Criminal Justice Community Portal
Welcome – From the Editor
Welcome to the MERLOT Criminal Justice Portal, an educational resource for teaching and learning. Use this portal to discover online learning materials, MERLOT members, journals, professional organizations, and news in your discipline.
You are also invited to join MERLOT – it's free! As a member, you can contribute to this growing community of instructors and students by using and rating the learning materials you find, submitting online learning materials for evaluation that you have created or that you have used.
MERLOT prides itself on the peer reviews of material in our collection. As a member you can become a peer reviewer. The peer review process for evaluating the teaching and learning resources in MERLOT follows a standard model and is led by Editors and editorial boards. For more information, email beareviewer@merlot.org or visit our Peer Review Information page.
Paul Bowdre, Editor - Criminal Justice Editorial Board
Showcase
This is a game based on a TV show "The First 48". The true life show follows detectives from the first call to a murder scene through the first 48 hours. This game allows the user to examine finger prints, process a crime scene, and interview suspects and family among other things.
New Materials
-
AI for Peace Studies Education
AI for Peace Studies Education is a free collection of custom GPT tools designed to help learners engage with...
-
Law and Dissent - CRIM 430
These open textbooks are being utilized in a Criminology and Justice Studies course for undergraduate or graduate...
-
Career Readiness for Sociology and Criminology & Justice Studies Majors
This open textbook is being utilized in a Sociology and Criminology & Justice Studies Career Readiness course for...
-
Governing with Integrity: Ethical Reasoning for Public Service
This is a textbook written by a former probation officer and current full-time instructor of Administration of Justice at...
-
Forensic Microbiology: A Sporespicious Letter
This investigative activity tasks high school students to solve a medical mystery using endospore staining. Students are...
-
Zero Cost, Open Access Criminology and Criminal Justice Research Methods
This open textbook is being utilized in a criminology and criminal justice course for undergraduate students by Dr....
-
Criminology 1st Edition
This textbook is designed as a free, open-source textbook to be used, shared, and changed as the user sees fit. Many...
-
Introduction to Criminal Justice
A unique approach was employed to the development of this introductory textbook. The resource was co-authored by...
-
SOC 439: Social Justice and Environment
The California State University and MERLOT have partnered to showcase how and why faculty have adopted Open Educational...
-
The Numbers Don’t Speak for Themselves: Racial Disparities and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Justice System
Many scholars and activists assume the public would be motivated to fight inequality if only they knew the full extent of...
-
Public Opinion, Crime, and Criminal Justice
Research on public knowledge has found that the public knows little about crime or the criminal justice system including...
-
The clearance rate as a measure of criminal justice system effectiveness
The validity of the clearance rate as a measure of either criminal justice system (CJS) effectiveness or of the...
-
Does majoring in criminal justice affect perceptions of criminal justice
Research continues to show that the public holds misperceptions about crime and criminal justice. The media influences...
-
The Islamic Criminal Justice System
Primarily selected papers from the 1st International Conference on the Protection of Human Rights in the Islamic Criminal...
-
Race, ethnicity, and the criminal justice system
This research brief highlights data and research findings on racial and ethnic disparities in crime and the criminal...
-
Treating Drug Abuse and Addiction in the Criminal Justice System
Emerging neuroscience has the potential to transform traditional sanction-oriented public safety approaches by providing...
-
Chronic Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System | Psychiatric Services
A total of 260 family members responded to a survey seeking information about their mentally ill relatives' contacts with...
-
Psychological Effects of Victimization: Implications for the Criminal Justice System
The purposes of this article are to review research on psychological reactions to criminal victimization, to consider how...
-
Juvenile Offenders in the Adult Criminal Justice System
Most state legislatures have instituted punitive reforms in response to rising rates of youth crime, including provisions...
-
About | HeinOnline
Learn about HeinOnline, a premier online research platform providing access to multidisciplinary current and historical...
-
Victims’ experiences in the criminal justice system and their recovery from crime
This article examines secondary victimization and how the criminal justice system affects victims’ psychological recovery...
-
Economists’ Contribution to the Study of Crime and the Criminal Justice System
Economists’ contributions to criminal justice research can be divided into three main areas of theory, technique, and...
-
The Effects of the Criminal Justice on the Control of Crime: a quantitative approach
Learn about HeinOnline, a premier online research platform providing access to multidisciplinary current and historical...
-
Models of a Total Criminal Justice System
The need to examine the total criminal justice system—police, prosecution, courts, and correction agencies—in an...
New Members
-
Micaela DuarteIndependent Contractor -
Ariel GilsonUniversity System of Georgia - Georgia State University -
Tabitha RaberTaft College -
Nicole NeeCoffeyville Community/Technical College -
Bruna SantosUniversidade Federal de Alagoas -
Lacey BrackinsEducational Learning University -
Rachel KoonsBlack River Technical College -
Tyreeona Barneslaw -
Erik RobinsonGrace College -
Abigail MendozaGrace College -
Tuba Afsheen AhmedLondon school of international business -
Angelica JohnsonUniversity of Oklahoma -
Dr. Jennifer SmithUniversity System of Georgia - Kennesaw State University -
Tonya ChambersBlack River Criminal Justice Student -
olivia judkinsnone -
John NyuntHartnell College
-
OLXTOTO macauOLXTOTO -
Melissa SmithUniversity of Oklahoma -
Brittany RuthvenDurham College of Applied Arts and Technology -
Stacey BerlinskiKeystone College -
Bradley BowenSouthern Wesleyan University -
Charles CrugnolaCity University of New York System - Bronx Community/Technical College -
Aneesa BaboolalUniversity of Massachusetts System - Dartmouth
Materials by Discipline
- Corrections (49)
- Courts (17)
- Crime and Communities (23)
- Crime (71)
- Drugs (14)
- Forensics (117)
- Intelligence (40)
- Justice System (55)
- Juvenile Justice (17)
- Law & Society (75)
- Law Enforcement (93)
- Victims (20)
Professional Organizations
- Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
- American Correctional Association
- American Jail Association
- American Probation and Parole Association
- International Association of Chiefs of Police
- International Association for Intelligence Education
- Midwest Criminal Justice Association
- National Criminal Justice Association
- Northeastern Association of Criminal Justice Sciences
- Southern Criminal Justice Association
- Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice
- International Association for Intelligence Education
Journals & Publications
- Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice
- British Journal of Criminology
- Corrections Today
- Evidence Technology Magazine
- FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
- Federal Probation Journal
- Homeland Security Affairs
- Journal of Criminal Justice
- Journal of Homeland Security Education
- Journal of National Security Law and Policy
- Perspectives on Terrorism
- Police Chief Magazine
- The Open Criminology Journal
- Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice on the Web
-
Welch Joins Bipartisan Legislation to Modernize Federal Criminal Code
Feb 19, 2026 03:03 PM PST
-
New Mexico Attorney General reopens criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch
Feb 19, 2026 02:05 PM PST
-
New York's Raise the Age is Making us Safer. Some Want to Roll it Back Anyway - NYCLU
Feb 19, 2026 01:22 PM PST
-
ICTJ Celebrates 25 Years of Advancing Justice at the Annual January for Justice Leaders Event
Feb 19, 2026 12:50 PM PST
-
Challenges in Rural Juvenile Justice: A Closer Look at Big Sky Country - R Street Institute
Feb 19, 2026 12:30 PM PST
-
Community Justice Legal Project Builds Community through Public ServiceVanderbilt Law School
Feb 19, 2026 12:16 PM PST
-
San Antonio Gang Member Added to 10 Most Wanted List
Feb 19, 2026 12:14 PM PST
-
Cantrell: Is California's 'justice' system just slavery by another name? - San José Spotlight
Feb 19, 2026 12:05 PM PST
-
Elon Liberal Arts Forum to host conversation with attorney Brittany Barnett on Feb. 26
Feb 19, 2026 12:05 PM PST
-
Missouri Journalists: Data for Investigating Police Misconduct | The Marshall Project
Feb 19, 2026 12:05 PM PST
-
House shuts down effort to revive the death penalty in New Hampshire
Feb 19, 2026 12:04 PM PST
-
Economic Exploitation in the Criminal Justice System - UC Berkeley Law
Feb 19, 2026 12:00 PM PST
-
ABLE Accounts Expanded in 2026: New Eligibility Rules and How to Open One - The Arc
Feb 19, 2026 11:54 AM PST
-
Former NYPD detective running for Assembly to support Mamdani's Albany agenda
Feb 19, 2026 11:45 AM PST
-
Help shape the future of opioid services in Douglas County
Feb 19, 2026 11:18 AM PST
-
Behind Epstein Files, a $245 Billion Sex Trafficking Industry - American Community Media
Feb 19, 2026 10:52 AM PST
-
Maryland sheriffs: Expect ICE ramp-up after state ban - The Baltimore Banner
Feb 19, 2026 10:24 AM PST
-
'He lost hope': See inside Austin yogurt shop murders exoneration hearing
Feb 19, 2026 09:52 AM PST
-
Gov. Polis appoints new Colorado Supreme Court justice | PostIndependent.com
Feb 19, 2026 09:24 AM PST
-
LaPlaca denied PTI, faces plea deal or criminal trial - New Jersey Globe
Feb 19, 2026 09:14 AM PST