LibGuides: Criminal Justice Research Guide: Articles and Databases

Criminal Justice Articles and Databases

On this page, you can learn when articles are most useful for research and how to borrow articles from other libraries with Interlibrary Loan.

We’ve also curated the most relevant Criminal Justice databases including conference papers and journal articles. They are split into categories to help you find the best match for your research.

The resources on this page are mostly for scholarly journal articles. Sometimes, you might need to consult traditional news sources for emerging criminology and justice issues.

For traditional news material, visit the Business News section to seek out topics such as terrorism, transnational crime, social services, prisons, social services, homeland security, and more.

Please note that you'll need to log in with your UML credentials before you can view article or database content.

Best Bets

These are top resources we recommend for getting started with your research:

Criminal Justice Collection
Abstracts from journals, books, reports, and dissertations on a wide range of topics in criminal justice, with links to full text for many titles.

Coverage: 1968 - present
Criminal Justice Database
Indexing and full text across a wide range of criminal justice subjects. In addition to scholarly journals contents include trade publications, crime reports, crime blogs and other material relevant for researchers or those preparing for careers in criminal justice and related fields.

Coverage: 1981 - present
Criminal Justice Abstracts
Abstracts from journals, books, reports, and dissertations on a wide range of topics in criminal justice, with links to full text for many titles.

Coverage: 1968 - present

Exploring More

Try these options to expand your research:

Sage Premier Journal Collection
Sage Premier is the largest journals package offered by Sage. It covers international, peer-reviewed journals, including high-impact research titles published on behalf of 512 scholarly and professional societies. Coverage: 1999 - current.
JSTOR
A key collection of both high-quality academic journals and high-quality art and history images. Now including Artstor, over 1.8 million images in art, architecture, humanities, and social sciences, with tools to view, present, and manage images. Most journals include full backfile, dating from the first issue, reaching back decades or even over 100 years. Most journals do not include the most recent 1-3 years. Covers topics across the disciplines, from arts and humanities to social sciences, sciences, and engineering.
JSTOR Open Content
Explore academic content on JSTOR that is open to everyone, everywhere. Search thousands of free journal articles and open access book chapters.

Deep Dives

These materials are recommended for more intensive research:

Sociological Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts, and its companion file Social Services Abstracts, cover the international literature of sociology, social work, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It provides abstracting and indexing of articles and book reviews drawn from thousands of serials publications, plus books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers.
Coverage: 1952 - current
Sociology Database
Sociology Database covers the international literature of sociology and social work, including relevant titles from related fields such as social policy, social care, social services, social anthropology, gender studies, gerontology, social psychology and population studies. It includes hundreds of full-text scholarly journals, as well as dissertations and other sources.

Coverage: 1985 - current
Academic Search Ultimate
A very large and broad collection of academic journals, with many peer-reviewed and full-text journal titles across almost all academic disciplines. Also includes some popular press content such as newspaper articles and news videos from the Associated Press. A good place to start for almost any topic, and can be followed-up with deep dives into specific subject databases.

Publication dates: approximately 1990 - current (much earlier for some titles)

About Articles

What are Articles?

Articles are essays or reports published within a larger container like a journal, newspaper, or magazine. That larger container is called a "periodical" because it is published periodically, or on a regular basis. Different types of periodicals are made for different audiences (popular, scholarly, or trade) and you can learn more about those distinctions with our Types of Sources guide.

Articles are good for...

Current, up-to-date information
- Periodicals are generally quicker to publish than books or long-form films.
Literature reviews and other reviews of a topic
- These elements are often placed at the start of an article to set the stage.
A deep dive into a specific research question, experiment, or study
- Articles often focus on a narrower topic than books.
Peer-reviewed information
- Newspaper articles go through at least some fact-checking, while academic articles are typically reviewed by other scholars and dedicated editors.

To learn more about searching for articles, visit the Library’s Guide to Article Quick Search.

About Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

What is Interlibrary Loan?

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a free service that allows UML Library patrons to access items we don’t own by borrowing from partner libraries.

How do I use Interlibrary Loan?

Create an account
- Visit our ILL Login Page and click "First Time Users."
- On the new page, scroll down and click "Continue to new user registration."
- Fill out the form and click "Submit Information."
Place your request
- Once you’ve created your account, visit our Guide to Interlibrary Loan to learn how to submit an ILL request through our Library’s catalog and databases.

Can I get Interlibrary Loan items quickly?

Depending on how rare the item is or which libraries own a copy, it might take longer to process your ILL request. Be sure to allow enough time for your item to arrive.
- Physical books, CDs, and DVDs usually arrive within 2-14 business days
- Articles and book chapters often arrive in 1-2 business days, sent by email as a PDF

If you have questions about your ILL request or account, please send an email to ILLSOUTH@uml.edu.