True Crime

These local organizations focus on crime and criminal justice in the Chicago area and feature online research portals, databases or other freely available resources.

• Explore Chicago Collections is a search tool through the Chicago Collections Consortium (CCC) which allows you search across thousands of archival collections from member institutions in the Chicago area. CCC also has their own LibGuide on Chicago Crime and Punishment .
• Chicago Crime Commission:This watchdog organization houses a large collection of historical archives from the 20th and 21st centuries pertaining to organized crime and public corruption in Chicago.
• Chicago Data Portal: This dataset reflects reported incidents of crime (with the exception of murders where data exists for each victim) that occurred in the City of Chicago from 2001 to present.
• Homicide in Chicago, 1870-1930 provides a history of homicide in Chicago based on over 11,000 Chicago Police Department homicide reports, from the Northwestern University School of Law.
• There are several local organizations doing work around criminal justice reform, wrongful convictions, and police misconduct. We encourage you to check out some of these, many have their own set of resources or datasets. Here's a small selection to start with: 
  • The Center on Wrongful Convictions through Northwestern's Pritzker School of Law
  • Chicago Justice Project - Local organization which strives to "empower communities to challenge justice system policies and practices with evidence-based analysis." 
  • The Invisible Institute, particularly the Citizen's Police Data Project  

These online resources focus on crime and criminal justice beyond the Chicago area, both nationally and internationally.

• The Marshall Project - This non-profit news organization is a great resource for criminal justice issues.
• Structural Racism and Police Violence on Sage Journals - Open access database of free medical, social, and behavioral science articles relating to racism and police violence. 
• International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy - Open access, blind peer reviewed journal that seeks to publish critical research about common challenges confronting criminal justice systems around the world.
• HeinOnline Social Justice Suite - (Available Onsite in the Research Center) - Access to online articles involving criminal justice, in particular as part of the Open Society Justice Initiative Resource.