Jim Dan Hill Library: Criminal Justice: Resources

Searching for Resources

Browsing the Search@UW Catalog

Think about which search terms might be the most helpful and how you can eliminate results that you don't need. For example, Criminal Justice is a very broad concept, if you use terms within the subject you may end up with a more manageable list to look through. Terms you could use include Court System, Corrections, Probation, Criminal, you can use your textbook and course readings to find terms to narrow down your search.

Also, because terminology changes over time and variations of subject terms you may find older language or unfamiliar language. Use these terms to search the library catalog and look at "Subject" terms used within the record, these terms will also help narrow your search.

Browsing Physical Resources

Our resources using Library of Congress (LOC) classifications and call numbers. While most items related to Criminal Justice will be under the sub-classification HV (H represents multiple subjects in the social sciences fields), it is possible to find other related materials in different areas. Please see Classification Codes for Browsing for more information about subject classification ranges.

Call number ranges to focus on when browsing the stacks on the Garden level:

HV6001 - 7220.5: Criminology
HV7231 - 9960: Criminal Justice Administration
HV7431: Crime Prevention
HV7551 - 8280.7: Police
HV8301 - 9920.7: Prisons, corrections
HV9051 - 9230.7: Juvenile offenders, juvenile delinquency
HV9261 - 9430.7: Reformation of adult prisoners, including probation, parole, and reentry

For more specific areas like Criminal Law, you will need class K (Law), specifically KF9201-9479.

Featured Books

The following is a small example of print books available pertaining to Criminal Justice.

Bias in the Law: Definitive Look at Racial Prejudice in the U.S. Criminal Justice System by Joseph Avery (Contribution by, Editor), et. al.
Call Number: Garden Level, Books ; KF9223 .B53 2020

ISBN: 9781793601032

Publication Date: 2020-02-12

Racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system is much debated and discussed, but until now, no single volume has covered the full expanse of the issue. In Bias in the Law, sixteen outstanding experts address the impact of racial bias in the full roster of criminal justice actors. They examine the role of legislators crafting criminal justice legislation, community enforcers, and police, as well as prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges, and jurors. Understanding when and why bias arises, as well as how it impacts defendants requires a clear understanding how each of these actors operate. Contributions touch on other crucial topics--racialized drug stigma, legal technology, and interventions--that are vital for understanding how the United States has reached this moment of stark racial disparity in incarceration. The result is an important entry into understanding the pervasiveness of racial bias, how such bias impacts legal outcomes, and why such impact matters. This is an issue that is as relevant today as it was fifty--or even one hundred fifty--years ago, and collection editors Joseph Avery and Joel Cooper provide a glimpse at how to proceed.
Blood, Powder, and Residue: How Crime Labs Translate Evidence into Proof by Beth A. Bechky
Call Number: Garden Level, Books ; HV 8073 .B434 2020

ISBN: 9780691183589

Publication Date: 2021-01-19

A rare behind-the-scenes look at the work of forensic scientists The findings of forensic science--from DNA profiles and chemical identifications of illegal drugs to comparisons of bullets, fingerprints, and shoeprints--are widely used in police investigations and courtroom proceedings. While we recognize the significance of this evidence for criminal justice, the actual work of forensic scientists is rarely examined and largely misunderstood. Blood, Powder, and Residue goes inside a metropolitan crime laboratory to shed light on the complex social forces that underlie the analysis of forensic evidence. Drawing on eighteen months of rigorous fieldwork in a crime lab of a major metro area, Beth Bechky tells the stories of the forensic scientists who struggle to deliver unbiased science while under intense pressure from adversarial lawyers, escalating standards of evidence, and critical public scrutiny. Bechky brings to life the daily challenges these scientists face, from the painstaking screening and testing of evidence to making communal decisions about writing up the lab report, all while worrying about attorneys asking them uninformed questions in court. She shows how the work of forensic scientists is fraught with the tensions of serving justice--constantly having to anticipate the expectations of the world of law and the assumptions of the public--while also staying true to their scientific ideals. Blood, Powder, and Residue offers a vivid and sometimes harrowing picture of the lives of highly trained experts tasked with translating their knowledge for others who depend on it to deliver justice.
Criminal Justice and Criminology Research Methods by Peter B. Kraska; John J. Brent; W. Lawrence Neuman
Call Number: Garden Level, Books ; HV6024.5 .K73 2021

ISBN: 9780367133924

Publication Date: 2021-01-01

Criminal Justice and Criminology Research Methods, Third Edition, is an accessible and engaging text that offers balanced coverage of a full range of contemporary research methods. Filled with gritty criminal justice and criminology examples including policing, corrections, evaluation research, forensics, feminist studies, juvenile justice, crime theory, and criminal justice theory, this new edition demonstrates how research is relevant to the field and what tools are needed to actually conduct that research. Kraska, Brent, and Neuman write in a pedagogically friendly style yet without sacrificing rigor, offering balanced coverage of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. With its exploration of the thinking behind science and its cutting-edge content, the text goes beyond the nuts and bolts to teach students how to competently critique as well as create research-based knowledge. This book is suitable for undergraduate and early graduate students in US and global Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Justice Studies programs, as well as for senior scholars concerned with incorporating the latest mixed-methods approaches into their research.
Social Exclusion and the Criminal Justice System by Elisa García-España (Editor); Anabel Cerezo (Editor)
Call Number: Garden Level, Books ; K5001 .S637 2024

ISBN: 9781032623122

Publication Date: 2024-06-03

This book presents the results of the latest in a long-running research project using the RIMES instrument, developed by scholars in Spain. Here, RIMES is used to measure the extent of social exclusion resulting from the penal system in comparative perspective. The volume shows the results of the application of the instrument in seven criminal justice systems: Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, England and Wales, California, and New York. Divided into two parts, the first provides a general overview of the RIMES instrument, including a discussion of the theoretical model and the methodology. The second part focuses on the results of the application of RIMES in the seven jurisdictions. The comparative results are organised according to the nine dimensions included in the RIMES instrument: control of public spaces; legal safeguards; sentencing and sanctions systems; harshest penalties; prison rules; preventive intervention; legal and social status of offenders and ex-offenders; police and criminal records; and youth criminal justice. The last chapter summarizes the comparative results and ranks them in terms of the findings on social exclusion. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of Comparative Criminal Justice, Criminology, Criminal Law and Policy.