Criminal Justice & Corrections

CQ Researcher

Jost, Kenneth. "Examining Forensics: Are new research and oversight needed?." CQ Researcher 17 July 2009. "Crime-scene investigations play an important role in gathering evidence for criminal trials — from fingerprints and blood samples to DNA and digital data. But expert witnesses known collectively as forensic scientists or criminalists must analyze the evidence to help the judge and jury determine a defendant's guilt or innocence. A congressionally mandated study, however, says major changes are needed to strengthen forensic science."

Weinberg, Steve. "Wrongful Convictions." CQ Researcher April 17, 2009.
Is overhaul of the criminal justice system needed? As recently as 10 years ago, the proposition that innocent men and women regularly end up in prison failed to find traction. Today, thanks to the power of DNA evidence, media coverage and the establishment of innocence projects, there is general acceptance that wrongful convictions indeed occur.From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Mantel, Barbara. "Public Defenders:Do indigent defendants get adequate legal representation?" CQ Researcher. 18 Apr. 2008.

Jost, Kenneth. "Prosecutors and the Law: Is prosecutorial misconduct a serious problem?" CQ Researcher. 9 Nov. 2007.

Katel, Peter. "Prison Reform: Are too many nonviolent criminals being incarcerated?" CQ Researcher. 6 Apr. 2007. "America has more people in prisons and jails — 2.2 million — than any other country in the world. And over the next five years, the number of prison inmates is projected to grow three times faster than the national population."

Additional Articles

EBSCOhost

wrongful conviction* or false imprisonment or judicial error or exculpatory dna evidence or innocence project

SU ( sentences or prison* or imprisonment ) and SU Drug

united states and (mandatory sentenc* or three strikes)

ProQuest

Wrongful Convictions: (sentenc* or prison* or correctional or criminal or justice) AND (dna or Genetic testing) AND (false arrest or innocence or wrongful) - over 750 full text articles

Nonviolent Drug Crimes: (sentenc* or judges or judicial or guidelines or prison* or correctional) AND (drug* or cocaine) AND (nonviolen* or low level) - over 2350 full text articles

Racial Disparities: SU(sentenc* or prison* or correctional) AND SU(race or racial or racism or African Americans or ethnic*) - over 3325 full text articles

Books

Ebrary: search (sentences OR prisons OR imprisonment OR justice OR criminal) AND "united states" in Subject - over 100 ebooks

Library Catalog: search for books on the subject of prison or imprisonment and United States (su:prison or su:imprisonment) and (su:United States)

Gottschalk, Marie. The prison and the gallows: the politics of mass incarceration in America. Cambridge University Press, 2006. ACLS Humanities E-book.

McLennan, Rebecca M. The crisis of imprisonment: protest, politics, and the making of the American penal state, 1776-1941. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Reference

Encyclopedia of Prisons and Correctional Facilities. Ed. Mary Bosworth. Gale Virtual Reference Thousand Oaks: Sage Reference, 2005.

Or search the entire Law & Justice collection in Gale Virtual Reference.

Espejo, Roman. America's prisons : opposing viewpoints. San Diego, Calif. : Greenhaven Press, c2002.
Location: Reserve Reference
Call number: HV9471 .A488 2002

Ferro, Jeffrey. Prisons. New York : Facts On File, c2006.
Location: Reference
Call number: HV9471 .F465 2006

Web

National Research Council, “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,” National Research Council, National Academies Press, February 2009.

Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission - also publishes reports on racial sentencing disparities and persistent offender (three strikes) sentencing.

"Decades of Disparity: Drug Arrests and Race in the United States." Human Rights Watch. March 2, 2009.

Confronting Confinement. Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons. June 2006.
"What happens inside jails and prisons does not stay inside jails and prisons. It comes home with prisoners after they are released and with corrections officers at the end of each day’s shift. We must create safe and productive conditions of confinement not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it influences the safety, health, and prosperity of us all."

Updated 4/30/11 SB