Criminal Justice Resources :

Periodical Databases

Basic Journal Article Databases | Advanced Journal Article Databases | Specialized Criminal Justice Databases
Additional Databases | Historical Print Indexes | Need Newspaper Articles?
MSU faculty, staff, and students can now access all of these databases from off campus via the MSU Libraries Proxy Server. If you have any trouble following the directions, contact the Distance Learning Center at 517-353-8700.)

Basic Journal Article Databases

Don't have much time? Undergraduates should concentrate on the following general purpose databases:

Database:

Coverage:

Indexing: 1980 to date.

Description and Notes:

Expanded Academic ASAP™ provides coverage of 3,000 indexed and 1,900 full-text titles in a wide variety of disciplines including: social science journals, humanities journals, science and technology journals, national news periodicals, general interest magazines, newswires, The New York Times and many others. More than 1,400 journals are peer reviewed, and more than 20 years of backfile coverage are included.
Choose Advanced Search for multiple boxes to work with.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

Indexing: 1980 to date.

Description and Notes:

Gale's General OneFile is a comprehensive periodical resource that puts more than 60 million articles at your fingertips with a single search query. More than 11,000 titles and backfile coverage from 1980 — from mainstream to specialized sources — and an intuitive search interface make this an unequaled source for virtually every popular, business and professional topic.
Note you can also limit your search to documents with full text, to peer-reviewed publications, to document with images, and to library holdings. More Searching Tips.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

Indexing: 1971 to date; full-text: 1991 to date.

Description and Notes:

Provides online access to an extensive collection of published material. You can search for information in thousands of different journals, periodicals, dissertations, newspapers, and magazines. Complete articles -- in full text, page image, or UMI's unique Text+Graphics format -- are available for many of the most popular and important sources. Updated daily.
Choose Advanced Search for multiple boxes to work with.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1994-

Description and Notes:

Wilson Select provides full text coverage of over 400 journals. However, full text coverage varies by date from journal to journal.
Unlimited access

Database:

Google Scholar

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

Google has created this database to speed location of reports and journal articles available on the Internet. Google is also working hard on facilitating links to subscription resources offered by university libraries. However not all the links work yet. So if you find an interesting article or resources via this database, be sure to check whether it is available via the MSU Libraries electronic or print collections.
Unlimited access

Advanced Journal Article Databases

Don't have much time? Undergraduates should concentrate on the following general purpose databases:

Advanced undergraduates and graduate students should explore the following subject specific databases:

Database:

Coverage:

1968-

Description and Notes:

A bibliographic database covering criminal justice periodical articles and reports from government and nongovernmental agencies. For each document, a summary of the finding, methodology, and conclusions is provided. Topics include crime trends, prevention projects, corrections, juvenile delinquency, police, courts, offenders, victims and sentencing.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1998-

Description and Notes:

CJPI on ProQuest® provides cover-to-cover access for 59 criminal justice journals frequently consulted by professionals, plus complete abstracts for over 100 additional titles. Publications in CJPI focus primarily on practical issues in crime prevention and deterrence, juvenile delinquency, police issues, and courtroom procedures, but users will find a number of highly respected theoretical journals as well. ProQuest's CJPI database is updated weekly for the most timely information on a number of issues concerning criminal justice professionals--issues like domestic violence, alternative sentencing, drug addiction and abuse, divorce and divorce settlements, forensic science, and more. Replaces print index which ceased in 1998. Drag cursor over "Search Methods" button and select "List Publications" for a list of periodicals covered.
CJPI via Proquest doesn't always load properly on the first try; if you are prompted for id and password, go back and try again.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1955-

Description and Notes:

Provides full-text access to the following journals: Child Maltreatment, Crime & Delinquency, Crime, Media, Culture, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Criminal Justice Policy Review, Criminal Justice Review, European Journal of Criminology, Feminist Criminology, Homicide Studies, International Criminal Justice Review, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Police Quarterly, The Prison Journal, Probation Journal, Punishment & Society, Theoretical Criminology, Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, Violence Against Women , Youth Justice. In many cases, full text access is provided back to volume 1.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1968-

Description and Notes:

The NCJRS Abstracts Database provides 100-200 word abstracts for more than 145,000 criminal justice publications. Literature covered includes U.S. Federal, State and local government documents, books, journal articles, unpublished research reports, and program descriptions and evaluations, from the early 1970's up to the present. Currently 355 new items are added to the Database each month. The Database on the Web will be updated twice monthly.

Select the virtual library to restrict you search to full text documents.

Interlibrary loans are available for all items in the collection to U.S. and Canadian libraries. On a standard ALA form, record the document title and NCJ number. Fax the form to NCJRS at (30) 519-5212 or mail it to: NCJRS Library, PO Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000. Include payment of $15.00 per title in the United States, $16.50 per title in Canada. If you have additional questions, call (301) 519-5063 for assistance.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1975 to date

Description and Notes:

The same database as the web version but with CSA search interface. CSA searches will provide a list of related web sites in addition to your normal search results.

Interlibrary loans are available for all items in the collection to U.S. and Canadian libraries. On a standard ALA form, record the document title and NCJ number. Fax the form to NCJRS at (30) 519-5212 or mail it to: NCJRS Library, PO Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000. Include payment of $15.00 per title in the United States, $16.50 per title in Canada. If you have additional questions, call (301) 519-5063 for assistance.
Unlimited access

Specialized Criminal Justice Databases

And finally, here's a list of databases created by think tanks and research institutes which may be of interest to more specialized research.

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

Originally published by Vera in March 1998 as "Bibliography of Policing Literature with Select Annotations," this popular resource was updated in 2004 to include many more works published in languages other than English and was also converted to an on-line database. It is now hosted and maintained by Altus, the global justice alliance that Vera helped to create and of which Vera is a member. You can search the Bibliography on Democratic Policing on the Altus web site in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

CrimDoc comprises the "grey literature" from the field of Criminology, as well as other, related areas of specialization, including criminal justice, penology and corrections, juvenile deliquency/young offenders, policing and law enforcement, and private policing. This file, housed in the University of Toronto Centre of Criminology Library, is composed of institute, association, and government publications, as well as unpublished papers, working papers, research reports, etc. While these publications contribute to the research and information needs of the criminal justice community they traditionally lack effective bibliographic control. CrimDoc attempts to make this information more accessible to users.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) is the nation's premier collection of homeland security policy and strategy related documents. It supports local, state and federal analysis and decision-making needs and assists academics of all disciplines in homeland defense and security related research. It provides quick access to important U.S. policy documents, presidential directives, and national strategy documents as well as specialized resources such as theses and reports from various universities, organizations and local and state agencies. The resources are reviewed and selected by a team of homeland security researchers and organized in a unique homeland security taxonomy. HSDL content includes state-of-the-art multi-media offerings and other valuable assets identified by CHDS masters degree participants and instructors. Courtesy of the Naval Postgraduate School.
Access limited to MSU faculty, staff, and students with appropriate IP address ranges.

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

Library catalog of the National Fire Academy; indexes journal articles, books, and reports in fire science and emergency management.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

NIC’s Digital Resources Library covers over 3,000 items, accessible online, that have been produced by NIC or other sources. You can use the search engine on the right or browse through categories.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

Current; updated through 2005

Description and Notes:

Compiled by the Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption of York University, Toronto, indexes books, newspaper articles, magazines and journals.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

An online databasecreated by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe., consolidating various aspects of policing activities with the 56 OSCE Participating States into a comprehensive, multilingual resource. Includes profiles of each participating country, information about organized crime, and much more.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1970-

Description and Notes:

Created and maintained by the University of Toronto, Centre of Criminology Library, this database includes citations to academic and practitioner literature from 1970 to the present. It is updated and maintained on a regular basis and presently includes more than 1,400 records. You can search the database by keyword, by subject category, or by type of resource.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1970-

Description and Notes:

Created and maintained by the Northwestern University, Transportation Research Library, this database includes focuses primarily on highway safety issues. However, since many State Police/Highway Patrol units also focus on highway safety issues, this database may be of value to those interested in pulling up criminal justice, security, or highway safety information from the transportation literature.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1970-

Description and Notes:

Citations of articles held by Northwestern University Transportation Library, covering transportation and law enforcement management.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1980s-

Description and Notes:

VioLit, the Violence Research Literature database of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado at Boulder, indexes books, journal articles, and reports.
Unlimited access

Additional Journal Article Databases

Since criminal justice topics are often multidisciplinary, you may want to search the following periodical indexes as well to find more information.

Database:

Coverage:

1970-

Description and Notes:

Provides access to articles, book reviews, and dissertations in American and Canadian history. Useful for finding information on historical figure/s like Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, Jessie James. Also try subject headings such as capital punishment; corrections; courts (federal); courts (state); crime and criminals; criminal justice; dna; evidence; firearms; hate crimes; juvenile courts; juvenile delinquency; murder; prisons; recidivism; sentencing; sexual harassment; victims
Access limited to 6 simultaneous users

Database:

Coverage:

1957-

Description and Notes:

Excellent source for cross-cultural studies of crime, drug use, and violence.
Unlimited simultaneous users

Database:

Coverage:

1990-

Description and Notes:

ArticleFirst describes items listed on the table of contents page of individual issues of more than 13,000 journals. Each record describes one article, news story, letter, or other item from a journal. Most records can provide a list of libraries that hold the journal title.
No access restrictions

Database:

Coverage:

Coverage varies depending on the source; embargoes sometimes apply for the latest three months, year, etc.

Description and Notes:

Provides indexing and abstracting for more than 600 publications, and includes selected full-text coverage for more than 240 journals in communications, mass media, and related fields. Topics include (among many others) health communication, gender and communication, communication theory, and mass media.
No access restrictions

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

FindArticles is an archive of published articles that can you can search and print in their entirety, at no cost. Over 300 magazines and journals are covered, back to 1998. The coverage is updated constantly. FindArticles is a content-distribution partnership between LookSmart and Gale Group. You can view the articles by subject (nine subject areas, subdivided by topics), and view publications by name and search by terms of your choosing. Search results display the article title and a brief abstract, with a link to the full article with the date and author listed. Or you can type in a term and search the entire database. There is a useful Help tutorial.
No access restrictions

Database:

Coverage:

1977-

Description and Notes:

Provides access to historical articles for the Modern period (the present) for Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Latin America. Try subject headings such as: capital punishment; crime and criminals; criminal law; judicial administration; juvenile delinquency; murder; penal policy; penal reform; prisons.
Access limited to 6 simultaneous users

Database:

Coverage:

1981-

Description and Notes:

Provides thorough, reliable indexing of over 620 journals, yearbooks, institutes, bar association organs, law reviews and university publications from the U.S., Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico. Covers all areas of jurisprudence, including court decisions, legislation, and original scholarship.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1951-

Description and Notes:

International Bibliography of Social Sciences, from the British Library of Political and Economic Science of the London School of Economics and Political Science, indexes the information contained in over 2,600 social sciences journals and 6,000 books each year. Coverage includes both core and specialized material from over 100 countries in more than 90 languages. Approximately 70% of the records are in English, and articles in other languages are displayed with both the original language title as well as with an English translation. The comprehensive coverage provided in the database, while based on the core disciplines of anthropology, economics, political science and sociology, also reflects the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the social sciences.
When the ERL directory of databases comes up, look for this database under social sciences
Access limited to 1 simulataneous user

Database:

Coverage:

1989-

Description and Notes:

Produced by the International Political Science Association this bibliographic database indexes and abstracts periodical articles from around the world. Articles in English are abstracted in English; those in other languages are abstracted in French, with all titles translated into English. Useful for picking up articles about international crime activities such as organized crime, money laundering, terrorism, etc. Look for IPSA under social sciences.
Access limited to 4 simultaneous users

Database:

LegalTrac (via Infotrac)

Coverage:

1980-

Description and Notes:

Covers almost 1000 law reviews, journals, and newspapers.
Access limited to 2 simultaneous users

Database:

Coverage:

PAISArchive 1915-1976 & PAIS International 1972 to the present

Description and Notes:

The PAIS International database contains references to more than 553,300 journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more. Newspapers and newsletters are not indexed. PAIS International includes publications from over 120 countries throughout the world. In addition to English, some of the indexed materials are published in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and other languages. This links also provides access to an enhanced subscription to the PAIS Archive. The PAIS Archive provides retrospective coverage of the PAIS Annual Cumulated Bulletin going back to 1915.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1887-

Description and Notes:

Contains summaries of the world's journal literature, of dissertations and technical reports, and of English-language chapters and books in psychology and related disciplines. Covers over 1300 journals in over 30 languages from approximately 50 countries. No full text content within PsycInfo, but there are links to full text in other databases, including PsycARTICLES. Also includes psychology articles from related disciplines such as sociology, linguistics, education, medicine, law, physiology, business, psychiatry, and anthropology.
Limited access

Database:

Coverage:

Current-

Description and Notes:

PubMed was developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). PubMed provides web access to bibliographic information, which is drawn primarily from MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE, HealthSTAR, as well as Publisher-Supplied citations. In addition, for electronically supplied journals that are indexed selectively for MEDLINE, and include articles unrelated to medicine or the life sciences, PubMed includes all articles from that journal, not just those that are included in MEDLINE. It is expected that access to additional NLM databases will be added in the future. Of potential use for Forensic Science, particularly in the areas of forensic biology, serology, DNA analysis, toxicology and forensic psychology/psychiatry.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1983-

Description and Notes:

Indexes general interest magazines and some scholarly journals.
Unlimited access

Database:

Science Citation Index via ISI Web of Knowledge

Coverage:

1987-

Description and Notes:

The Science Citation Index is a multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the sciences. It indexes 5,300 major journals across 164 scientific disciplines, covering approximately 2,000 more journals than its SCI print and CD-ROM counterparts, with all cited references captured.
Access limited to 20 simulataneous users

Database:

Social Science Citation Index via ISI Web of Knowledge

Coverage:

1987-

Description and Notes:

The Social Sciences Citation Index is a multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences. It indexes 1,700 journals spanning 50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals.
Access limited to 20 simultaneous users

Database:

Coverage:

1983-

Description and Notes:

Covers some 350 core periodicals in the fields of anthropology, economics, geography, law and criminology, political science, social work, sociology, and international relations.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1963-

Description and Notes:

Indexes approximately 2300 journals in 30 different languages from 55 countries. Covers sociological topics in fields such as: aging; AIDS; alcohol and drug abuse; anthropology; cities; communications; counseling; crime; culture; death; demography; education; emergency response; ethics; gerontology; health; health care; industry; law; medicine; philosophy; planning; political science; psychiatry; psychology; public administration; public affairs; public health; rehabilitation; religion; welfare.
Limited access

Database:

Coverage:

1975-

Description and Notes:

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts is building on the merged backfiles of Political Science Abstracts, published by IFI / Plenum, 1975-2000, and ABC POL SCI, published by ABC-CLIO, 1984-2000. The database provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy. The serials list of the new database, which currently contains 1,304 titles, is actively under construction, with a focus on expanding international coverage.

Additional Databases

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

The Catalog is a search and retrieval service that provides bibliographic records of U.S. Government information products. Use it to link to Federal agency online resources or identify materials distributed to Federal Depository Libraries. Coverage begins with January 1994 and new records are added daily. Try a search such as "government policy" AND terrorism.
Unlimited access

Database:

Proquest Dissertations and Theses (Formerly called Dissertation Abstracts)

Coverage:

1861-

Description and Notes:

The database includes bibliographic citations for materials ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester. Citations for dissertations published from 1980 forward also include 350-word abstracts written by the author. Citations for master's theses from 1988 forward include 150-word abstracts. The full text of more than one million of these titles is available in paper and microform formats. Institutional subscribers to ProQuest Digital Dissertations receive on-line access to the complete file of dissertations in digital format starting with titles published from 1997 forward.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

1861-

Description and Notes:

This UMI/ProQuest site provides access to MSU and other CIC member dissertations and theses; from 1997 onward, full text is available. Citations and abstracts are available for earlier documents.

A 24-page preview of each document from 1997+ is available for immediate viewing, but to obtain the full text of a dissertation or thesis from 1997+, it is necessary to fill out a form at the site. There is no charge for documents submitted by MSU. A PIN will be e-mailed to the requestor. The PDF must then be retrieved from the site specified in the e-mail, where it will be available for pickup for a 24-hour period. Other delivery formats (printed copies) are also available for various fees as indicated at the site.
Unlimited access

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

Provides complete, publisher­verified information on all U.S. books in print as well as English-language books published in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Global Books in Print covers scholarly, technical, popular, adult, juvenile, and reprint titles.
Access limited to 5 simultaneous users

Database:

Coverage:

1976-

Description and Notes:

Covers legislative and judiciary materials, presidential publications, committee and commission reports, and documents of independent and regulatory agencies. At present, there are records for almost 400,000 different publications issued since July 1976.
Limited access

Database:

Coverage:

1993-

Description and Notes:

PapersFirst contains citations to over 580,000 papers included in every congress, conference, exposition, workshop, symposium, and meeting received at The British Library.
Limited access

Database:

Coverage:

1993-

Description and Notes:

Over 19,000 citations to every congress, symposium, conference, exposition, workshop and meeting received at The British Library.
Limited access

Database:

Coverage:

Current

Description and Notes:

WorldCat is the OCLC Online Union Catalog, containing more than 35 million records describing items owned by MSU Libraries and libraries around the world; each record indicates library holdings. It is produced by the OCLC Online Computer Library Center and describes books, manuscripts, computer data files, maps, computer programs, musical scores, films and slides, newspapers, journals, sound recordings magazines, and videotapes.
Unlimited access

For a complete list of databases available in the MSU Libraries, consult MSU Library Electronic Resources.

Historical Print Indexes

In addition to electronic databases, the MSU Libraries also provides a few historical print indexes for criminal justice researchers. Due to space problems, the print volumes have been removed if electronic access is available.

Print Index:

Criminal Justice Periodical Index

Coverage:

1975 to 1981

Description and Notes:

A basic index for criminal justice periodicals. Later years are available electronically.
Located in Main Library Stacks under the call number Z5118 .C9 C74

Print Index:

Criminology, Penology, and Police Science Abstracts

Coverage:

Volume 1, 1961 - 1999

Description and Notes:

An international abstracting service covering the etiology of crime and juvenile delinquency, the control and treatment of offenders, criminal procedure, the administration of justice and police science. Covers both monographs and journal articles. Each issue is sorted into the following categories: (1) Criminology; (2) Offenses; Deviant Behavior; (3) Victim; (4) Juvenile Justice and Delinquency; (5) Criminal Law; (6) Crime Policy; (7) Police; (8) Courts; and (9) Corrections. A separate subject and author index is also provided.
Formerly called Abstracts on Criminology and Penology; Criminology and Penology Abstracts; Excerpta Criminologica.
Located in Reference (1East) under the call number HV6001 .E9

Print Index:

Forensic Science Abstracts

Coverage:

Vol. 5 (1980) - vol. 28 (2002)

Description and Notes:

Section 49 of Excerpta Medica. The journal covers all aspects of biomedicine and science of relevance to criminal investigation or coroners. Forensic pathology and forensic toxicology, laboratory techniques and forensic investigation of the scene of the crime or accident, psychosocial problems with legal implications (such as child abuse) are all included in the coverage. Detailed author and keyword indexes to allow the reader to locate items of special interest. A major research tool for forensic scientists, law enforcement agencies, coroners, criminologists and legal departments.
Located in the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Library under the call number R5 .E9 Section 49

Print Index:

Police Science Abstracts

Coverage:

Vol. 1 (1973) - Volume 19 (1991)

Description and Notes:

International abstracting service covering police science, the forensic sciences, and and forensic medicine.
Absorbed into Criminology, Penology, and Police Science Abstracts in 1992.
Formerly called Abstracts on Police Science
Located in Main Library Stacks under the call number Z7164 .P76 A2

Need Newspaper Articles?

Database:

Coverage:

Varies depending on source.

Description and Notes:

Outlines the various newspaper sources provided by the MSU Libraries, including current and historical, electronic, microfilm, and paper.
Access varies depending on the source.

 

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WWW http://staff.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/
 

Ownership Statement
Jon Harrison : Page Editor
Criminal Justice Specialist
Social Sciences Collections Coordinator
Michigan State University Libraries
100 Library
E. Lansing, MI 48824-1048
harris23@mail.lib.msu.edu
Last revised 09/23/09

Phone: 1-800-500-1554 and 1-517-355-2345.  100 Library, East Lansing, MI 48824 USA.  Email us: comments@mail.lib.msu.edu

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