Whichever aspect of criminology you are studying, the library has books, journals, and databases to suit your needs.
Welcome to our guide to resources for Criminology. As the Learning and Research Librarian for Criminology, I am here to support you in your learning and assignments.
Ruth Collingwood - Learning & Research Librarian for Criminology
LibrarySearch is CCCU’s library discovery tool and a key resource for you. It allows you to easily search across library resources, including books, e-books and journal articles. Many of the resources available via Library Search are not freely available on the web, and rather than worrying about paywalls, it automatically limits your search to full-text. Remember to sign in to access all the resources.
Google Scholar is also an excellent resource. It can be used to search for scholarly information on the internet, including ebooks, journal articles and conference papers. It can also be linked to library holdings, showing you where CCCU has paid for access to a resource and allowing you to link through.
Searching LibrarySearch alongside Google Scholar for your assignment topics is a good place to start.
You can also access databases individually for more in-depth searching or for specific types of resources such as statistics, reports or documentaries (please see under Databases below for some recommendations)
You can use LibrarySearch to search for the books you need. Just type in a few words from the title plus the surname of the author(s) into the search box. If you get stuck – please ask!
We use the Dewey Decimal System to classify the books so it’s easier to find them. Each number refers to a different subject area. In Augustine House, the lowest numbers are on the first floor and the highest numbers are on the third floor.
You will find the majority of the Criminology book collection at classmark 364 (on the 2nd floor in Augustine House):
Remember to check the different areas housing the 7-day loan (open shelves) and 4-week loans (moving shelves).
The library also has thousands of e-books. To search for e-books in LibrarySearch, limit your results in the left-hand pane of the search screen to e-books and click on the link to CCCU e-book to download or read online.
You can browse printed copies of journals on the 2nd floor of Augustine House in the silent zone (west wing). These are for use in the library only.
Some of the Criminology journals below are also available online:
You can see which journals are available online by using LibrarySearch. Make sure you log in first! (You will need your university username and password).Try entering the title of a journal into the search box or using the “Find e-journals by title” link.
You can also browse e-journals by subject, using Browzine. This software allows you to read a journal like an e-book, so you can look through the whole journal rather than just individual articles. There is an app so you can use it easily on your phone or other mobile device.
You can find individual journal articles to read online by doing a quick search in LibrarySearch. Try searching for a key word or phrase connected with your research topic, e.g. “strain theory”. See our quick guide for more information.
There are lots of databases that contain articles about criminology, and they are all available via LibrarySearch – just click on the “Find databases” link in the left-hand menu and you will see an alphabetical list. Browse the list until you find the one you want.
The most useful databases for your subject include:
HeinOnline: A legal database that to a range of law resources with a focus on constitutional law. The aim is to make available the current text of the constitutions of every country in the world in its original language. Contains a searchable archive of full-text criminal justice journals (Guide to Heinonline)
JSTOR An archive of important scholarly journals and e-books in the the arts, business and economics, history, the humanities, law, medicine and allied health, science and mathematics, and the social sciences.
Lexis+ UK: An excellent resource for legal information including Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments and case law. LexisLibrary also indexes a number of legal journals containing articles about criminal justice and the legal system and procedure and Halsbury’s Laws (Guide to Lexis+ UK)
LexisLibrary Newspapers UK: Online access to all national and regional newspapers covering the last twenty years (Guide to LexisLibrary Newspapers UK)
SAGE Journals: Contains full-text articles from over 1,000 journals across all disciplines, including policing, law, criminology and criminal justice.
ScienceDirect: Full-text journal database from Elsevier. Includes some useful articles on forensic investigation.
Scopus: the largest abstract and citation database containing both peer-reviewed research literature and quality web sources. With over 22,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers, Scopus offers researchers a quick, easy and comprehensive resource to support research, including in the sciences and social sciences.
Taylor and Francis Online Journals: Large multi-disciplinary database providing full-text access to Taylor and Francis and Routledge journals from 1997 onwards.
Westlaw Edge UK: An excellent resource for legal information including Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments and case law. Westlaw also indexes a number of legal journals containing articles about criminal justice and the legal system and procedure.
Wiley Online Library Wiley delivers integrated access to over 4 million articles from 1500 journals. Includes full-text journals on law, criminology, forensics, penology and police science.
There are a lot of websites that may be relevant to your studies, but there are also many that are not, so it is essential to evaluate the material carefully to decide whether they are scholarly enough.
The following websites are a good starting point:
Recommended websites:
British Society of Criminology: Aims to further the interests and knowledge of both academic and professional people who are engaged in any aspect of work or teaching, research or public education about crime, criminal behaviour and the criminal justice systems in the United Kingdom.
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies: An independent public interest charity whose mission is to inspire enduring change by promoting understanding of social harm, the centrality of social justice and the limits of criminal justice. As well as latest news and reports produced by the centre, you can also access prison service journal from this site.
Data.Police.UK: Open data about crime and policing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. You can download street-level crime, outcome, and stop and search data and explore detailed crime data and information about individual police forces and neighbourhood teams. You can also download data on police activity, including arrests and 101 call handling.
European Journal of Current Legal Issues: Bi-monthly Web publication covering current legal issues in judicial decisions, law reform, legislation, legal research, policy related socio-legal research, legal information, information technology and practice.
EuroStat: Crime and Justice Overview: Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union. They provide high-quality statistics and data on Europe. This link takes you to their crime and justice data.
Home Office: Government announcements, publications, consultations and statistics
International Center for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR): Based in Canada with the mission to promote democratic principles, the rule of law and respect for human rights in criminal law and the administration of criminal justice, domestically, regionally and globally.
Office for National Statistics: Provides statistical data on economy, population and society for the UK at national, regional and local levels.
UK Data Archive: Provides access to UK's largest collection of economic, population and social research data for teaching, learning and public benefit. With several thousand datasets relating to society, both historical and contemporary.
UK Data Service Crime: The UK’s only nationally funded research infrastructure for curating and providing access to social science data. The Link takes you to home page for Crime-related data.
UNODC: United Nations reports on world crime trends 2010-
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC): Drug and Crime data for United Nations counties. Includes data by topic and country profiles
Archival Sound Recordings: Listen to a selection from the British Library’s extensive collections of unique sound recordings, which come from all over the world and cover the entire range of recorded sound. Includes oral histories.
BFI Player: Explore and view short films and features, showing the best from the BFI, national and regional archives, including 120 years of Britain on film, offering a unique window on Britain’s changing political, economic and social landscape in the age of film and television.
Box of Broadcasts: On-demand TV and radio service for education. Allows staff and students to record programmes and create clips from over 60 free-to-air channels, both TV and radio, and search an archive of over 2 million broadcasts. If you’ve seen or heard something on TV or radio that you think would be useful to your learning or teaching, there’s a good chance you can access it via B.o.B. Access within the UK only (Guide to B.o.B)
EU Screen Portal: Offers free access to thousands of archival audio-visual items from across Europe, bringing together clips that provide an insight into the social, cultural, political, and economic events that have shaped the 20th and 21st centuries.
Kanopy: Access to a large, curated catalogue of over 30,000 educational documentaries and classic films. A wide range of subject coverage (e.g. Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, Education, Health and Sciences). Watch anytime, anywhere and on any device including via media streaming apps.
