Criminal Justice Subject Guide

Research Tools & Resources in Criminal Justice

Find Web Sources

Sample Statistics Sources

There are many web sites devoted to criminal justice, prison reform, restorative justice, alternative sentencing, youth rights, sentencing disparity, racial profiling and much more.

Be sure to assess:

  • Is the information accurate and reliable?
  • Who is publishing it - and why?

The sites below provides statistics and other data on crime and criminal justice in the United States:

Not for Profit Organizations and Advocacy Groups

Search the Web for non-profit organizations devoted to criminal justice advocacy and work.

  • Look up organization on the web (wikipedia works for this!) to learn about their missions and point of view and to help you understand their agenda.

Find additional organizations online that are working on criminal justice issues. 

  • Search criminal justice site:.org

TED Talks and Think Tanks 

But is it a good web site?

How can you determine if you have a "good" web site? 

Think critically! Don't just take the first result in Google! Think about the following:

AUTHORITY and ACCURACY
  • Who publishes the website?  Is this a well-known or respected institution?

  • Is there contact information for authors of the website content?  What is their background or credentials?

  • Is it a commercial site (.com), a government site (.gov), an educational site (.edu), a non-profit or other organization (.org)? How does this affect the information presented?

  • Do other reliable sites link to this one?

  • Are facts, ideas or references credible and backed up by citations to the original sources?

PURPOSE and OBJECTIVITY
  • What is the purpose of this site: to sell, inform, entertain or persuade?

  • Who sponsors this website?  What is their agenda or goal?

  • For what audience is this site written?

  • Is there an explicit or hidden bias behind the information presented?

  • Is there advertising on the site? Does this influence information found on the site?

  • Are arguments well-reasoned and supported?

CURRENCY
  • Is the information on the page up-to-date?

  • Is the page updated regularly?

  • Are there dead links?