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University of Southern Maine
Libraries & Learning

* Criminology: Crime-related statistics

Resources for Criminology Research

If you must Google, do so responsibly

Use the Advanced Search: it lets you limit your searches by domain names, allowing you to choose to avoid commercial sites, choose sites from a specific country, or retrieve only sites from non-profit organizations, for example. Cutting down the huge numbers of items you retrieve will save you time!

Use Google Scholar if you want only scholarly writings. Many, though not all, of these will have been published in journals or books, not just on the Internet.  Go in through USM's portal or database list to have our library holdings displayed.

Never pay for an article online without talking to us first!  One of the downsides of using Google is that you may think you have to buy an article that's available through the USM libraries.  When in doubt, check with the library staff.

Statistics

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Note: some of these resources allow/require you to create your own tables based on your information needs

Internet Resources for General Country Information

Bureau of Justice Statistics (United States)
One of the best places for a variety of criminal justice statistics. Be sure to look at the site's alphabetical listing of publications and the International Justice Statistics section.

International Crime Victim Survey
An important source of criminal justice data, the ICVS is conducted every few years with the purpose of providing a more realistic picture of crime in countries by means of household surveys and by standardizing the definitions of crimes. This site allows you to view some statistics online, as well as browse a complete list of publications based on the Survey.

International Data Base (IDB)
Maintained by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, this is a good source for demographic and socioeconomic information about countries all over the world.

Internet Public Library
Has an extensive listing of online newspapers throughout the world.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Searchable site with links to many publications such as the United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and World Drug Report.

United Nations Statistics Division
A searchable compilation of demographic, economic, social and environmental statistics from many source

Local level crime