Web Resources

This list provides websites with useful information and exercises on research topics covered in Investigating the Social World, Fourth Edition. This list includes all websites in the end-of-chapter web exercises. Are you looking for additional depth on a research topic? Then try these additional websites.

The Nature, Purpose, and Function of Criminal Law

http://www.rbs2.com/cc.htm
Read more about the difference between criminal law and civil law

http://public.findlaw.com
This site has an extensive collection of legal information including: state laws, federal laws, statutes, and also case law annotations

www.splcenter.org
Brown v. Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan : A landmark case demonstrating civil law verses criminal law as well as state court findings verses federal court findings
Also see: www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price&bowers/Killen.htm

http://www.courttv.com/archive/casefiles/rodneyking/
Learn more about the Rodney King case at Court TV.com

Constitutional Limitations

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/feinerfacts.html
Read the case notes for Feiner v. New York. Do you think Feiner's speech is protected by the first amendment?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Equal_protection
Read more about equal protection of the law

http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/11173prs20030407.html
Read an ACLU press release regarding the constitutional protection of cross-burning

Punishment and Sentencing

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
The Death Penalty Information Center provides up-to-date statistics on the death penalty, as well as historical information and the current law

http://www.aiusa.org/abolish
This site contains a state-by-state list of executions as well as number of executions in the United States for each year. The site also contains a list of countries that retain the death penalty and those countries that have abolished the death penalty

http://www.sentencingproject.org/
The Sentencing Project is a non-profit organization which promotes reduced reliance on incarceration and increased use of more effective and humane alternatives to deal with crime

Actus Reus

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/kitty_genovese/3.html
Learn more about the Kitty Genovese case

http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/web/nyshaugnessy.htm
A crime requires a criminal act. The PEOPLE of the State of New York v. Eileen SHAUGHNESSY provides an analysis of Actus Reus, and the application of the rule

Mens Rea, Concurrence, Causation

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectID/9371DEAF-4C01-4A10-9546ED9CE0148A16/104/143/216/ART/
Learn more about Mens Rea and how a defendant's mental state affects his or her responsibility for a crime

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-1441.ZO.html
Read the case notes for Staples v. United States to examine the importance of criminal intent regarding a criminal offense

http://www.law.stetson.edu/courses/torts/fltorts/powerpoint/Causation.ppt
Definitions of cause-in-fact and proximate cause to help enhance your knowledge of issues of causality

Parties to Crime and Vicarious Liability

http://www.udel.edu/brc/research_statistics/DramShop.html
Dram shop liability laws hold alcohol servers responsible for harm that intoxicated or underage patrons cause to other people (or, in some cases, to themselves). Do you think it would be more socially effective in deterring drunk driving to hold social hosts, bartenders, and so on, civilly or criminally liable for deaths or injuries related to providing alcohol to an intoxicated person and allowing that person to drive?

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectID/D2737952-D79C-4BD1-8350F869A7CADF21/104/143/216/ART/
Learn more about parties to crime

http://www.rbs2.com/cvicarious.pdf
Read about the possibility of a computer owner being held liable for the misuse of his/her computer by a hacker

Attempt, Conspiracy, and Solicitation

http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/web/pahenley.htm
Can Henley use the defense of legal impossibility? Read Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Samuel Henley to understand the law of attempt and legal impossibility

http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2005/Jan/12-951655.html
Learn more about the complexities of the wheel conspiracy. This article examines an internet company and all who associated with the company facing charges of an online pornography conspiracy.

http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2000/5thDistrict/July
/HTML/5980775.htm
Read the case notes for People v. Sims to further your understanding of the charge of solicitation

Justifications

http://www.answers.com/topic/bernhard-goetz
Read more about Bernhard Goetz and the public reaction to his claim of self-defense

http://www.claytoncramer.com/DutyToRetreat.html
Read a popular opposition to the duty-to-retreat law

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ph98.pdf
Read more about justifiable homicides by police as well as the number of police officers killed by felons between the years 1976-1998

Excuses

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/jailed
Learn more about the issue of mentally ill inmates

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleytrial.html
Read more about the John Hinckley trial and the insanity defense

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/188677.pdf
"Animal Abuse and Youth Violence," discusses the importance of animal abuse and youth at risk of committing interpersonal violence

Criminal Sexual Conduct, Assault and Battery, Kidnapping, and False Imprisonment

http://www.courttv.com/trials/bryant/101703_law_ctv.html
Read more about the Kobe Bryant case and rape shield laws

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_sex.pdf
Learn more about the problem and prevalence of sexual trafficking

http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=269
This document provides important information regarding acquaintance rape among college students

Homicide

http://www.courttv.com/news/2003/0326/fetalhomicide_ctv.html
Read more about fetal homicide laws, and the Laci Peterson case

http://criminal.findlaw.com/crimes/a-z.html
Learn more about the differences between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter as well as first and second degree murder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malice_aforethought
An encyclopedia site that expands on the legal definition of malice aforethought and how this legal term is applied to murder

Burglary, Trespass, Arson, and Mischief

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/burg.htm
The webpage for the Bureau of Justice Statistics provides information regarding burglary trends in the US, as well as the legal definition of burglary.

http://www.firearson.com/insideiaai/featuredtopics/index.asp
The International Association of Arson Investigators Homepage offers information about arson and arsonists as well as up-to-date news stories regarding arson cases

http://www.tba.org/LawBytes/T10_1903.html
Learn more about the legal definition of trespassing

Crimes Against Property

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/index.html
The Federal Trade Commission offers a comprehensive site regarding identity theft and how an individual can protect himself/herself

http://www.cybercrime.gov
The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, U.S. Department of Justice Homepage offers definitions of computer crimes as well as recent cases that have been prosecuted

http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/hitler_diaries/index.html
Read about the notorious forgery of the Hitler diaries

White-Collar Crime

http://www.osha.gov
Learn more about OSHA and how OSHA attempts to protect and maintain the health and safety of workers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Stewart
Read more about Martha Stewart and the ImClone scandal

http://www.nw3c.org
The National White Collar Crime Center provides a nationwide support system for agencies involved in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of economic and high-tech crimes

Crimes Against Public Order and Morality

http://gangresearch.net/
Gang Research is a website dedicated to research regarding national and international gangs, as well as legal policies

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer
Learn more about the issues regarding cruelty to animals

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/
Read more about the prevalence of homelessness, and legal policies related to homelessness

Crimes Against the State

http://www.terrorism.com/
The Terrorism Research Center "is an independent institute dedicated to the research of terrorism, information warfare and security, critical infrastructure protection, homeland security, and other issues of low-intensity political violence and gray-area phenomena"

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Politics/sctterror.html
Read more about the legal issues regarding violent interrogations of suspected terrorists

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial9/mcveigh/
Read more about the life, actions, trial, and death of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City Bomber