Books & Audio-Visual
- AlleyCat
- Use AlleyCat, the CCAC online catalog, to find materials at any of the CCAC libraries
Reference & Overview Sources
| Full Text? | Database Name | Vendor | Help |
|---|---|---|---|
| yes | Credo Reference - Law | Credo | info |
| yes | Credo Reference - Social Issues | Credo | info |
| yes | Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law | Gale | info |
Magazine & Journal Articles
| Full Text? | Database Name | Vendor | Help |
|---|---|---|---|
| yes | Academic Search Premier | EBSCOhost | info |
| yes | MasterFILE Premier | EBSCOhost | info |
Web Sites
- American Law Sources On-Line
- American Law Sources Online (ALSO!) is a good source for online state law. Each state listed links to categorized online laws. It will also lead to District Court opinions, municipal or county laws, and secondary authorities.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Find statistics on topics related to crime, including capital punishment, jail and prison populations, prosecution statistics, probation and parole, etc. Searchable.
- Bureau of Prisons Home Page>
- Find statistics about federal prisons and in mates under "Public Information." "Quick Facts and Statistics" provides detailed data on prisoner demographics. "Weekly Population Report" provides a current count of inmates by facility. Includes private and contract facilities used by the federal government.
- Cornell's Legal Information Institute
- LII provides a gateway to law related web sites, as well as content such as the U. S. Code and Supreme Court opinions.
- The Federal Judiciary Homepage
- Find information on the federal court system. The online publication Understanding the Federal Courts (PDF) includes information on the structure and jurisdiction of federal courts, an outline of the judicial process, and directories of district and appellate courts. Look under "Frequently Asked Questions" for more information.
- GPO Access
- With over 70 federal government information databases, GPO Access is the site to search the Federal Register and The Code of Federal Regulations.
- Guide to Law Online
- Prepared by the U.S. Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, this annotated guide provides sources of information on government and law and includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information. Sections include "International and Multinational," "Nations of the World," "U.S. Federal - includes U.S. Code and Constitution links," and "U.S. States and Territories."
- Hieros Gamos
- In addition to pointing the way to law telated information, Hieros Gamos also provides a gateway to law related organizations, news, employment and study.
- Justice Information Center (NCJRS): Juvenile Justice
- Statistics and other federal information on gangs, missing and exploited children, and juvenile justice. The "Juvenile Violence" section includes both crimes against and crimes perpetrated by children as well as reports on school violence. Full text articles may be browsed alphabetically. Part of the larger National Criminal Justice Reference Service's Justice Information Center.
- LII: Legal Information Institute
- Sponsored by the Cornell University Law School, the front page of this website features "New From LII" and a list of "Law Events in the News" with links to the key phrases in each event.
- LII: Supreme Court Collection
- This collection contains selected historic decisions of the United States Supreme Court predating the regular release of court decisions to the Internet. It includes 631 documents searchable by topic, by litigants' names, and by the authors of the written opinions.
- Legalethics.com
- Full of links to state ethics rules and opinions, Legalethics.com is a rich source of legal ethics news and analysis.
- The Pennsylvania Code Online
- Full text of the Pennsylvania Code, updated frequently. Browse and select by Title, or use the search engine locate information in the Code.
- Pennsylvania Legal Research Web Sites
- Maintained by a law librarian at Duquesne University, this site "brings together, for easy access, the various Pennsylvania legal Web sites that are already available on the Internet under different subject headings."
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
- "The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data about all aspects of criminal justice in the United States presented in over 600 tables from more than 100 sources." (site introduction). Updated data is presented in the "What's New" section. The index and list of tables are searchable. Data presented as PDF files.
- State and Local Government on the Net
- Sponsored by Piper Resources, this site provides an excellent guide to online state government agencies.
- Supreme Court of the United States
- The official site of the U.S. Supreme Court provides information about the court, its history, and the justices; the calendar, docket, opinions, and oral arguments are also included. Supreme Court Files and Docket Files are searchable; many files are PDF format.
- Thomas -- U.S. Congress on the Internet
- Track Congressional legislation from the introduction of a bill until it becomes law. Search by bill number or keyword. Includes several years of the Congressional Record, committee reports, roll call votes and historical documents. "How Our Laws Are Made" and "Enactment of a Law" are provided under "Legislative Process." Includes searchable historical documents (1774-1873).
- Uniform Crime Reports
- Online version of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. Includes hate crimes and a special section (1998 Report) on family violence. PDF format only.
- United Nations
- The United Nation's web site provides accesss to a substantial online library of United Nations documents.
- Unofficial Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes from West
- Pennsylvania consolidated statutes, criminal and civil. Browse by title or by topic. Includes links to PA Rules of Court, appellate court decisions, and many other legal sites.
- U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia
- Using Internet audio technology, entire oral arguments are available for downloading. Cases may be searched by title, citation, subject or date. It is also possible to read synopses of cases (then link to their full text at Findlaw) and biographies of the justices.
- Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research
- Developed by Gail Partin, Associate Law Librarian at Sheely-Lee Law Library, Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, this site overcomes "the shortcomings of general web searching by providing a selection of annotated links to the most reliable, substantive sites for U.S. Supreme Court research. The sites mentioned here focus predominantly on information that is freely, or inexpensively, available on the Internet." (site intro)
Topical Search Engines
- FindLaw: Internet Legal Resources
- Legal search engine modeled on Yahoo. Some high level categories include: "Legal Subject Index", "Laws: Cases and Codes" (This includes a sub-category that provides a searchable database of full-text Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1893.), "U.S. State Resources", and "U.S. Federal Resources" (searchable by agency). Subsidiary sites, such as "Consumer Law Center," "Small Business Center," and "Cyberspace Law Center," offer specialized listings in these areas. The "FindLaw Library" offers over 10,000 documents on topical issues.