Research Guides: CJ 1010: Introduction to Criminal Justice: Web Resources

Finding Statistics & Data

You may want to use statistics for your research, as a way to demonstrate the extent of the problem you're researching or how many people are impacted by it. While scholarly articles often include statistics, they generally only relate to the data collected for that particular research study, or they may be out of date by the time you read the article. For this reason, you'll often need to look beyond articles to find the most current statistics.

This page includes a few recommended resources for finding statistics, but there are many more statistical resources available online. You can use a search engine like Google to find the government agencies responsible for collecting the statistics that interest you, such as the United States Census Bureau (for finding census and demographic data). Contact your librarian if you need any help with this.

Web Resources

Bureau of Justice Statistics
Statistics created and published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics covering crime trends, incarceration rates, criminal offenders, crime victims, and criminal justice operations.
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
BOP is a useful tool for finding inmate, population, and staffing statistics.
National Institute of Corrections
Resources related to local, state, and federal statistics displayed to help you see the current state of the corrections industry.
Sentencing Project
Articles and statistics about sentencing, incarceration and other issues.
World Prison Brief
International information on prison populations, imprisonment of women and juveniles, pretrial imprisonment, prison overcrowding, contact details for prison administrations. Also included are lists from the country with the highest rate to the country with the lowest rate, in respect of prison population rates, prison population totals, occupancy rates, pre-trial/remand prisoners, female prisoners and foreign prisoners. The last three lists show the number of such prisoners as a percentage of the prison population total. These 'highest to lowest' lists are available both for the entire world and for individual continents.
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)
The UCR Program consists of four data collections: The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), the Summary Reporting System (SRS), the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program, and the Hate Crime Statistics Program. The UCR Program publishes annual reports for each of these data collections and a preliminary semiannual report of summary data each winter, as well as special compilations such as Cargo Theft Report, Human Trafficking, and NIBRS topical studies. In addition to the four major data collections, the UCR Program will manage the new National Use-of-Force Data Collection. The FBI's interactive Crime Data Explorer tool serves as the digital front door for UCR data, enabling law enforcement and the general public to more easily use and understand the massive amounts of UCR data currently collected.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The FBI focuses on defense against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, upholding and enforcing the criminal laws of the United States, and providing leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners. Includes access to Reports and Publications.
U.S. Courts: Statistics & Reports
U.S. court information and data in statistical tables and charts. Some reports offer analyses of key data.
U.S. Sentencing Commission
Public reports on sentencing issues and data from documents submitted by the courts in each case in which a defendant is sentenced.

Career Resources

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a searchable database featuring hundreds of career profiles. Searching for an occupation will provide a job description and other information, such as median pay and how to enter the occupation. Below are entries relevant to careers in Criminal Justice:

Career Guide in Criminal Justice (Print Book) by Douglas Klutz
Publication Date: 2018
Career Guide in Criminal Justice is the guide to getting hired and working in the criminal justice system. Featuring a straightforward and accessible writing style, it covers the three main components of the criminal justice system--law enforcement, courts, and corrections--discussing career opportunities in local, state, and federal government along with those in the private sector. The book also looks at careers in private investigations, the bond industry, forensic psychology, cybersecurity, and other related fields.
Careers for the Criminal Justice Major (Ebook) by Tomas C. Mijares
Publication Date: 2018
The purpose of this book is to address the proper preparation for careers in criminal justice. Now more than ever, there is a societal demand for willing college graduates who are prepared to enter the field at the basic level, and eager to develop themselves into positions of responsibility and leadership. Due to rapid and continuous changes in technology and overall society, students entering the field of criminal justice employment will be expected to adjust to changes in their line of work.
Exploring and Understanding Careers in Criminal Justice (Print Book) by Matthew J. Sheridan; Raymond R. Rainville
Publication Date: 2016
This book explores the criminal justice career landscape by providing a glimpse into the different criminal justice careers and provides advice as to how to prepare to enter those career fields. This book includes personal profiles that exemplify real work in the criminal justice profession.
Careers in Criminal Justice (Print Book) by Coy H. Johnston
Publication Date: 2014
A valuable supplement to students considering a career in the criminal justice field, this book provides an emphasis on planning, pursuing, and preparing for the hiring process. It includes three main sections of planning a realistic path, selecting an appropriate career, and preparing for the hiring process. Students will be able to peruse the relevant chapters repeatedly when they are ready to start the process of applying for various jobs.

Associations & Organizations

Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS)
An international association established in 1963 to foster professional and scholarly activities in the field of criminal justice. The group publishes a newsletter and provides links to useful criminal justice websites.
American Society of Criminology (ASC)
The American Society of Criminology is an international organization whose members pursue scholarly, scientific, and professional knowledge concerning the measurement, etiology, consequences, prevention, control, and treatment of crime and delinquency.
National Association of Forensic Counselors (NAFC)
The NAFC sets out to develop a competent workforce to counsel, treat, evaluate, supervise and manage criminal offenders.
American Board of Criminalistics
This site includes career information, a searchable index to the Journal of Forensic Sciences, forensic links, and job opportunities.

Library Help

Call: 801.863.8840
Text: 801.290.8123