The other pages in this research guide are designed to help researchers contextualize and understand the some of the broader concepts. This page is meant to be your springboard into independent research.
Suggested Search Terms
Whether searching via Eaglesearch, within databases, or online try these terms either as keywords or in combination with each other.
African Americans --Legal status, laws, etc
African Americans -- United States -- Social conditions
Anti-racism -- United States
Black Lives Matter Movement
Black White Relations
Civil Rights
Crime and Race -- United States
Criminal Justice, Administration of -- United States
Criminal Sentences
Cultural Competence
Discrimination
Discrimination in Criminal Justice Administration -- United States
Equality Before the Law
Government Liability
Imprisonment
Injustice -- Demographic Aspects
Intercultural Communication
Interpersonal Relations -- United States
Justice
Law -- Political Aspects
Law Enforcement -- United States
Mass Incarceration
Police -- Complaints against
Police Misconduct -- Law and Legislation
Police Shootings -- Laws, Regulations, and Rules
Police Shootings -- United States
Race
Race Awareness -- United States
Race Discrimination -- United States
Race Relations
Racial Discrimination
Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement -- United States
Racism -- United States
Sociological Jurisprudence
Tort Liability of Police -- United States
United States -- Race relations
Whites -- Race Identity -- United States
Whites -- United States -- Attitudes
For most topics related to social justice, law, and policing, we recommend the following databases.
"Mapping Police Violence is a research collaborative collecting comprehensive data on police killings nationwide to quantify the impact of police violence in communities." See the website's About the Data page for details on the data and methodology used in this project.
A database of every fatal shooting in the United States by a police officer in the line of duty since Jan. 1, 2015.
This map shows, "county by county the extent to which Black Americans are arrested at a higher rate than White Americans — a trend that has only accelerated in recent decades. They also include data on the arrests of Asian Americans and American Indians, the latter of whom saw an increase in disparity that matches that among Blacks." The map draws from a recent working paper by IPR sociologist, Beth Redbird that analyzes data from more than 13,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
"The NYPD Misconduct Complaint Database is a repository of complaints made by the public on record at the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). These complaints span two distinct periods: the time since the CCRB started operating as an independent city agency outside the NYPD in 1994 and the prior period when the CCRB operated within the NYPD."
"The Bureau of Justice Statistics' Law Enforcement Unit maintains more than a dozen national data collections, covering federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and special topics in law enforcement. Most data collections are conducted every 2 to 4 years and focus on aggregate or agency-level responses, meaning the information that is collected pertains to units, such as police departments, training academies, and crime labs."
The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data from more than 100 published and unpublished sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States. Since 1973, the project has been located at the University at Albany, School of Criminal Justice, and compiled and managed by staff at the Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center in Albany, New York.
Need a print book we don't have? Use EZ Borrow! Search and borrow books directly from over 52 college and university member libraries in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. Books must be picked up at and returned to Warner Memorial Library. Several million to choose from!
