National Criminal Justice Reference Service

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National Criminal Justice Reference Service

NCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide.
Who are the Federal Sponsors?
The Federal sponsors include:

• U.S. Department of Justice
• Office of Justice Programs (OJP)

• Office of the Assistant Attorney General (OAAG)
• Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO)
• Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
• National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
• Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) OfficeOffice on Violence Against Women (OVW)
National Institute of Corrections (NIC)
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
Executive Office of the President Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)

More on our Federal Sponsors.

Who can use NCJRS?
NCJRS services and resources are available to anyone interested in crime, victim assistance, and public safety including policymakers, practitioners, researchers, educators, community leaders, and the general public.
What services does NCJRS offer?
NCJRS offers a range of services and resources, balancing the information needs of the field with the technological means to receive and access support. The following offers a number of highlights of NCJRS services and resources.
Ask Questions, Find Answers
NCJRS offers extensive reference and referral services to help you find answers to your questions about crime and justice-related research, policy, and practice. Search Questions & Answers to access hundreds of questions related to juvenile and criminal justice, victim assistance, drug policy, and NCJRS services.
Join the Information Network
Stay informed about new publications, grants and funding opportunities, and other news and announcements. Register online and you will receive:

• JUSTINFO: a bi-weekly electronic newsletter that includes links to full text publications, notices of upcoming trainings and conferences, funding announcements, and other resources.
• E-mail notifications: Periodic messages about new publications and resources that match your specific areas of interests.
• Publications: periodic mailings of publications that match your interests.
• The Justice Resource Update: A quarterly publication that highlights NCJRS Partner Agency announcements.
• Listserv invitations: receive invitations to subscribe to other topical listservs based on your interest areas.

You will also receive an annual renewal notice via e-mail or through the mail to continue your membership. Please respond immediately to ensure continuous service. To review your profile, update your contact information or interest areas, or unsubscribe at anytime go to Manage Account.
Access, Read, and Request Publications and Other Products
The NCJRS sponsoring agencies publish hundreds of reports and other information products each year to share with you and your colleagues. The types of reports and their content are designed to meet the broad range of interests in the field and the audiences who use them.
Learn From the Experiences of Others
NCJRS hosts one of the largest criminal and juvenile justice libraries and databases in the world, the NCJRS Abstracts Database. The collection, with holdings from the early 1970s to the present, contains more than 195,000 publications, reports, articles, and audiovisual products from the United States and around the world. These resources include statistics, research findings, program descriptions, congressional hearing transcripts, and training materials.
The abstracts include the title, author, sponsoring agency, purchasing address, and journal citation, as well as a 100- to 200-word summary of the document's contents. Keyword and index term searches of the database are easy. With the search capabilities offered, you can quickly retrieve all the citations relevant to your question or area of interest.
Attend, Promote, and Support Conferences
Learn about upcoming conferences through the Justice Events section of this site. Search for conferences based on respective focus areas, geographical location, or dates. Increase exposure and participation at your upcoming conferences by adding your event to the calendar.
How Can You Help NCJRS?
NCJRS is a two-way partnership and your participation is always welcomed.
Give Us Your Feedback
Periodically, when you contact us, staff will ask you to answer a few questions about your online capabilities, how you heard about NCJRS, or other such matters. On occasion you may also find a survey enclosed with publications and other materials, or you may receive an online survey. Please take the time to answer the questions and return the survey. These surveys help ensure that NCJRS services and resources meet your needs and help NCJRS make positive changes, such as introducing new technologies, modifying the telephone system, or redesigning publications.
Your unsolicited comments are also appreciated. Please let us know when a job is done well or if you have any concerns. Your feedback makes a difference.
Share NCJRS With Others
Help us expand the scope of the audience receiving information from NCJRS.

• Request a bulk shipment of registration forms and information about online resources to share with your colleagues in the office, members of your association, or conference attendees.
• Send us a mailing list of your organization so that we can invite your members to join the information network.
• Incorporate NCJRS Web banners onto your Web site.
• Link to the NCJRS Web site at www.ncjrs.gov.

Tell Your Editors About NCJRS
NCJRS coordinates with a network of more than 100 editors of national, State, and local periodicals, sharing information from the sponsoring agencies and network members on a regular basis. Editors then share these resources with their respective readerships. NCJRS also provides artwork for announcements, articles on specific topics, and NCJRS products and services. If your organization or agency produces a periodical-either for subscribers or as an internal resource for staff-and you are willing to share resources with and about NCJRS and its partner agencies, contact us.
Contribute to the NCJRS Library and Database
Send copies of publications, training curriculums, videotapes, and other information resources from your organization to NCJRS. They will be screened for inclusion in the NCJRS library and Abstracts Database. Other people can then find your resources when they search the database. NCJRS can lend the material through interlibrary loan or reproduce a document for a nominal fee (depending on copyright). If you provide an electronic version (e.g., text, PDF, or HTML), a link from the Abstracts Database can connect the user to the full text.

Last updated on: 2/5/2008

Contact Information
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
P.O. Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849-6000
800-851-3420
301-519-5500 (international callers)
301-519-5212 (fax)
Email

877-712-9279 or 301-947-8374 (TTY for the hearing impaired)