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CRIMINAL JUSTICE: OFFICIAL RESOURCES

This guide examines Internet resources dealing with the criminal justice activities of official government agencies on the local, state, federal and international levels. Some of these provide “gateways”, government agencies, international organizations, law enforcement directories, clearinghouses, and statistical.


Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)

•   A division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs
•   Mission: “To collect, analyze, publish and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government”
•   Compiles and analyzes statistics for the following categories: “Crime & Victims,” “Criminal Offenders,” “Special Topics” (drugs, homicide, firearms), “Law Enforcement,” “Courts & Sentencing,” “Corrections”
•   Each of these categories contains sub-categories on specific aspects of that category; includes a summary and information about data collection/analysis
•   Includes an excellent category on international justice statistics (especially United Nations related links)
•  “Key Facts at a Glance” provides a very useful summary on trends in crime, its investigation, prosecution and corrections
•   Includes information on BJS’s statistical programs, grant programs, dissemination programs, publications, press releases
•   Outstanding; this is one of the best official sources for statistics on crime; very user-friendly


International Criminal Law

•   Compiled by Gail A. Partin, Law Librarian, Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania State University, for the American Society of International Law (ASIL)
•   Part of ASIL’s “Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law,” “… designed to be used by students, teachers, practitioners and researchers as a self-guided tour of relevant, quality, up-to-date online resources covering important areas of international law”
•   This sub-page presents an extensive (21 pp) examination of international criminal law
•   Topics discussed include the following: treaties/conventions/agreements, courts/tribunals, crime prevention/prosecution/law enforcement, statistical resources, clearinghouses, “specific crimes” (war crimes, terrorism, organized crime, environmental crime, cybercrime
•   Outstanding; this is one of the best online guides to international criminal law currently available.


Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization)

•   “The world’s largest international police organization,” Interpol, founded in 1923, “… facilitates cross-border police co-operation, and supports and assists all authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime”; currently has 184 member nations
•   “Five Priority Crime Areas”: drugs/organized crime, public safety/terrorism, “trafficking in human beings,” financial/high-tech crime, fugitives
•   “Core Functions”: international police communication services, data services/databases (fingerprints, DNA, fugitives, stolen property), emergency/operational support (terrorism prevention, “Command and Co-ordination Centre”)
•   Includes information on Interpol’s organizational/operational structure, initiatives, programs, liaison functions, “regional activities”; also includes news, recruitment information, efforts in “other crime areas” (genocide, “war crimes,” “environmental crimes”)
•   Official site for the world’s premier international organization for crime prevention


Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA)

•   “A national non-profit organization of state Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) directors and other researchers and practitioners throughout government, academia, and criminal justice organizations”
•   “Statistical Analysis Centers (SACs) are state agencies that collect, analyze and disseminate justice data” and “…contribute to effective state policies through statistical services, research, evaluation, and policy analysis”
•   Each state maintains an SAC unit; placement within a state’s organizational structure varies (governor’s staff, attorney general offices, state police, corrections department, etc.)
•   “Infobase of State Activities and Research” (ISAR) serves a searchable database of “… current information on state criminal justice research”
•   Publishes the Directory of Justice Issues in the States (17th ed.), a downloadable report which outlines each state’s research activities from January 2003 – October 2004
•   “Frequently Asked Questions” links to sites for criminal justice statistics, law enforcement issues, corrections information, juvenile justice
•   Includes information on JRSA’s initiatives, projects, programs, publications, resources, services
•   Outstanding; a great clearinghouse for data and information on states’ research efforts on criminal justice matters


National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)

•   “Administered by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice”
•   Sponsoring federal agencies include the Department of Justice agencies, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Executive Office of the President
•   “Available to anyone interested in crime, victim assistance, and public safety including policymakers, practitioners, researchers, educators, community leaders and the general public”
•   “Publications/Products” indexes hundreds of reports/documents on criminal justice and law enforcement issues; many are freely available for downloading, but some require payment
•   “NCJRS Abstracts Database” contains abstracts to over 185,000 reports/documents from the 1970s to the present; international in scope; searchable by title, author, subject, data range; abstracts for reports produced by sponsoring federal agencies are linked to full-text
•   Outstanding; a cornucopia of resources (many of which are free) for a wide range of criminal justice/law enforcement information from both the U.S. and around the world


National Institute of Justice (NIJ)

•   “NIJ is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice and is dedicated to researching crime control and justice issues”
•   “Publications” provide a great deal of the substance of the site; there are currently over 500 reports available (from 1994 to the present) in downloadable formats (primarily PDF); they may be browsed chronologically or by title, searched by author or keyword
•   Includes information on NIJ’s events/workshops, programs, annual conference, funding opportunities, administration/organization structure, job opportunities
•   Outstanding resource for extensive reports on many aspects of criminology and criminal justice


Official Directory of State Patrol and State Police

•   Created and maintained by Senior Sergeant (Retired) Terrence Martin, Vermont State Police
•   Links to official websites for each state’s state police/state patrol organizations; many states provide links to training academies, “Amber Alert” systems, state “Homeland Security” agencies, news, recruiting information, “trooper memorials”
•   Also links to sites for “Top 100 Law Enforcement Sites,” fraternal organizations, “support groups,” articles, books
•   Outstanding; well-designed, extensive site for matters official and non-official pertaining to state trooper/state patrol resources and issues


Police Department and Law Enforcement Agencies Directory

•   Sponsored by Officer.com
•   Directory of links to police department home pages in 50 states and U.S. territories; also links to federal justice/law enforcement agencies, including park/environmental police and the military
•   Also links to law enforcement agencies in over 60 countries
•   Includes information on Officer.com site’s resources and services
•   Excellent; a great place for links to official police/law enforcement agency sites in the U.S. and around the world


Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (SCJS)

•   This is the online version of the 3rd edition print edition (2003); funded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this project was compiled by the Utilization of Criminal Justice Project located at the University of Albany, School of Criminal Justice, Hindelange Criminal Justice Resource Center
•   “Ann L. Pastore and Kathleen Maguire are directors of the Utilization Project and co-editors of the Sourcebook”
•   “Brings together data from more than 100 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States;” data sources are primarily federal agency reports, polling/public opinion organizations
•   Links to over 600 data tables for over 100 topics in the following categories: “Criminal Justice Characteristics,” “ Public Opinion,” “Crime Victims,” “Arrests/Seizures,” “ Courts, Prosecution, Sentencing,” “ Parole, Jails, Prisons, Death Penalty”
•   “Sourcebook Archive: 1994-2002” contains a backfile of nine complete editions of SCJS; may be downloaded (PDF format)
•   Searchable
•   Outstanding; one of the best sources for statistical information on criminal justice issues/topics; great place to follow trends from the from the mid-90s to the recent past; very user-friendly


Statistical Resources on the Web: Sociology

•   Maintained by Grace York, University of Michigan Documents Center (UMDC)
•   Directory of links to statistical resources for a wide variety of social problems, including crime, capital punishment, child abuse, domestic violence
•   Crime statistics section is excellent; includes sites from official sources (annual surveys, abstracts, table
•   Includes international as well as national resources
•   Excellent annotations accompany each link
•   Outstanding; great resource for beginning research on the general and topic-specific crime topics which it covers; like other UMDC sites, this one is well-organized and well-written


Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)

•   “A data gathering, data research and data distribution organization associated with Syracuse University”
•   “Your source for comprehensive, independent, and nonpartisan information about federal enforcement, staffing and spending”
•   “The purpose of TRAC is to provide the American people – and institutions of oversight such Congress, news organizations, public interest groups, businesses, scholars and lawyers – with comprehensive information about federal staffing, spending, and the enforcement activities of the federal government”
•   TRAC Public Website section of the site includes sub-pages on the following federal agencies: Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco (ATF), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
•   Reports on each agency offer an in-depth analysis of its operations, procedures and enforcement activities and include the following: “Latest Figures,” “National Profile & Trends Over Time,” “Graphical Highlights,” “Enforcement”; this analysis/information is provided free-of-charge
•   Access to additional information/reports is available by subscription to TRACFED, “TRAC’s dynamic subscription service”
•   Free e-mail alerts available
•   Outstanding; this is one of the best resources for information on the federal government’s law enforcement and security agencies


United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network (UNCJIN)

•   Maintained by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
•   “For many years, UNCJIN has been serving as an electronic clearing-house for criminal justice related issues coordinated by the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention, Vienna”
•   UNCJIN has been “restructured” to be an integral part of UNDOC; its primary function at this point is to serve as a directory of links to UN and non-UN websites which deal with various aspects of international crime prevention
•   Links to sites for the following crime prevention categories: corruption suppression, “demand reduction” for drugs, law enforcement, money laundering, organized crime, terrorism, “trafficking in human beings”
•   Links are primarily governmental agencies (international, regional, national), institutes, “think tanks,” specialized organizations
•   No annotations
•   Searchable
•   Includes information on UNODC’s commissions, initiatives, programs, publications, treaty agreements
•   Outstanding; excellent links to international crime prevention sites on multi-jurisdictional levels


Update to “International Criminal Law: A Selective Resource Guide”

•   Posted on the “Law Library Resource Exchange (LLRX)”; authored by Marylin J. Raisch, Bora Laskin Law Library, University of Toronto (Canada) and Gail Partin, Sheely-Lee Law Library, Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania State University
•   Guide to online and print resources analyzing/examining international criminal law
•   Discusses the following categories: “General Background Sources, Research Guides, and Information Networks,” “Treaty Resources,” “International Criminal Court, the Ad Hoc Tribunals, and Other Relevant Judicial Sources,” “Extradition and Mutual Assistance,” “Specific Crimes,” “Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice”
•   Extensive and very well-organized, this guide navigates the multi-jurisdictional thicket of international criminal law in all its complexity, including links to international/regional judicial bodies, treaties/agreements, co-operative agreements and transnational crimes (human rights violations, terrorism/piracy, environmental degradation, “cybercrime”)
•   Excellent annotations accompany links and citations
•   Although this site has not been updated since June, 2002, most of the links are still viable
•   Outstanding; this is one of the best guides to international criminal law currently available online; it discusses an extremely complex subject and provides an excellent sense of coherence to its organization; highly-recommended.

The nation’s primary federal criminal justice and law enforcement agencies carry out numerous activities in support of safety and security. The websites of these agencies, departments and bureaus all provide basic information about each organization’s administrative structure, events, initiatives, policies, projects, programs, publications, recruitment information, resources and services. Listed below are the most prominent ones:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Department of Justice (DOJ)
Department of State (DS)
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)


Websites discussed on this page are for informational purposes only. Johnson & Wales University Library is not responsible for the accuracy, content, or stability of any websites linked to this page. When in need of legal, medical or nutritional advice, consult a professional.

Compiled by Rick Keogh 5/06; links last checked 12/07

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