Hiram College Library: Crime, Law, and Justice (Criminal Justice): Finding Articles

What are Databases?

Databases are online indexes of journal articles and abstracts. Many include full-text journal articles. Some databases also contain book chapters, newspaper/magazine articles, citations for books, and more.

In plain English, a database is what you would use to find articles!

Subject-Specific Databases

Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text. This link opens in a new window
International coverage of areas in criminal justice and criminology. Includes the full-text of articles from some 200 periodicals.
Bureau of Justice Statistics This link opens in a new window
part of the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, offenders and victims, and the justice system.
Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool This link opens in a new window
Data on campus safety from the U.S. Department of Education.
Exploring Race in Society This link opens in a new window
This database offers essential content covering important issues related to race in society today. Essays, articles, reports and other reliable sources provide an in-depth look at the history of race and provide critical context for learning more about topics associated with race, ethnicity, diversity and inclusiveness.
Gun Violence & Gun Control This link opens in a new window
Gun violence is a global issue with over 500 people dying each day, over 100 of which are in the United States. In 2020, more than 45,000 Americans died by gun violence, more than any other year on record. This collection provides social and behavioral science research and perspectives on gun ownership, gun control, legislation, hate crimes, gun violence in schools, the victims, media responses, myths, mental health, and more.
Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database This link opens in a new window
The database provides summary information for more than 9,000 criminal arrest cases of nonfederal sworn law enforcement officers (e.g., police officers, state troopers, deputy sheriffs) from the years 2005-2013. It is run by Dr. Philip M. Stinson, associate professor of Criminal Justice at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. It is named after Henry A. Wallace (1888-1965), the 33rd Vice President of the United States.
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data This link opens in a new window
The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) provides datasets that can help guide the exploration and extension of research ideas for topics connecting technology and criminology.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts Database This link opens in a new window
This free-to-all database provides more than 210,000 criminal justice, juvenile justice, and substance abuse resources housed in the NCJRS Library collection.
Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services: Crime Statistics and Crime Reports This link opens in a new window
Data on crime in Ohio cities and counties
Public Affairs Index This link opens in a new window
Indexes periodicals from around the world related to public policy issues, including crime, poverty, education, and more.
Sage Data Foundations This link opens in a new window
Explore a curated collection of United States statistics in Data Planet Foundations. With this dynamic tool, you can scan and search the contents of billions of datasets, compare and contrast variables of interest, and create customized views in tables, maps, rankings, and charts. Views also include descriptive summaries of the datasets and data sources. Datasets cover a wide range of subjects – including business, finance, banking, economics, sociology, political science, demography, agriculture, education, international studies, criminal justice, housing and construction, labor and employment, energy resources and industries, and more. Sources include public, private/commercial, and nongovernmental organizations. Note: Data Planet Data will not be updated after 2021.
SocIndex with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Indexes, with abstracts, 590 "core journals" back to 1895 in all fields of sociology, including anthropology, criminology, demography, and urban studies.
Uniform Crime Reports This link opens in a new window
Begun in 1929 to provide uniform crime date to the nation, the FBI was charged in 1930 with collecting, publishing, and archiving such date. Today some 18,000 law enforcement agencies contribute data.
The four major publications are: Crime in the United States, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, Hate Crime Statistics, and National Incident-Based Reporting System.
Yearbook of Immigration Statistics This link opens in a new window
Each annual publication contains collections of statistical tables on foreign nationals who were granted lawful permanent residence, were given temporary status, or were naturalized. Includes data on law enforcement actions.

Interdisciplinary Databases

These databases search across a variety of subjects and may be useful for many different courses.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary database that indexes and abstracts some 9,300 periodicals, both popular and scholarly. Provides full-text to more than 5,300 journals.
Electronic Journal Center (EJC) This link opens in a new window
Searchable, full-text issues of journals from a number of major publishers. More than 7,000 journals are available.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Fully searchable full-text of nearly 1,000 scholarly journals. JSTOR provides back files to the first issue of a journal, but stops 3 to 5 years before the current publication year. Covers all disciplines.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
Covers current and controversial social issues from immigration to gun control to fracking. Viewpoint essays present different sides to an issue and the database adds periodical articles, statistics, video/audio, news articles, and primary sources.
Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new window
Research diverse perspectives, topics and trends that align with curricular areas such as Political Science, English, Sociology, Humanities, Business, International Studies and more. Features reliable, credible information from a wide variety of international, national, and local news sources including the Akron Beacon Journal, Plain Dealer, Record-Courier, and USA Today. Available remotely 24/7 on any device.
Very Short Introductions This link opens in a new window
More than 600 e-books from Oxford University Press designed to offer concise and original introductions to a subject. Usually less than 200 pages, they are written by experts for a general audience.

Google Scholar
Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. While Google Scholar itself is free on the web, many of the citations it references are not. Accessing Google Scholar via the proxied link will enable Find It! and other Links from within Google Scholar citations.

Reading the bibliographies of a good article or book can be very helpful. But how do you find one of the sources listed? Look up the part written in italics.

If your citation looks something like the one below, then it's an article. (Hint: You know it's a journal article if you see volume/issue/page #s.)

Morrow, P. ‘‘Those Sick Challenger Jokes.’’ Journal of Popular Culture. 20.4 (1987): 175-84.

Finding it:

   -look up the title of the journal in the OneSource Journal Finder (Note: Look up the journal title, which is in italics, not the "article title," which is in "quotation marks.")
   -if the journal is available electronically, you can search within the journal itself or click on the "Full Text Access" link, and check if we have access to the year you need
   -if the journal is available in print, read the rest of the journal's record to see if we have the volume/issue you need

If your citation looks something like the one below, then it's a book. (Hint: You know it's a book if you see a city and a publisher/press)

Framing Monsters: Fantasy Film and Social Alienation; Bellin, Joshua David; 2005, Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press.

Finding it:
-look up the title of the book in the H iram Library Catalog
-if we don't have it, click on the OhioLINK button to find it in another Ohio library

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