Getting Started
Along with this research guide, you may also find the following guides helpful as well.
- Legal History: Crime and Punishment Research GuideThis guide details primary English and American resources on the history of crime and punishment.
Resources to learn more about a topic
Often times using a reference book to begin your research can be the most helpful starting point to explore a topic or find some contextual information. However, even if you have some knowledge of your topic, a reference book could be used to discover leads to more in-depth resources.
You can find general, subject-specific, or data-focused reference books like some of these below searching InfoKat Discovery.
For instance, with the following search terms and applying the filter, "Books," you can see some of these reference works in the results list.
Search Terms: crimes reference
Hate Crimes by Publication Date: 1999How are hate crimes different from other crimes committed against individuals? Should the legal penalties be harsher? These questions and many more are explored in Hate Crimes, the first reference source on this important topic. This volume includes an overview of legislation, statistics on hate crimes, and biographies of individuals combating violent extremist activities. Historical surveys of hate crimes--gays and lesbians, Jews, African Americans, and Asian Americans--is also featured. Available in Print: Young Library -- Books - 4th Floor (HV6773.52 .A47 1999); Online Access
Organized Crime: a Reference Handbook by Publication Date: 1995The phrase "organized crime" calls to mind images from The Godfather, yet organized crime today takes on far more varied forms and guises. This volume explores the pervasiveness of organized crime, examines its history and chronology. Online Access
Sexual Crime by Publication Date: 2009A contemporary, fact-filled resource on the historical, legal, medical, and political aspects of a wide variety of sexual crimes. Includes a chronology of events related to sexual crime from colonial times to present, as well as a Facts and Data chapter with a range of informative statistics and excerpts of pivotal legal decisions. Includes biographical sketches of nearly 35 activists, scholars, policymakers, and other notable figures involved in the efforts to fight sexual crimes. Available in Print: Young Library -- Books - 4th Floor (HV6556 .N48 2010)
Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity by Publication Date: 2004This encyclopedia spans the globe to explain the issues behind crimes against humanity and human rights issues as they relate to individual countries and the world at large. It traces the history of events that qualify as genocide and crimes against humanity, profiles perpetrators and heroes, and explains international laws and law proceedings aimed at ending genocide and crimes against humanity.
Click on the Background Information tab above to learn about more reference titles for crime in history.
Digital Humanities Librarian & Academic Liaison to History
