Criminal Justice
Key Journals
More Helpful Guides
Welcome to the Criminal Justice Research Guide!
This guide is your one-stop library resource for scholarly and non-scholarly books and eBooks, databases and journals, web resources, research tips and tools, career information, and more on criminal justice and related topics! In this guide you'll also find information on library services, tools, and other web resources to help you write your papers, do your presentations, cite your sources, and more.
Use the blue buttons on the left to navigate through the guide and find what you need. Ask a librarian (ask@snhu.libanswers.com) if you need additional assistance!
Criminal Justice includes several distinct research areas. Often, you'll find that the core resources below contain the information you need for your research. Also look to the menu on the left, where librarians have identified helpful resources for specific areas of research within criminal justice.
Core Criminal Justice Resources
For many topics and research questions in Criminal Justice, you'll find the resources below helpful. Icons indicate what kind of resources are included in each database.
Databases
- Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text - EBSCO This link opens in a new windowThis comprehensive database includes full text and bibliographic records of leading journals in the criminal justice field.
- Criminal Justice Database - ProQuest This link opens in a new windowMagazines, journals and trade publications for professionals in law enforcement, corrections administration, drug enforcement, rehabilitation, family law, and industrial security
- HeinOnline Legal Databases This link opens in a new windowCore collection of current and historical law and law-related periodicals, classic books and reports. Includes government and political documents, such as World Constitutions, US Congressional Documents, the Federal Register and much more. Includes the HeinOnline Slavery in America and the World Collection (found within the UNC Press Law collection).
- National Criminal Justice (NCJRS) Reference Service This link opens in a new windowThe NCJRS Library and Abstracts provide access to summaries of more than 195,000 justice and substance abuse resources. National Criminal Justice Reference Service is a federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide
- SAGE Journals This link opens in a new windowThe SAGE Journals platform includes full text of scholarly journals from SAGE publications in many disciplines, such as, education, sociology, women's studies, criminal justice and business.
- International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center - EBSCO This link opens in a new windowThis database offers information on virtually every dimension of security and counter-terrorism. It provides a comprehensive Open Source Intelligence Resource for analysts, risk management professionals, and students. ISCTRC combines deep background from scholarly writings with expert commentary from a variety of organizations, agencies and publishers and timely reviews of recent developments across the international political, military, economic, social and technical spectrum. Content includes nearly 3,000 full-text items from a variety of sources, including reports from Stratfor Analysis, Stratfor Forecasts, and Stratfor Geopolitical Diary and over 10,500 pertinent images.
Other Resources
Finding Reports & Statistics
- Criminal Justice Testing and Evaluation Consortium This link opens in a new windowThe Criminal Justice Testing and Evaluation Consortium (CJTEC) is a program of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), which uses research-based methodologies to enhance the capabilities of law enforcement, courts, and corrections agencies.
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics This link opens in a new window"The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data from more than 100 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States. These data are displayed in over 1,000 tables"
- Bureau of Justice Statistics This link opens in a new windowThe Bureau of Justice Statistics keeps and makes available statistics concerning corrections, sentencing and expenditures of justice system nationwide.
- FBI Crime Statistics This link opens in a new windowThe Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program generates reliable statistics for use in law enforcement. It also provides information for students of criminal justice, researchers, the media, and the public. The program has been providing crime statistics since 1930.
- National Archive of Criminal Justice Data This link opens in a new windowThe mission of the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) is to facilitate research in criminal justice and criminology, through the preservation, enhancement, and sharing of computerized data resources; through the production of original research based on archived data; and through specialized training workshops in quantitative analysis of crime and justice data.
Types of Criminal Justice Sources
There are many sources you will encounter as you research. These sources have different characteristics. Take care to match the sources you use to your projects.
| Publication Type | Examples | Content | Authors | Audience | Reviewed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Journals | Journal of Criminal Justice This link opens in a new window, Criminal Justice Review This link opens in a new window, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice This link opens in a new window | Original research, In-depth, Specific, Sources cited | Scholars and Professionals | Scholars, Industry Professionals, Students | Scholars (Peer Review) |
| Popular News and Magazines | Police This link opens in a new window, Chief Magazine This link opens in a new window | Brief articles on topics of general interest, Advertisements | Journalists | General Public | Editors |
| Case Studies |
Often found in scholarly journals This link opens in a new window |
Detailed examination and analysis of a specific case | Scholars and Professionals | Scholars, Industry Professionals, Students | Scholars (Peer Review) |
| Government Information |
Department of Justice; Local, State and National Legal and Court Information |
Research, Legal Guidelines | Government Agencies, including DOJ | Scholars, Students | Government Agencies |
Find more with Google Scholar
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts, and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other web sites. Google Scholar searches may be narrowed down by date in the left margin of the results list.
Each result in a Google Search has options beneath it including:
- Citation for the article in 5 formats & export to various citation managers
- "Cited by" lists all the articles written more recently that cite the article
- Related articles
If the full text is available, it will appear as a link to the right of the citation. To access Google Scholar, click on the link below.
The link below demonstrates how to link Google Scholar to the Shapiro Library databases.