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National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstracts Database: About

Information clearinghouse related to research, policy, and practice in criminal justice

Subject Coverage

  • Alternatives to Incarceration
  • Community Involvement
  • Correctional Facility Design
  • Corrections Technology
  • Crime Mapping
  • Court Management
  • Crime Deterrence and Prevention
  • Criminal Justice Statistics
  • Defense Technology
  • Domestic Preparedness
  • Drug Policy
  • Forensic Technology
  • Juvenile Justice
  • Law Enforcement
  • Police Training
  • Probation and Parole
  • Program Evaluation, Policy and Planning
  • Restorative Justice
  • Substance Abuse
  • Terrorism/Counter Terrorism
  • Victims of Crime

Source Type Examples

The following are a sample of source types included in the NCJRS Abstracts Database.  This is not an exhaustive list.

  • Administration/Management Material
  • Applied Research
  • Bibliography
  • Case Study
  • Citizen Involvement Material
  • Conference/Meeting Materials
  • Dissertation/thesis
  • Grants and Funding
  • Histories/Historical Perspectives
  • Instructional Material
  • Interview
  • Issue Overview
  • Legislation/Policy
  • Measurement/Evaluation Device
  • Model Program Descriptions
  • News/media
  • Program/Project

What is the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstracts Database?

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstracts Database covers literature related to research, policy and practice in criminal and juvenile justice and drug control. Search over 189,000 U.S. and international publications, including federal, state and local government reports, books, research reports, journal articles, audiovisual presentations and unpublished research.

More about the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstracts Database

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts  (NCJRS) Database is published by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice's National Criminal Justice Reference Service, an information clearinghouse for people around the U.S. and the world involved with research, policy, and practice related to criminal and juvenile justice, and drug control.

The NCJRS Abstracts Database contains summaries of over 203,000 U.S. and international publications, including federal, state, and local government reports, books, research reports, journal articles, audiovisual presentations, and unpublished research.

It excludes most legal decisions, opinions, and statutes. The collection has been developed to meet the needs of criminal justice professionals, researchers, policymakers, and technical and legal experts. Unique elements of the collection include agency produced documents and final grant reports of Office of Justice Programs sponsored research. Documents are either written in English or have an English-language summary.

Publication Coverage

To view the latest title list and publication coverage, please visit: