Oct. 2, 2024 – Whether you begin your research with primary or secondary sources, most agree that targeting the controlling law in criminal cases is only the beginning. Making a compelling argument often relies on the strength of our context, background, or statistics.
This article highlights a few online crime and criminal resources that can flesh out your argument beyond the bones of the law itself. This is a select group of websites, including guides, statistics, and crime data that you may want to visit the next time you are conducting criminal law research.
Guides, Handbooks, and Manuals
Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office – Discover useful checklists, forms, sample orders, and much more from a single location. Statutory and case references are often included within the commentary.
Elizabeth Manriquez is head of Reference and Scholarly Support at the University of Wisconsin Law School Library. She is a past president of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin (LLAW). LLAW's Public Relations Committee coordinates regular contributions by its members to InsideTrack.
State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE® has numerous publications, many offering step-by-step guidance from experienced practitioners on a variety of criminal law topics, such as the
Attorney's Guide to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals,
Appellate Practice and Procedure in Wisconsin, and a slew of options on specific areas, like
traffic law. Find the list of books by
using this link to Marketplace on WisBar.org.
The books are available both in print and
digitally via Books Unbound™, including the
Books Unbound Library Collection: Criminal Law.
U.S. Attorney’s Manual and
Criminal Resource Manual – This manual provides guidance and policies used by the Department of Justice attorneys. There also are other manuals available, each drafted on specific topics (e.g. Criminal RICO). These are located on the DOJ’s
FOIA Reading Room Records page.
Current Case Information and Legislative Histories
SCOTUSblog – Contains news, commentary and analysis as well as information on Supreme Court cases going back to the October 2007 term, including links to court opinions, oral argument recordings and transcripts, case dockets, briefs, and other filings. Also includes the Court's calendar.
On Point – This blog by the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office includes summaries of recent case law. The site is full text searchable. Coverage via the blog dates back to 2010. However, additional case summaries from approximately
1995 to 2010 are also available.
Compiled Federal Legislative Histories – The Library of Congress has a list of several agencies that have compiled legislative histories for legislation relevant to their functions and made them freely available online.
Online Criminal Offender Databases
VINELink – VINELink is an online resource offering custody status of offenders. The service covers almost all 50 states. Researchers will need the offender's ID number or name to conduct a search (partial names are permitted).
Wisconsin Department of Corrections Sex Offender Registry – This website allows the researcher to search by name or location for a Wisconsin registered sex offender. Location searching is accomplished by entering a ZIP code.
National Sex Offender Registry – This database performs a nationwide search for registered individuals. It includes states, territories, and tribes. There are also links to
all registries, you are encouraged to verify with local jurisdictions for further information and guidance. Options for searching include name, ZIP code, and radius.
Find Local Crime Victim Resources – From the Office of Victim Services, this site links to resources for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, drunken driving, homicide, and other crimes. Resources searchable by county and keyword.
Statistics and Crime Data
The Bureau of Justice Information and Analysis (BJIA) – Formed in 2014 within the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Law Enforcement Services, this bureau supports policy and data-driven decision-making through criminal justice research, analysis, and program evaluation. There is a wealth of hard data available, as well as a dashboard, tools for analysis, white papers, and research briefs.
Office of Open Government – In June 2015, the attorney general established the Office of Open Government to ensure that the Department of Justice preserves the proud tradition of open government in Wisconsin. Resources on the site include responses to open government correspondence, responses to public records requests, and statistics.
Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation website offers the researcher a variety of annual crime publications, as well as interactive databases to custom-build crime reports. Local, state, and national statistics, based on the researcher’s search criteria, are available through the
UCR data tool.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) – BJS "collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government."
Data Analysis tools include interactive web tools, including LEARCAT and NCVS Dashboards, and
publications sometimes containing data tables in .csv format. Full datasets, surveys, and codebooks are available at the
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD).
The Sentencing Project – This nonprofit advocates for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice. The organization provides hard data and white papers, and has a
detailed data tool that allows you to compare state-level incarceration data for youth and adults, including racial and ethnic disparities.
Additional Resources
Some cities and towns – such as
Madison,
Beloit, and
Eau Claire – work in conjunction with websites like
Cityprotect.com and
LexisNexis Community Crime Map to report data and generate crime maps. Other cities may maintain their own database, such as
Milwaukee.
Boost Your Research with Help from a Law Librarian
Don’t forget that a librarian can efficiently direct you to trusted legal practice materials. Reach out and ask your local law librarian for help with your research, or at these Wisconsin libraries:
Finding Legal Research Tips for Your Practice Area
Members of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin (LLAW), a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries, have written legal research columns for
InsideTrack for more than a decade (thank you!). These are a great resource that can quickly boost your research.
To find their columns, search on WisBar.org “legal research”, “legal research 101”, or “legal research” and the practice area, such as “legal research estate planning.”
