Research Guides: Systematic Reviews at UC Libraries: Criminal Justice

Keep In Mind...

Here are some things to keep in mind when doing a systematic review in criminal justice...

Criminal justice is highly interdisciplinary! Make sure you are pulling from a variety of databases
Your librarian is a fantastic resource!! She can help you with methods, searches, and more!
Systematic reviews take time...a lot of time
Your methods should be air-tight and reproducible.
Look to existing standards for systematic reviews for guidance

See all the steps to completing a systematic review!

Databases

Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text Selected highlights of crime and delinquency literature; Information review on crime and delinquency; Crime and deliquency literature; Criminal justice abstracts.
SocINDEX with Full Text SocINDEX with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database. The database features more than 1,910,000 records with subject headings from a 19,300 term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. SocINDEX with Full Text contains full text for 397 "core" coverage journals dating back to 1908, and 150 "priority" coverage journals. This database also includes full text for more than 720 books and monographs, and full text for 6,743 conference papers. Coverage: 1895 - present
PsycINFO PsycINFO, produced by the American Psychological Association, is a collection of electronically stored bibliographic references--most with abstracts or content summaries. It contains citations that PsycINFO has created in electronic form. Although the references themselves are all written in English, the covered literature includes material published in over 45 countries and written in 30 languages.Coverage: 1872-present
Criminal Justice Database (ProQuest) ProQuest Criminal Justice provides information on virtually any criminal justice topic¸ including corrections administration¸ law enforcement¸ social work¸ industrial security¸ drug rehabilitation¸ and criminal and family law.
Sociological Collection The database includes 615 full text titles covering all areas of sociology, including social behavior, human tendencies, interaction, relationships, community development, culture and social structure.

IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Full-text access to high quality technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science, electronics, and other related technology disciplines. Includes IEEE journals, magazines, conference proceedings, and standards, in addition to books and educational courses.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text
CINAHL Plus with Full Text provides indexing for 3,024 journals from the fields of nursing and allied health, with indexing back to 1937. CINAHL Plus with Full Text also contains searchable cited references for more than 1,160 journals and provides full text for hundreds of journals, plus legal cases, clinical innovations, critical paths, drug records, research instruments and clinical trials. PDF backfiles to 1937 are also included.
Coverage: 1937 - present
Education Research Complete
Education Research Complete is a bibliographic and full text database covering scholarly research and information relating to all areas of education. Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing. Education Research Complete also covers areas of curriculum instruction as well as administration, policy, funding, and related social issues. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 1,500 journals, as well as full text for more than 750 journals. This database also includes full text for more than 100 books and monographs, and full text for numerous education-related conference papers.
PubMed
PubMed is a free resource supporting the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature with the aim of improving health. PubMed comprises more than 37 million citations and abstracts biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.

Web of Science
Search the world’s leading scholarly journals, books, and proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities and navigate the full citation network.
Scopus (Elsevier)
A comprehensive, multidisciplinary abstract and citation database that includes literature from the social sciences, physical sciences, health sciences and life sciences. Search and filter relevant information, monitor research trends, track newly published research and identify subject experts. Use the analytics tools to visualize, compare and export the data.

Sample Reviews

Crime & Justice Reviews || Campbell Collaboration
Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy
Example Review: Body-worn cameras’ effects on police officers and citizen behavior
Lum, C., Koper, C. S., Wilson, D. B., Stoltz, M., Goodier, M., Eggins, E., Higginson, A., & Mazerolle, L. (2020). Body-worn cameras’ effects on police officers and citizen behavior: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 16(3), e1112. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1112
Example Review: Mapping the scientific knowledge and approaches to defining and measuring hate crime, hate speech, and hate incidents
Vergani, M., Perry, B., Freilich, J., Chermak, S., Scrivens, R., Link, R., Kleinsman, D., Betts, J., & Iqbal, M. (2024). Mapping the scientific knowledge and approaches to defining and measuring hate crime, hate speech, and hate incidents: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 20(2), e1397. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1397