With the wealth
of information available to you, it can be difficult to know
what is a quality source and what isn't. Here are a few things to look
for when evaluating resources:
Authority and accuracy: Who authored the information? What are their credentials?
Intended audience: Is the information directed to a particular group? (researchers, consumers, etc.)
Purpose of information: Is the information designed to educate? To market an idea or product?
Date created & updated: Is information up to date? Does it reflect the current trends of the discipline?
Contact information: Is it possible to contact the author or institution?
A comprehensive and useful libguide from Hannon Library at the Southern Oregon University. Please note that not all resources will work for UMD Students due to licensing and proxy.
Part of Unified Crime Reports; includes statistics for reported crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson at state, county, and city levels; nation-wide arrest tables.
State data on reported crimes, arrests, probation, correctional populations, the triennial Minnesota crime survey, justice system expenditures, and more.
links to sites with statistics on wide range of topics related to criminal justice including drug enforcement, firearm possession and on different types of crime such as computer crime, insurance crime, crimes against children, etc. .
comprehensive collection of statistical tables from various sources covering a wide range of criminal justice topics including characteristics of offenders, nature of offenses, judicial processing, and persons in correctional programs.
The National Institute of Justice is a part of the Office of Justice Programs under the U.S. Department of Justice and is responsible for research, development, and evaluation. They have statistics and information for a variety of criminal justice topics.
"The OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book (SBB) enables users to access online information via OJJDP's website to learn more about juvenile crime and victimization and about youth involved in the juvenile justice system."
"Includes several guides to statistical data resources covering, among other things, capital punishment, expenditure and employment in criminal justice, federal justice, homicide, law enforcement, corrections, victimization, juvenile corrections, terrorism, crimes, and violence against women."
NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from hundreds of sources that allows easy comparisons between nation states. This link goes the to Crime Statistics Subject.
