CRIME DATA SOURCES IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE:
How Crime Data is Collected, Analyzed, and Put to Use

SHORTCUTS ON THIS PAGE:
COMPREHENSIVE SITES, TOPICAL SITES, STATE-BY-STATE SITES.

Comprehensive Sources:

Probably the most extensive source of information on criminal justice in the world. NCJRS is a group of clearinghouses supporting all the bureaus of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Office of Victims of Crime (OVC), and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). For federal prisoners, see the BOP.

• Bridging Gaps in Police Data - pdf document by Michael Maltz
• Data Analysis in the Social Sciences - a short list of repositories, mostly polling data, from this Univ. of Texas site.
• Government Printing Office - Nearly 10,000 books, pamphlets for sale.
• Institute for Government Studies - IGS at Berkeley is a major policy think tank.
• Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research The ICPSR is a consortium of colleges and universities where researchers have archived their latest research projects. Over 500 online data collections. Good source for secondary data analysis. Recommended.
• Justice Research and Policy (JRSA) Online journal and other information from the Justice Research and Statistics Association. A nice web site.
• SEARCH: National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics A non-profit organization dedicated to providing cutting-edge information. Most files are viewable from within your browser.
• National Center on Institutions and Alternatives - ranks the states in terms of where it is safest from crime. For city rankings, see Morgan Quinto Press. or visit Money Magazine's Best Places to Live.
• National Criminal Justice Association An association that lobbies for lawmakers to utilize more research findings. Most files are viewable from within your browser.
• National Police Use of Force Database A project by the International Assoc of Chiefs of Police.
• National Victim Center Comprehensive site for victim-related information, such as status of stalking statutes, current lawsuits, and other statistics.
• Research Resources for the Social Sciences - A colorful, easy-to-use guide to the major search engines for social science research, from Carleton University.
• Social Science Gateways on the Net - An extensive set of links to sites providing data on a wide variety of social science topics: poverty-related resources, political reform sites, polling data, and other statistical archives. Huge.
• Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics This is the online version of the annual SOURCEBOOK published by SUNY-Albany. Over 600 tables of data on just about any topic imaginable. Perfect tables, charts, and diagrams for importing into term papers. Recommended.
• State Information Authorities Indexed state-by-state by Cecil Greek. All states have one of these grant and research clearinghouses.
• Statistical Resources on the Web - a useful site from the University of Michigan's Documents Center, links to resources, online databases, and archived datasets of every kind, from agriculture to crime to weather, , with their Comprehensive Sociology section probably the best.
• Syracuse Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse Info on laws enforced and crimes handled by federal law enforcement agencies: FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS, requires password, but free sections include About the Law, a guide to 3,000 fed statutes.
• Uniform Crime Reports The UCR is published by the FBI as our "official" crime rate and is searchable by city and state; this link takes you to the FBI's home page as I got tired of tracking down their data site.

TOPICAL SOURCES:

• Aging - Reports and projected trends for the aging U.S. population.
• Campaign Contributions - Who's influencing whom with how much money.
• Campus Crime - U.S. Academic statistics.
• Child Abuse & Neglect - Numbers from DHHS.
• Child Homicides - State-by-state numbers on this, suicides & more from the Children's Defense Fund.
• Death Penalty - A top-rated site for any state-by-state information about this phenomenon.
• Demographics - A nicely-done, MegaList of demographic data sites.
• Domestic Violence - BJS figures on crimes against women; also see Cybrrgirl & Elder Abuse page.
• Firearms Violence - Extensive archives from the Violence Policy Center.
• Foster Care & Adoption - U.S. statistics available via CASA.
• Hate Crime Statistics - The latest numbers available from the FBI.
• Immigration - Regular year-by-year counts from the INS.
• Intelligence - The latest proficiency scores and other indicators of school achievement for the youth of America, from the Education Dept.
• Police Brutality - State-by-state analysis from Human Rights Watch.
• Poverty - Multiple measures, including yearly thresholds, from the Census Bureau; for a MegaList of Poverty-related sites, see the Wisconsin Institute.
• Public Opinion - The Roper Center is probably the best, followed by the Gallup Organization, followed by the more politically-oriented Polling Report and Public Agenda Online, and don't forget the MegaList of Survey Research Centers.
• Religion - The number of people who attend church every week.
• Vital Statistics - Figures on births, diseases, and deaths from the CDC.
• Workplace Violence - The latest numbers from OSHA.

STATE LINKS:
Also available: Guide to the State SACs

For Law Enforcement sites: see Related Mega-List: Policing (Traditional)
For Influential Nonprofit Agencies: see CJ ThinkTanks

Last updated: Dec. 08, 2007
Not an official webpage of APSU, copyright restrictions apply, see Megalinks in Criminal Justice
O'Connor, T.  (Date of Last Update at bottom of page). In Part of web cited (Windows name for file at top of browser), MegaLinks in Criminal Justice. Retrieved from http://www.apsu.edu/oconnort/rest of URL accessed on today's date.