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Professor
Elaine Rizzo
Library Liaison
Nancy "Sam" Urtz
Contents
Introduction
Reference Sources for
Background Information
Suggested Readings
Find Journal Articles
About WebBridge and
Interlibrary Loan
Selected Websites
Citing Your Sources in
APA Format
Need More Help?
Subject Guide
Criminal Justice
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The following guide is intended to provide an overview of resources available in the library and online on the subject of women in the prison system. For further assistance, please take advantage of the reference services available to you in the library. Stop by the Reference Desk in person or online at Ask a Librarian.
Reference books are shelved by Library of Congress call number in the reference stacks near the reference desk. They may not be checked out, but photocopiers are available on the Lower Level of the library.
Encyclopedia of American Prisons
Ref HV9471 .E425 1996
See entry for "Women Inmates" on pages 501–507.
Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice
Ref HV6017 .E52 2002 (print version)
See entry for "Prisons for Women".
Encyclopedia of Social Work
Ref HV35 .S6
See entry for "Female Criminal Offenders" in volume 2 on pages 1013–1027
Encyclopedia of Women and Gender
Ref HQ1115 .E43 2001
See entry for "Imprisonment in the United States" on pages 611–623.
Prisons and Prison Systems: A Global Encyclopedia
Ref HV8665 .R67 2006
World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Correctional Systems
Ref HV7901 .W63
Please see also 'Selected Websites' below for online statistical reference material, such as Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics and Uniform Crime Reports for the United States. 1945–.
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Please consult the bibliography: Suggested Readings (PDF), which has been prepared by Professor Rizzo and Librarian Nancy "Sam" Urtz. It points to some excellent readings on the subject.
For additional books on the subject, please consult the catalog. Use subject headings such as:
- Children of women prisoners
- Female offenders
- Female sex offenders
- Women exconvicts
- Women prisoners
A database called WorldCat will give you access to even more book materials. In fact, it comprises all the books cataloged by all the libraries in all the world! Borrowing materials via Interlibrary Loan is a very easy process when using WorldCat. Ask for assistance at the Reference desk if needed.
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The databases listed below will enable you to access additional journal readings on various aspects of the topic. When searching these databases, use search statements or phrases such as:
- (women or female*) and (prisoner* or inmate* or incarcerat*)
- prisoners and gender differences
- (women or female) and prisoners and parenting
- women prisoners and drug abuse
Please note:
- An asterisk (*) is a commonly used symbol in most databases. Used at the end of a word stem, it provides for all variants on the word stem. (e.g. psych* retrieves psychology, psychological, psychiatric, etc).
- It sometimes helps to limit search words to title fields as shown here.
- It also helps to limit searches to scholarly or 'academic' materials in some databases such as Academic Search.
Academic Search Premier
A good place to start for general readings. Many are full text. Limiting to peer-reviewed journals is an easy option in this database.
Contemporary Women's Issues
Contemporary Women's Issues provides full text access to a variety of English-language sources concerned with women's issues in 190 countries. Try searching 'female prisoners or women prisoners' in this database.
Criminal Justice Abstracts
A good place for scholarly articles on this topic. User Guide
SocINDEX
A search of 'women and prison*' yields some relevant results, some of which are not duplicated in the other databases listed here.
Westlaw Campus FULL TEXT
Use the Westlaw database to find the text of a court case and also for law review articles pertaining to this topic.
Other Related Databases
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
ATLA Religion Database
CINAHL (Nursing)
ERIC (Education)
Health Source
PsycINFO
SciFinder Scholar (Chemistry)
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
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Interlibrary Loan just got easier! The library has recently installed new software called WebBridge. WebBridge will let you know whether we own an item in electronic or print form. Click the WebBridge button and look for links to the item's full-text or to our catalog. If we don't have access to the item, WebBridge automatically completes an interlibrary loan form for you. No more copy/pasting data elements from a citation to an ILL form.
Please read the WebBridge info carefully. If the book or article is available locally, you will not be able to obtain it through Interlibrary Loan.
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Searching the World Wide Web can yield a vast amount of information, but in terms of quality and reliability, your results may be uneven at best. The ease and speed with which individuals can publish information on the web, regardless of accuracy or quality, makes it imperative that when doing research on the web you know how to evaluate the information you find. [More Information]
Amnesty International: "Not part of my sentence": Violations of the Human Rights of Women in Custody
"This report describes violations of the internationally guaranteed human rights of women incarcerated in prisons and jails(2) in the United States of America."
BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics: Women Offenders Keeping Incarcerated Mothers and Their Daughters Together
1995 National Institute of Justice report on girls and their incarcerated mothers.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) (Alphabetical Listing)
See link for "Prisoners in 2006" for most current statistical information. See also link to World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems, also from the BJS.
Corrections on the Internet: Revisiting an International Tour
Includes many links to worldwide statistics and reports about corrections from international agencies.
Crime in the United States 2007 (Preliminary Report)
From the FBI. This website is part of the Uniform Crime Reports. Some statistics are based on gender; very current information.
Department of Corrections Directory
This directory provides links to each State's Department of Corrections.
Double Jeopardy: A Report on Training and Educational Programs for New Hampshire's Female Offenders
From the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women in December 2004.
Gender and Justice: Women, Drugs and Sentencing Policy
This is a research paper published by the Sentencing Project in 1999.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a good starting point for research, but it is not considered comprehensive for scholarly content. For the most thorough search of a topic, consult subject-specific indexes (CJ Abstracts, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, etc.).
NCJRS Topics: Corrections
See links to "Inmate Assistance" and "Inmates/Offenders". Also perform site search: "women".
Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2006
From the BJS (Bureau of Justics Statistics), and includes statistics by gender.
The Punitiveness Report: The Growth in the Imprisonment of Women
From the Women's Prison Association, Institute on Women and Criminal Justice.
Recent Trends in New Hampshire's Prison Population
From the NH Center for Public Policy Studies, June 2006.
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
Annual compendium of statistics compiled by governmental and private agencies. Many of the statistical breakdowns are by gender.
Ref HV7245 N37B (print version)
Understanding the Female Offender
A 2006 final study prepared by Lisa M. Broidy and Elizabeth E. Cauffman.
Uniform Crime Reports for the United States. 1945–
Nationwide view of crime compiled monthly by the FBI from statistical reports submitted by state and local law enforcement agencies.
Ref HV6787 F30 (print version)
Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System
From the NCJRS.
Women in Prison, March 1994 Report
1994 National Criminal Justice Reference Service report on women prisoners.
Women Prisoners – Statistics
Includes federal imprisonment trends for women and more.
World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems
Provides narrative descriptions of the criminal justice systems of 45 countries around the world.
World Female Imprisonment List (PDF)
"Women and girls in penal institutions, including pre-trial detainees/remand prisoners."
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American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide
A copy of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is located on the library's Ready Reference shelves (REF BF76.7 .P83 2001). For online guides to APA format, please see the following:
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Ask a Librarian
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