Chaos
and Crime
www.tryoung.com/lectures/61chao&crime.html
The basic goal of chaos
theory is to explain transformations in complex systems. This site briefly describes chaos
theory and then shows how it can be used to understand the growth of certain types of
crime in response to what may seem at first to be insignificant social events.
Federal Bureau of
Investigation
www.fbi.gov
The official site of the
FBI provides background on major investigations of a surprising diversity of crimes, such
as organized smuggling of Peruvian artifacts, and a library of articles on such topics as
terrorism and fraud in financial institutions. One of the most useful features for
sociological analysis is the collection of Uniform Crime Reports, which provide several
years' worth of state-by-state data (and graphics) on street crime, domestic violence,
hate crime, and so on.
Public Agenda
www.publicagenda.com
"The inside source
for public opinion and policy analysis," created as a resource for journalists,
offers facts (some in graphic form) for understanding various issues, as well as analyses
of public opinion survey data and of public policy news and studies. One feature
increasing this site's credibility is its "red flags" about potentially
misleading poll results. Among the social issues addressed are crime and illegal drugs.
Stateline
www.stateline.org
Statistics on crime and
other matters can be called up by state or compared across states. This site was created
for journalists but provides reliable data for sociological analysis.