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Executive Branch

Legislative Branch U.S. Senate U.S. House of Representatives

Judicial Branch

The Cabinet Cabinet Departments

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American Bar Association's (ABA) Criminal Justice Homepage
Maintained by the ABA, this site seeks to help "the control and prevention of crime, the improvement of society, and the return to social peace."

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Criminal Justice Homepage
ACLU's criminal justice page presents such topics as police reform, criminal justice in a free society, criminal justice cases the ACLU has undertaken and links to other criminal justice sites.

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
A component of the U.S. Department of Justice, the BJA supports innovative programs that strengthen the nation's criminal justice system by assisting state and local governments through funding, evaluation, training, technical assistance, and information support in combating violent crime and drug abuse.

Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA)
CALEA was conceived in 1979 by executives of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) who envisioned a voluntary process of evolutionary, systemic change for law enforcement by uniting toward a common goal that would provide communities with standards for measuring agency performance.

Crime Prevention Coalition of America
The Crime Prevention Coalition of America is a broad-based, interdisciplinary group whose members represent youth development organizations, municipalities, healthcare providers, law enforcement, and federal and state government agencies. The coalition's vision is a society where there is greater freedom and security, increased respect for the rights of all, a renewed sense of personal civic responsibility, healthier and more interdependent communities, and increased pride in self and community.

FBI Laboratory
One of the largest and most comprehensive forensic laboratories in the world, and the only full-service U.S. federal forensic laboratory, the FBI laboratory examines evidence free-of-charge for federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Examiners also provide expert witness testimony in U.S. courts regarding the results of forensic examinations.

FBI Uniform Crime Report
This document is a press release that the FBI issued in October 1997 for its annual Uniform Crime Report. Here you will find statistics on such subjects as violence, theft, arrests, murders, and numbers of police officers nationwide. To download this and past Crime Reports as well as other FBI publications, go to the FBI Publications page.

International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA)
A consortium of agencies who work together in international fora to build new and strengthen existing mechanisms for law enforcement cooperation. ILEA aggressively enforces laws against international criminal activities, actively develops legal frameworks for more effective sharing of information and extradition of criminal fugitives from justice, cooperates to the extent possible on law enforcement training and investigations, and joins in developing compatible investigative techniques.

Judicial Education Reference Information and Technical Transfer Project (JERITT)
Co-sponsored by the National Association of State Judicial Educators (NASJE) and the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, JERITT is the national clearinghouse for information on continuing judicial education for judges, other judicial officers and court personnel. Provides state, national. and federal-system judicial educators access to the latest information on judicial education programming, educational techniques and methods, and educational materials.

Juvenile Justice Role Model Development Project
An multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural series of courses offered jointly by Florida State University and Florida A & M, drawn from criminology, sociology, psychology, education, social work and the humanities. The project's mission is to provide a pool of professionals in the area of juvenile justice who are uniquely trained, culturally aware and committed to serving as role models and staffing youth-prevention, -intention and -redirection programs throughout the state and the nation.

National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime
Under the auspices of the FBI, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP) is a nationwide data information center designed to collect, collate and analyze crimes of violence -- specifically murder. VICAP's mission is to facilitate cooperation, communication and coordination between law enforcement agencies, and provide support in their efforts to investigate, identify, track, apprehend and prosecute violent serial offenders.

National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
Part of the Justice Information Center, NCJRS responds to queries from law enforcement and corrections officials, lawmakers, judges and court personnel, and researchers from around the world. Also operates the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) program which provides information and services to juvenile justice professionals and policymakers; the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) which responds to requests from victims, victim services and allied professionals, and researchers for victim-related information; the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) clearinghouse which focuses on providing easy access to crime and justice data; the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) which provides state and local criminal justice professionals with reference and referral services; and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which collects, analyzes and distributes publications on drugs and crime.

National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
A component of the Office of Justice Programs, NIJ is the research and development agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. NIJ was established to prevent and reduce crime and to improve the criminal justice system. Links to other organizations devoted to crime research such as Partnerships Against Violence (PAVNET) and the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, the JUSTNET, a service of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) and international organizations.

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in the U.S. Department of Justice is the federal office responsible for putting 100,000 additional police officers on U.S. streets and promoting community policing strategies throughout the United States. COPS works toward these twin goals through among other things, the Community Policing Consortium, a partnership of five of the leading police organizations in the United States: the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP); the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE); the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA); the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF); and the Police Foundation, who play a principal role in the development of community policing research, training and technical assistance, and the committment to the advancement of policing philosophy.

Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)
The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) is a national membership organization of progressive police executives from the largest city, county and state law enforcement agencies. PERF is dedicated to improving policing and advancing professionalism through research and involvement in public policy debate.

San Luis Obispo County (California) Sheriff's Office of
Crime Prevention Unit Programs and Services
An example of one American county's (local government) efforts at preventing crime. San Luis Obispo uses "neighborhood watch" groups by enlisting the active participation of citizens in cooperation with law enforcement officers to reduce crime. The county also sponsors D.A.R.E., the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, a one-semester program that teaches youth resistance skills to avoid drugs and other dangerous situations.

Training Programs for State, Local and International Law Enforcement
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, presents an overview of the Catalog of Training Programs for State, Local, and International Law Enforcement Officials, which can be downloaded from the site. The catalog is available in two formats: ASCII and WordPerfect 5.2.

Other Links to Law-Enforcement Websites

Issues of Democracy
USIA Electronic Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4, November 1997