LibGuides: Paralegal Research Guide: Web Resources

Useful Websites for Students: Public Service

American Correctional Association Code of Ethics This policy defines professional conduct and ethical standards of conduct for correctional officers, including identifying conduct which is unbecoming and unprofessional.
American Correctional Association Standards ACA standards interface with all aspects of operations, including safety, security, order, care, programs, justice, and administration, among others.
Bureau of Justice Statistics TBJS is the primary statistical agency of the Department of Justice. It is one of the thirteen principal federal statistical agencies throughout the Executive Branch, agencies whose activities are predominantly focused on the collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical purposes.
National Institute of Corrections Online Resource Library National Institute of Corrections Publications

Bureau of Justice Statistics Collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.
Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM) The Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM) is a national clearinghouse and technical assistance center that supports state and local jurisdictions in the effective management of sex offenders.
Crimes Against Children Research Center CCRC is concerned with research about the nature of crimes including child abduction, homicide, rape, assault, and physical and sexual abuse as well as their impact.
FBI Reports and Publications Reports on many topics including terrorism, internet crime, & white-collar crime.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Florida criminal justice information from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Florida Statistical Analysis Center (FDLE) The FSAC analyzes criminal justice data and prepares statistical reports for policy makers, planners, and program developers. FSAC also serves as a criminal justice resource for academia, media, students, and others researching crime in Florida.
The Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence The Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV) is dedicated to the study of the causes, dynamics, characteristics and consequences of terrorism and related forms of political violence.
Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) JRSA, a national non-profit organization, is a resource center for researchers, analysts, journalists and practitioners of justice research.
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data facilitates research in criminal justice and criminology, through the preservation, enhancement, and sharing of computerized data resources; through the production of original research based on archived data; and through specialized training workshops in quantitative analysis of crime and justice data.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) is a federally funded resource offering justice and drug-related information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide.
National Institute of Justice NIJ is the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice.
National Organization for Victim Assistance Founded in 1975, NOVA is the oldest national victim assistance organization of its type in the United States and is the recognized leader in victim advocacy, education and credentialing.
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics The information on Sourcebook Online has been organized on a topical basis. Six broad areas of interest are used to group similar data: Criminal justice characteristics provides information on criminal justice systems, such as courts and corrections. Budgets, workloads, expenditures for criminal justice activities, and employment and characteristics of agencies and departments are some of the statistics in this section. Public opinion displays the results of polls on crime and criminal justice-related topics, for example, the death penalty, fear of crime, and gun control. Crime, victims includes data from victimization surveys, officially recorded data on offenses known to law enforcement agencies, and self-reports of criminal involvement that describe the nature and extent of criminal activity in the United States. Sources include the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Uniform Crime Reporting Program from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and many others. Arrests, seizures covers information on persons arrested in the United States and seizure activities of Federal agencies. Courts, prosecution, sentencing presents data on processing of criminal defendants in all levels of United States courts (Federal, State, local, juvenile); among the topics in this section are defendants prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced; types and lengths of sentences, and prisoner petitions and appeals filed. Parole, jails, prisons, death penalty displays statistics on persons in community and under correctional supervision, including jail and prison populations, characteristics of prisoners, time served, and prisoners under sentence of death and executed.
START (Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism) The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism—better known as START—is a university-based research center committed to the scientific study of the causes and human consequences of terrorism in the United States and around the world. Headquartered at the University of Maryland, START supports research efforts of leading social scientists at more than 50 academic and research institutions, each of whom is conducting original investigations into fundamental questions about terrorism, including: Under what conditions does an individual or a group turn to terrorism to pursue its goals? What is the nature of the radicalization process? What attack patterns have different terrorists demonstrated during the past forty years? How has terrorist behavior evolved? And, what does this indicate about likely future terrorist activity? What impact does terrorism and the threat of terrorism have on communities, and how can societies enhance their resilience to minimize the potential impacts of future attacks? Databases, datasets, and data collections available on the site include: Global Terrorism Database (GTD); Minorities at Risk Organizational Behavior (MAROB); Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism in the United States (PPT-US); Big, Allied, and Dangerous (BAAD) Lethality Database; Radiological and Nuclear Non-State Adversaries Database (RANNSAD); Terrorist Organization Profiles (TOPs); Terrorism & Preparedness Data Resource Center (TPDRC); Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI).
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has been the starting place for law enforcement executives, students of criminal justice, researchers, members of the media, and the public at large seeking information on crime in the nation.
United States Sentencing Commission Statistics by state, district & circuit, reports to Congress, guideline manuals, annual reports, & statistical sourcebooks.

FBI Records: The Vault FBI Vault graphic The Vault is our new FOIA Library, containing 6,700 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies so you can read them in the comfort of your home or office.
How to Become a Certified Officer in Florida Officer requirements in Florida
Law Enforcement Officer Ethical Standards of Conduct The International Association of Chiefs of Police provides the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics as a preface to the mission and commitment law enforcement agencies make to the public they serve.
State Officer Certification Exam All individuals seeking Florida certification as a law enforcement, correctional, or correctional probation officer must first pass the State Officer Certification Examination (SOCE).

Administrative Codes & Registers (ACR)
American Society of International Law Electronic Resource Guide The Electronic Resource Guide, often called the ERG, has been published online by ASIL since 1997. Systematically updated and continuously expanded, the ERG is designed to be used by students, teachers, practitioners, and researchers as a self-guided tour of relevant, quality, up-to-date online resources covering important areas of international law. The ERG also serves as a ready-made teaching tool at graduate and undergraduate levels.
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) is a currently updated version of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
Family Law Rules and Opinions
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure PDF
Federal Rules of Evidence PDF
Florida Administrative Code & Florida Administrative Register
Florida Alliance of Paralegal Associations, Inc. ("FAPA") Florida Alliance of Paralegal Associations, Inc. ("FAPA") is an association consisting of Florida local paralegal associations from around Florida which lobbied the Florida Legislature to introduce mandatory paralegal regulation in 2005, 2006, and 2011.
Florida Bar Journal The primary purpose of articles and columns is to educate or inform the reader on issues of substantive law and practical concern to lawyers.
Florida Evidence Code
Florida Family Law Forms
Florida Municipal Codes
Florida Rules of Court Procedure The Supreme Court of Florida by these rules establishes the authority and responsibilities of The Florida Bar, an official arm of the court.
Florida Standard Jury Instructions Standard Jury Instructions for Criminal, Civil and Contract and Business Cases are provided.
Florida Statutes
Florida Supreme Court Opinions
Guide to Law Online The Guide to Law Online, prepared by the Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information.
Justia.com Justia's mission is to advance the availability of legal resources for the benefit of society
Landmark Cases of the Supreme Court Street Law, Inc. developed landmarkcases.org in 2002, with funding from the Supreme Court Historical Society to provide teachers with a full range of resources and activities to support the teaching of landmark Supreme Court cases.
The Laws of Florida
Legal Information Institute (LII) We are a not-for-profit organization that believes everyone should be able to read and understand the laws that govern them, without cost. We carry out this vision by: Publishing law online, for free. Creating materials that help people understand law. Exploring new technologies that make it easier for people to find the law.
Legislative Source Book The Legislative Source Book is a project of the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C (LLSDC) Legislative Research Special Interest Section. It was first begun as a printed spiral-bound book in 1992 and was launched as an Internet product in the year 2000. The Legislative Source Book contains a collection of resources to help with complex historical and contemporary questions in legislative activities.
Lens Lens serves global patent and scholarly knowledge as a public good to inform science and technology enabled problem solving. No account required.
National Association of Legal Assistants NALA is the leading paralegal association in the US.
National Center for State Courts (NCSC) For more than 50 years, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has shared authoritative knowledge and expertise to address current and emerging issues and trends in state court administration. NCSC’s mission today—promoting the rule of law and improving the administration of justice in state courts and courts around the world—springs logically from its original purpose to gather information and produce innovations to benefit all courts.
Oyez Project A multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone.
Paralegal Association of Florida
Patent Lens Patent Lens is a freely available online resource that provides tools to help individuals understand worldwide patent systems. Patent Lens is an initiative of Cambia, a non-profit institute that aims to promote change and innovation through transparency of patents and other intellectual property resources. The Patent Lens website offers an open access patent search tool for over 27 million granted patents and over 38 million patent applications. Search criteria include key words, dates, jurisdictions, inventors, owners, classifications and more. Patent Lens also provides patent tutorials, which use jargon-free language to explain how to read patents, apply for patents and the rights for those who file patent applications
Public Library of Law PLoL also includes free links to paid content on Fastcase. PLoL is one of the Web's largest free law libraries, but with additional links from Fastcase, it is one of the most comprehensive law libraries in the world.
Rules Regulating The Florida Bar
Tampa Bay Paralegal Association Tampa Bay Paralegal Association, Inc. ("TBPA") is a member association of the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) which provides TBPA members automatic membership with NFPA.
United States Code
United States Reports United States Reports is a series of bound case reporters that are the official reports of decisions for the United States Supreme Court. A citation to a United States Supreme Court decisions includes three elements that are needed to retrieve a case. For example, Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984). 467 indicates the volume in which the case is reported, U.S. indicates the abbreviation for U.S. Reports, 837 indicates the initial page number of the case, and 1984 indicates the year the case was decided.

Legal News Sites

Legal Talk Network
Legal Talk Network is a media network for legal professionals that covers important issues and information in a talk show format via podcasts available on-demand. The shows are hosted by professionals in the legal industry and feature high profile guests who share their experience and expertise. The podcasts of Legal Talk Network are in the Top 10 for legal podcasts on iTunes, and flagship show Lawyer 2 Lawyer was listed as #1 on the ABA Journal’s list of the 5 Most Essential Podcasts for Law Firm Professionals.
American Bar Association (ABA) Journal
The ABA Journal website provides the latest headlines on what's going on in law today. The site covers constitutional law, information on lawsuits of interest, and in depth coverage on other law issues.
Jurist.org
Jurist is a web-based legal news and legal research service staffed by a mostly-volunteer team of over 60 part-time law student reporters, editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Jurist tracks important legal news stories and presents them objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.

Useful Paralegal Websites

Florida Bar
The Florida Bar website provides lawyers free legal reserch, tech tips, practice resources, leadership academy and member benefits.
Hernando County Clerk of Court
This site provides access to Administrative services, court services, Finance and audit services as well as official records.
The Fifth Judicial Circuit Court
The Fifth Judicial Circuit Court website grants access to administrative orders, programs and services, and information about the judiciary for Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion, and Sumter Counties.
Pasco County Clerk of Court
This site gives access to official public records, courts research records, courts traffic department, finance services, and statistical reports.
The Sixth Judicial Circuit
Florida's third largest trial court provides information on law libraries and resources, administrative orders, information about judges, family law, court programs, and an interesting How do I... section.
FLCourts.org
FLCourts has administrative and general information about Florida state courts. The site holds information about family law rules and opinions, family courts, trial courts, small claims, and other online services.
US Supreme Court
This is the official webpage for the US Supreme court. You can look up dockets, oral arguments, court rules, opinions etc.
Legal Information Institute
This Institute is part of Cornell University providing public legal information. It includes opinions of the United States Supreme Court handed down since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historical importance, over a decade of opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, and the full United States Code. They provide the constitutions, statutes, judicial opinions, and regulation for all of the states, D.C. and the U.S. territories and affiliated jurisdictions.
GPO Access
The US Government Printing Office provides full text of the U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Congressional Record, Federal Register, presidential materials, full text of congressional bills, etc.
Find Law
This is a free online site with various legal resources, cases and codes, legal news and forms, and more for legal professionals, businesses, students and individuals.