On October 1, 2014, the NCJRS Virtual Library began to focus primarily on the collection of informational materials and resources produced, funded, and/or sponsored by the bureaus and offices of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP). All materials housed in the NCJRS Virtual Library prior to October 2014 will remain searchable in the Abstracts Database and accessible through Virtual Library services. Due in part to these changes, NCJRS will be expanding the scope of the Virtual Library in other areas, including collaborative efforts with public and private libraries, consortia, and repositories designed to increase and expand access to both published and unpublished criminal justice information.
Documents in the NCJRS Abstracts Database represent the entire field of criminal justice, juvenile justice, and drug issues, with the exception of most legal decisions, opinions, and statutes. The collection has been developed to meet the needs of criminal justice professionals, researchers, policymakers, and technical and legal experts. Subject areas include corrections, courts, crime prevention, criminology, drugs, juveniles, law enforcement, statistics, technology, and victims. Agency produced documents and final grant reports of OJP sponsored research are unique parts of the collection. Many documents are from State and local governments, or international sources, as well as from book and journal literature sources. Documents must either be written in English or have an English-language summary.