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Finding Publicly Available & Free Resources
Many of the resources collected on this guide require an affiliation with URI or use of a public computer within the URI Libraries. For material you can access without these restrictions, check out the recommendations on this page!
U.S. Department of Justice Sites
- United States Department of JusticeThe world's largest law office and the central agency for enforcement of federal laws.
- Office of Justice Programs"Works in partnership with the justice community to identify the most pressing crime-related challenges confronting the justice system and to provide information, training, coordination, and innovative strategies and approaches for addressing these challenges."
- Bureau of Justice Assistance"BJA supports law enforcement, courts, corrections, treatment, victim services, technology, and prevention initiatives that strengthen the nation’s criminal justice system. BJA provides leadership, services, and funding to America’s communities."
Other Government Sites
- United States Sentencing CommissionAn independent agency in the Judicial Branch of government. Serves as an information resource for Congress, focusing on sentencing policies and guidelines. Has links to statistics and commissions by state.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime ReportsInformation collected from approximately 17,000 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Characteristics, elements, volume, diversity and complexity of reported crime.
- Internet Crime Complaint CenterA joint venture of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center, this site provides access to resources regarding cyber crimes and fraud, including prevention and information for filing complaints.
Other Sources of Information
- Directory of Open Access JournalsAn index of quality, peer-reviewed, open access scholarly research journals covering a range of disciplines.
- Prison Policy Initiative State Profiles"These 50 state profiles, plus one for D.C., another for United States as a whole, and one focused on Native incarceration, draw on graphs made from reports issued as part of our National Incarceration Briefing Series."
- Death Penalty Information CenterAnalysis and information on issues regarding death penalty with links to problems on cost, racial disparity, trends in capital punishment, executions and individual state information.