Basic Legal Research

The BJS collects information on crime, offenders, victims and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.

Crime Statistics publishes annually on specific offenses and trends in criminal behavior. Topics include hate crimes, terrorism incidents, and financial crimes.

This annual resource, dating back to 1878, compiles statistical information from a wide variety of federal agencies.

These statistics pertain to the business of the federal court system. Reports are categorized by courts (appellate, district, bankruptcy, etc) and report information that includes the numbers, the types of cases heard, caseloads, and much more.

Find a federal court location by location or court name, including appellate, district, bankruptcy, probation and pretrial office, or federal defender organization.

Entries are brief, details of judicial service, education, and professional career. This would be a great starting place for researching federal judges.

Access the court docket, recent decisions, arguments, opinions, and more.

Find the rules and policies used in administering the federal judiciary, codes of conduct, and various federal regulations.

Index of judicial branch web sites for each state.

This site compiles government documents from offices of the U.S. Department of Justice.

This site compiles information from a number of Department of Justice offices including Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, Office for Victims of Crimes, and more.

A multimedia archive devoted to the U.S. Supreme Court, including cases, decisions, and thousands of hours of SC audio.

Legal resources including U.S. and state resources, Code of Federal Regulations, Supreme Court decisions, legal encyclopedia, and more.