TopLinks: Crime and Punishment

Aid to Inmate Mothers
http://www.inmatemoms.org/
This Alabama-based organization facilitates monthly visits between imprisoned mothers and their children.

Death Penalty Information Center
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
Selected as The Legal Times' Site of the Week, this site provides extensive statistical information on more than a dozen topics including women and juveniles on death row, race factors, costs of execution, the question of deterrence, and state by state information.

Families Against Mandatory Minimums
http://www.famm.org/
FAMM was founded in 1991 "to challenge inflexible and excessive penalties required by mandatory sentencing laws." The FAMM site includes a fact sheet on mandatory sentencing for women.

Federal Bureau of Investigation
http://www.fbi.gov/
The FBI's homepage offers information on their most wanted criminals, major investigations, archives and crime statistics, and background on some of their procedures to fight crime.

Federal Bureau of Prisons
http://www.bop.gov/
Maintained by the U. S. Department of Justice, this site is an exhaustive resource for prison-related information, such as inmate programs and services, along with press releases and information about the Bureau.

Fully Informed Jury Association
http://www.fija.org/
This site investigates the history of the role of the jury, professing that it is within the rights of the jury to judge the law itself, and to refuse to condemn the accused if the law can be proven flawed.

Human Rights Campaign
http://www.hrc.org
The lobbying group Human Rights Campaign acts and an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. The HRC has lobbied Congress to end workplace discrimination, combat hate crimes, and increase funding in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/
Human Rights Watch is the largest human rights organization in the United States. They conduct fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world.

Innocence Project
http://www.innocenceproject.org/
The Innocence Project is a non-profit organization that provides legal counsel to prisoners who can be proven innocent by DNA testing.

LawInfo.com
http://www.lawinfo.com/
This legal information resource offers advice and information for attorneys, legal support services, and the public.

National Criminal Justice Reference Service
https://www.ncjrs.gov/
This site contains links to information on crime and crime prevention, juvenile justice, courts, victims of crime, and law enforcement.

“How to Waste Money and Lives: The American Prison System”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/30-9
This article by Celia Chazelle focuses on problems with the structure of the American prison system, emphasizing the growth in number of prisoners and amount of expenditure in the last 40 years. It also touches on the problems for the minority population and the lack of efficacy of rehabilitation programs.

Community Justice Works
http://www.communityworkswest.org/index.php/rgc
Community Justice Works, a branch of the arts and education organization Community Works, has programs in family group conferencing, family transition circles, and arts programming. It seeks to ease the transition back into their communities of incarcerated individuals and their families.

Crime Reports
http://www.crimereports.com/
This site allows users to search for crime incidents by neighborhood. You can also search by specific date ranges and types of crime incidents.

National Center for Victims of Crime
http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbID=dash_Home
The National Center for Victims of Crime is an association dedicated to advocating for crime victims, offering conferences, trainings, a helpline, and additional resources. Helpful site features include the Dating Violence Resource Center, DNA Resource Center, Resilience Center, and Victim Law.

U.S. Department of Justice
http://www.usdoj.gov/
The mission of the U.S. Department of Justice is "to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans."