Research Guides: Criminal Justice Administration: Courts and Legal Resources

What is APA Style?

APA Style is a standardized writing format, established by the American Psychological Association, which you may need to follow when submitting projects or papers. If you have questions about APA formatting, look at our APA Style Guide.

Evaluating Sources

"When faced with a flood of information, misinformation, and conflicting sources, how do you know what to trust?”

-- Book Review: Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories From Book History

Need help finding good sources of information? Our Evaluating Sources Guide provides tools and strategies for finding and evaluating sources.

Courts

United States Court website
Details the beginnings of our Federal Court System, and discusses the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, the U.S. District courts, Bankruptcy Courts, and U.S. Courts of Special Jurisdiction.
U.S. Supreme Court Landmark Cases
Interactive landmark Supreme Court cases that have shaped history and have an impact on law-abiding citizens today.
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
The Federal Court of Appeals that covers Ohio, the website provides information about the court, rules and procedures, and links to opinions.
PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records)
Provides access to case and docket information for cases in federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts. Fees are required for most resources on this site; contact the Franklin library with any questions (library@franklin.edu).
RECAP
A free searchable collection of millions of PACER documents and dockets.

Judicial System Chart
Explains how the courts in Ohio are structured.
Ohio Supreme Court
Provides information about the Ohio Supreme Court.
Ohio Court Decisions
Decisions from the Ohio Supreme Court and Ohio Courts of Appeals.
Ohio Courts of Appeals
Shows which Ohio counties are in each Appellate District, with links and contact info for each Appellate District.

Legal Information -- Listing by Jurisdiction
Cornell Legal Information Institute listing of states with links to state laws, constitutions, courts and other legal material.
Library of Congress -- Guide to Law Online: U.S. States and Territories
Provides links to state and territory constitution, executive, legislative and judicial information.
National Center for State Courts: State Court Websites
Alphabetical listing of judicial branch links for each state from the National Center for State Courts.

Legal Resources

Anylaw
AnyLaw is a free legal research service that gives you unlimited access to massive amounts of valuable legal data, comprised of data drawn from a multitude of resources and includes archival and current caselaw, just released slip opinions, and statutes.
Billtrack50
BillTrack50 is a free service for citizens to look up information about federal and state bills and legislators. Register for a free account to start searching right away.
Citing Slavery Project
A database and interactive map of American slave cases and the modern cases that continue to cite slave cases as legal precedent. Contributors include professors and students from the Michigan State University College of Law.
Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)
An unofficial, informational resource that lists federal rules and regulations updates.
Ohio Administrative Code
Contains the administrative rules for Ohio Administrative Agencies.
Ohio Constitution
Constitution for the State of Ohio.
Ohio Legislature
Provides information about the legislature, including pending legislation.
Ohio Revised Code
Contains the laws of Ohio which were enacted by the General Assembly (which includes the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate).
Oyez
Oyez (pronounced oh-yay), a free law project of the IIT Chicago-Kent School of Law, is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone. It is a complete and authoritative source for all of the Court’s audio since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. In addition, Oyez exclusively offers transcript-synchronized and searchable audio, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and opinions.
United States Code
The laws of the United States of America.
United States Constitution
Constitution of the United States of America.
US Criminal Justice System
Interactive website of US criminal justice concepts and strategies. Includes information on law enforcement responsibilities, courts, corrections, and guiding principals.