Research Guides: Prisons and Incarceration: Home

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Christie Peters

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Prisons locally, nationally, and internationally exist in an intersection of intent, reality, unreality, and unfettered power. This guide seeks to provide information on the history, statistical significance, justice and lack thereof, scholarly analysis, and WUSTL's engagement with prisons and its returning citizens.

Databases & Journals

Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture (1790-1920) This link opens in a new window
Contains over 2 million pages from manuscripts, books, broadsheets, and periodicals, reflecting the widespread impact of the changes in crime and its policing during the long nineteenth century. The archive unites a number of geographic areas and disciplines, from law, criminology, and history to studies of popular culture and fiction.
Criminal Justice Database This link opens in a new window
(1969-) Covers over 450 publications which support research on crime, its causes and impacts, legal and social implications, as well as litigation and crime trends. In addition to scholarly journals, this database also includes trade publications, reports, news, crime statistics, and crime blogs. Covers such topics as criminology, corrections & law enforcement, criminal law, criminal justice, criminal rehabilitation, addictions, alcoholism, gambling, child abuse, and industrial crime.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts (NCJRS) (1970 - ) This link opens in a new window
Database covers corrections, courts, drugs and crime, law enforcement, juvenile justice, crime statistics, domestic preparedness, and victims of crime. Includes abstracts to Federal, State, and local government reports; books; research reports; journal articles; and unpublished research.

This short list provides an example of the types of journals we have in the WashU Libraries that cover topics related to prisons and incarceration. It is not an exhaustive list.

To search for particular articles, it is best to search using Primo from the Libraries' homepage or Google Scholar with WashU Libraries enabled.

Crime, Law, and Social Change
Peer reviewed, original research articles addressing crime and the political economy of crime, whether at the global, national, regional or local levels, anywhere in the world. This journal often presents work on financial crime, corruption, organized criminal groups, criminal enterprises and illegal markets, state crime, terrorism and security issues, cybercrime, cross-border crime and environmental crime.
Crime and Delinquency
Addresses specific policy or program implications or issues (social, political, and economic) of great topical interest to professionals in the criminal justice system.
Global Crime
Global Crime is a social science journal devoted to the study of crime across international settings. Its focus is multi-disciplinary and its principal aim is to make the best scholarship on crime available to specialists and non-specialists alike. It draws on authors from a variety of disciplines, including criminology, sociology, economics, history, political science, anthropology and area studies.
Journal of Offender Counseling, Services & Rehabilitation (1976-2016)
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation (1990-present) by https://catalog.wustl.edu:443/record=b7589899~S2
The journal serves as a professional resource for practitioners, educators and researchers who work with individuals involved in the criminal justice system and study the dynamics of rehabilitation and individual and system change.
Journal of Prison Education and Reentry
Topics covered include but are not limited to sociology, criminology, adult education and literacy, instructional design, mental and behavioral health, and administration and policy as it relates to the context of prisoner education and subsequent reentry into the community beyond prison walls.
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
Reports on original research in crime and delinquency, new theory, and the critical analyses of theories and concepts pertinent to research development in the field.
The Prison Journal
Devoted to the advancement of theory, research, policy, and practice in the areas of adult and juvenile incarceration and all related aspects of the more broadly defined field of correctional alternatives and penal sanctions.

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (JPER)
Covers sociology, criminology, adult education and literacy, and administration and policy as it relates to the context of prisoner education and subsequent reentry into the community beyond prison walls.
Prison Service Journal
Promotes discussion on issues related to the work of the Prison Service, the wider criminal justice system and associated fields. It aims to present reliable information and a range of views about these issues.
Werner's Manual for Prison Law Libraries by Rebecca Trammell; Arturo A. Flores; O. James Werner; American Association of Law Libraries Staff (Contribution by)
ISBN: 9780837701615
Publication Date: 2004
Provides basic suggestions for operating a prison lawlibrary, as well as essential information about legalmaterials and their use. Additional readings are listedas well as suggested outside resources including web sitesand other relevant electronic resources.