dictionaries, and encyclopedias through a one-stop search platform. Search results often include articles from a wide array of publications and frequently present subject coverage from multiple perspectives. Using Credo Reference to approach a topic from different viewpoints can be a great way to expand your familiarity with the topic and it can help you develop new arguments and observations for your research.
- Oxford Bibliographies: Criminology & Social Work
This resource includes Oxford Bibliographies entries for Criminology & Social Work with exclusive, authoritative research guides across a variety of subject areas. Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this resource directs researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects.
Search directly from the landing page or select "Browse by Subject" to review guides under either Criminology or Social Work. - Oxford Reference PremiumThis reference database includes access to almost 400 dictionaries and encyclopedias of fully-indexed, cross-searchable works published by Oxford University Press with detailed information across a broad subject range of topics.
Black's Law Dictionary by Call Number: KF156.B53 2019 (Ready Reference, 1st Floor)ISBN: 9781539229759Publication Date: 2019With clarity and rigor, it defines more than 55,000 law-related words and phrases, recording their historical and present-day nuances. This edition introduces 3,500 new terms, including accountability, anticipatory self-defense, cyber force, Islamic law, Jewish law, legal moralism, legal reasoning, moral equality, peacekeeping, remotely piloted warfare, right to rebel, and umbrella clause.
Criminology: a Complete Introduction: Teach Yourself by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781529397970Publication Date: 2020The book includes: key facts, step-by-step explanations, practice questions; and detailed case studies to consolidate and contextualize your knowledge.
The Handbook of Measurement Issues in Criminology and Criminal Justice by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781118868799Publication Date: 2016This volume was designed to provide a comprehensive primer on the existing best practices and emerging developments in the study and design research on crime and criminology. The work as a whole includes chapters on the measurement of criminal typologies, the offenders, offending and victimization, criminal justice organizations, and specialized measurement techniques.
Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780367509132Publication Date: 2021This book explains and illustrates criminal justice research topics, including ethics in research, research design, causation, operationalization of variables, sampling, methods of data collection (including surveys), reliance on existing data, validity, and reliability. For each approach, the book addresses the procedures and issues involved, the method's strengths and drawbacks, and examples of actual research using that method.
Research Methods for Criminology and Criminal Justice by Call Number: HV6024.5 .H37 2021 (3rd Floor)ISBN: 9781538129517Publication Date: 2020The second edition of Research Methods for Criminology and Criminal Justice is a core text for criminology and criminal justice research methods courses. This text offers a general foundation of knowledge that transcends particular topics or subject areas, allowing students to apply the methods and concepts discussed to a multitude of scenarios.
Best Bets
- Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text (EBSCOhost)
Contains more than 400,000 records selected from academic journals, magazines, conference papers, books, and reports. Subject areas covered include: criminology; criminal justice; criminal law and procedure; corrections and prisons; police and policing; criminal investigation; forensic sciences and investigation; history of crime; substance abuse and addiction; probation and parole.
- HeinOnlineThis database offers access to 3,200 scholarly journals that examine more than a thousand topics, all dating back to the first issue published. There is a comprehensive U.S. government publications collection and an archive of case law consisting of federal, state, and overseas cases. The international resources address many countries, regions, and international organizations.
- JSTOR
A multidisciplinary digital library that includes all 2,800+ academic journals on JSTOR; spanning more than 60 disciplines across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Access also includes more than two million primary source documents.
And, with the incorporation of Artstor's collections, JSTOR is now home to more than two million images.
- Legal Collection (EBSCOhost)
This database contains full-text for more than 250 of the world's scholarly law journals. It is a source for information on current issues, studies, thoughts, and trends of the legal world.
- Social Explorer
This database provides demographic data from U.S. sources including the Decennial Census, American Community Survey (ACS), County Business Patterns, Population Estimates, LEHD and more. Many of these data sets are available at detailed geographic levels, down to a few city blocks. It also includes World Development Indicators from the World Bank, European Statistics, the UK and Canadian Censuses from 2011, and religion data from Ireland (1911-2001).
- SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCOhost)
This sociology research database features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus. Contains full-text for more than 860 journals dating back to 1908. This database also includes full-text for more than 830 books and monographs, and full-text for over 16,800 conference papers.
- Violence & Abuse Abstracts (EBSCOhost)
Bibliographic records covering essential areas related to violence and abuse, including family violence, sexual assault, emotional abuse, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. The index contains more than 21,500 records, which are carefully selected from the most important sources within the discipline.
Other useful databases
- Gale In Context: Global Issues
Gale In Context: Global Issues supports global awareness and provides a global perspective while tying together authoritative content, empowering learners to critically analyze and understand the most important issues of the modern world. Explore issues within government, law, health, science and technology, society and culture, and more. Integrating news, global viewpoints, reference materials, country information, primary source documents, videos, statistics, and more, Global Issues is updated daily and offers 250 country pages and more than 400 issue pages. It contains more than 6,000 viewpoint commentaries provide background and guidance on significant topics like Food Security, Genocide, Human Rights, Extreme Weather, and more. Global Issues is cross-searchable with Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints.
- Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints
Opposing Viewpoints includes viewpoints, reference articles, infographics, news, images, video, audio, and more on contemporary topics. Periodical content covers current events, news and commentary, economics, environmental issues, political science, and more. Opposing Viewpoints is cross-searchable with Gale In Context: Global Issues.
- Sage Journals
Sage Journals provides access to nearly 1,200 journals across a wide variety of subjects.
- SpringerLink
This is the integrated platform for books, journals, and other materials published by Springer, a major publisher of scientific books and journals. Disciplines represented include the sciences, business, law, history, literature, philosophy, political science, social sciences, and statistics.
- Taylor & Francis OnlineThis resource includes millions of peer-reviewed journal articles published under the Taylor & Francis, Routledge and Dove Medical Press imprints across many academic disciplines.
- Wiley Online Library
Wiley Online Library provides access to multidisciplinary content across more than 1,600 journals and 22,000 ebooks.
U.S. Government Websites
- Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of JusticeBJA’s mission is to provide leadership and services in grant administration and criminal justice policy development to support state, local, and tribal justice strategies to achieve safer communities.
- Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP)The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates prisons and community based facilities that house federal inmates. On their site you can search for prisons, inmates, & population statistics.
- Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC)Mission Statement: The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, through strategic partnerships, prepares the federal law enforcement community to safeguard America’s people, property, and institutions.
- National Gang Center (NGC)The National Gang Center (NGC) is a project funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The NGC is an integral component of the Justice Department’s mission to provide innovative leadership in coordination with federal, state, local, and tribal justice systems to prevent and reduce crime. The NGC disseminates information, knowledge, and outcome‐driven practices that engage and empower those in local communities with chronic and emerging gang problems to create comprehensive solutions to prevent gang violence, reduce gang involvement, and suppress gang‐related crime.
- National Institute of Corrections (NIC)NIC provides practical assistance in planning and implementing improvements at the federal, state and local levels. These efforts contribute to cost efficiency and effectiveness in such areas as planning, design, and operation of new jails, prisons, and community corrections programs, offender workforce development programs, and offender classification and risk assessment.
NIC is acclaimed by the corrections community as a focused, customer-oriented, apolitical, professional agency that continues to make a significant difference. It is credited with raising the standard of performance for corrections agencies nationwide. - National Institute of Justice (NIJ)We are dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues through science. We provide objective and independent knowledge and tools to inform the decision-making of the criminal and juvenile justice communities to reduce crime and advance justice, particularly at the state and local levels.
- Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)OVC is committed to enhancing the Nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and to providing leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime.
- Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)OJJDP provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to youth delinquency and victimization. The Office helps states, localities, and Tribes develop effective and equitable juvenile justice systems that create safer communities and empower youth to lead productive lives.
Other Online Resources
- The Chief of PoliceOfficial Publication of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
- Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized CrimeThe result was the creation of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, which provides a platform to promote greater debate and innovative approaches, which serve as the building blocks to an inclusive global strategy against organized crime.
- The Marshall ProjectMission statement: The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. We have an impact on the system through journalism, rendering it more fair, effective, transparent and humane.
- National Association of Attorneys GeneralThe National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is the nonpartisan national forum for America's state and territory attorneys general. NAAG provides a community for attorneys general and their staff to collaboratively address issues important to their work, as well as training and resources to support attorneys general in protecting the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
- SEARCHSEARCH has 53 years of experience supporting the information sharing, information technology, cybercrime investigative and digital forensics, and criminal records systems needs of State, local and tribal justice and public safety agencies and practitioners nationwide.
- Urban Institute: Crime, Justice, and SafetyThe US criminal legal system continues to reckon with deeply rooted patterns of racial discrimination, from excessive use of force to mass incarceration. Urban’s research and technical assistance provide insight into the efficacy of practices within the system and in communities, centering the experiences and perspectives of those most affected by the system and by crime. Policymakers, advocates, police, corrections officials, judges, prosecutors, defenders, and philanthropists all look to our work to inform solutions to curbing crime, improving safety, supporting victims and survivors, and advancing racial equity.
Municipal Codes
"Municipal code" refers to the collection of laws passed by a local governing body (county, city, village, township, or other similar governmental subdivision). The laws themselves can be referred to by many names, including “ordinance,” “bylaw,” and “measure,” among others.
There is no singular clearinghouse for all municipal codes. The sites below provide access to various municipal codes throughout the United States.
- MunicodeContains a large selection of codes from across the U.S., including many Virginia localities. Local codes: Charles City County, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Poquoson, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and others.
- American Legal Publishing CodeContains a large selection of codes from across the U.S. Virginia localities: Brookneal, Independence, Lee County, Loudoun County, Northampton County, Occoquan, Richmond County
- General CodeContains a large selection of codes from across the U.S. including some Virginia localities.
Legal Decisions
- Congressional Research Service (CRS)Publishing Congressional Research Service reports. CRS Reports are non-classified, topical research overviews produced for members of Congress.
- OyezOyez (pronounced OH-yay)—a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law—is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone. It is the most complete and authoritative source for all of the Court’s audio since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. Oyez offers transcript-synchronized and searchable audio, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and full-text Supreme Court opinions (through Justia). Oyez also provides detailed information on every justice throughout the Court’s history and offers a panoramic tour of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of several justices.
- Supreme Court DatabaseProvided by Washington University School of Law. The Supreme Court Database is the definitive source for researchers, students, journalists, and citizens interested in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Database contains over two hundred pieces of information about each case decided by the Court between the 1791 and 2022 terms.