The second edition of The Definitive Guide to Criminal Justice and Criminology on the World Wide Web offers a roadmap to the Web for students in the fields of criminal justice and criminology. Supported by a dedicated Web site of its own (http://talkjustice.com), The Definitive Guide takes students on a tour of Web tools and resources of relevance to criminal justice and criminology. It shows students "what's possible" on the Web. The guide also facilitates distance learning and enhances the ability of institutions of higher education, training academies, and other schools to offer distance learning classes in criminal justice and criminology over the Web. The Definitive Guide to Criminal Justice and Criminology on the World Wide Web provides an overview of:
- Web-based resources in the criminal justice and criminology fields
- the historical development of the Internet and the Web
- the software, hardware, and types of connections needed to enter cyberspace today
- e-mail and its potential uses
- Web search engines and how to get the most out of them
- netiquette (Web etiquette)
- careers in criminal justice and criminology on the Web
- Web-based career resources
- security issues involving the Internet, the Web, and e-mail
- Internet glossary terms
The second edition of this guide adds descriptions of many more first-rate crime and justice sites that students and professors will want to visit. It also contains the full report of the NEW President's Working Group on Unlawful Conduct on the Internet.
- The Definitive Guide to Criminal Justice and Criminology on the World Wide Web, second edition, is supported by Talk Justice (http://talkjustice.com), a dedicated World Wide Web site that includes the following features:
- The Talk Justice Cybrary, containing all of the links listed in this guide—and more—with daily updates. The Cybrary's 12,000 crime and justice links make it "the world's criminal justice directory" on the Web.
- Discussion groups, making it possible for visitors to leave messages for other site participants, to thread those messages, and to re-enter the on-going discussion at any time.
- A chat facility, allowing guests to participate in real-time discussions with others about criminal justice and criminology related issues.
- Message boards, covering important crime and justice issues.
- A "clickable" image-map of the criminal justice system, with embedded definitions.
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
— Isaac Asimov
As we move through the first decade of the twenty-first century, the future of criminal justice education confronts us. It has become clear to many of us in the justice field that education within our discipline is increasingly embracing the distance learning model. Look around, and you will see that the call for quality distance education is being taken up by an ever-growing cadre of students, educators, and professionals. That call is being met by an increase in the number of distance learning programs—at both the graduate and undergraduate level—that are now being offered.
Much of what is possible in the field of distance learning builds substantially on the World Wide Web. The Web, which is barely a decade old, holds the potential to extensively alter the way in which the educational enterprise is conducted.
With this trend in mind, I am proud to welcome you to the second edition of The Definitive Guide to Criminal Justice and Criminology on the World Wide Web. This guide is supported by a dedicated Web site that you can reach at talkjustice. Both the guide and the Web site are sponsored by my agency, the Justice Research Association (JRA), the Criminal Justice Distance Learning Consortium (CJDLC), and Prentice Hall Publishing Company.
In assembling this guide, we here at JRA and CJDLC wanted to make available a comprehensive print volume that students in the disciplines of criminal justice and criminology could use to learn about the fantastic resources offered by the World Wide Web. We also wanted to develop a justice-specific guide—not merely a book built around a general framework with criminal justice and criminology content added as an afterthought (as some guides do). I hope you will agree that we have succeeded on both counts.
As you read through this guide you will learn about the historical development of the Internet and the Web. If you don't already know how to surf the Web, or are hesitant about your skill level, you will be introduced to the software, hardware, and types of connections needed to enter today's world of Internet technology. E-mail, Web search engines, security issues, netiquette (Web etiquette), and careers in criminal justice and criminology are all discussed. Among the most useful features of this guide, however, are the up-to-date and comprehensive lists of Web resources that it contains. Chapter 3, for example, lists dozens of useful criminology and criminal justice sites on the Web. Chapter 8 provides a catalog of career resources available via the Internet and includes links to many government and private job sites. An Internet glossary, provided by SquareOne Technology, follows the chapters and rounds out this volume.
The Talk Justice site is discussed in the final chapter. It supports this guide in a number of ways. First, the site is built around a discussion group feature, making it possible for visitors to leave messages for other site participants, to thread those messages, and to reenter the ongoing discussion at any time. A chat facility makes it possible for our guests to participate in real-time discussions with others about any criminal justice-related issue. The Talk Justice Cybrary, one of the site's central features, contains all of the links listed in this guide—and more. Constant updating of the Cybrary ensures that links are as current as possible. Should you come across a link in this guide that is dated or no longer functions, please visit the Cybrary for updated link information.
We also invite you to visit the Justice Research Association. Point your Web browser at cjcentral/jra and you will reach the JRA home page. There you will find a description of our activities, including a discussion of our role in creating and maintaining this guide and a description of ongoing efforts to build our most comprehensive project to date-the Criminal Justice Distance Learning Consortium (CJDLC). You can visit the CJDLC at cjcentral/cjdlc.
Enjoy the guide. Should you have any comments or suggestions for improvement, please send them to me at admin@talkjustice.com.
