Online Learning Resource Center (OLRC) for CTE

Online Learning Instructional Content for Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Post-Secondary Educators

Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement 

CJ Data - UCR
FREE -The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program provides reliable statistics for law enforcement data from multiple enforcement agencies. The FBI's Crime Data Explorer (CDE) is a front end to single crime incidents, hate crime statistics, law enforcement officers killed and assaulted, and use of force law enforcement data.

CJ Data - NCVS
FREE - Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey is the primary source of information on criminal victiminization in the U.S.. Covers nonfatal personal crime and household property crimes, both reported and unreported crimes, victims of the crimes, and offenders.

Juvenile Data
FREE - Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) publications about juvenile crime, victimization and the juvenile justice system. Includes summary data on youth arrests, offenses, and characteristics of cases judicially waived from juvenile to criminal court.

Juvenile Law
FREE - MN House Research publication on MN laws and court cases impacting elementary and secondary youth. Topics include economics, health and social services - an educational rights & responsibilities section includes discipline, harassment and bullying, violence, and constitutional amendment rights.

Case Briefs
FREE - Oyez provides Supreme Court searchable transcripts, case summaries, illustrated decision information, full-text opinions, justice history, and a tour of the Supreme Court building. Contains U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulation and the Federal Rules, and the U.S. Constitution.

MN Statutes
FREE - Minnesota Legislature administrative statutes, laws and rules organized by the agency or department that administers them. Contains a document search by keyword.

MN Criminal Elements
Minnesota Criminal Elements Handbook - 2020

Crime Categories
FREE - MN House research that defines levels of criminal offences. Includes maximum sentences and examples.

Legal Resource
FREE - Overview of criminal law and key concepts. Legal articles broken out by case type, with cases, court rulings and definition of key terms - includes sections on rights enforcement and links to legal resources.

BCA Data
FREE - Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension annual statistical reporting on Minnesota crime. Includes offences, clearances and arrests, officers killed or assaulted, firearms discharged by law enforcement, missing children, police pursuits and bias offenses.

MN DOC
FREE - Minnesota Department of Corrections summary data by correctional facility. Data includes age ranges, education, religious preference, duration of sentence, and counts of inmates by offense type.

Minneapolis Crime
FREE - Minneapolis Police Department historical crime data broken out by neighborhood. Includes counts of crimes for homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson.

DHS
FREE - Homeland Threat Assessment (HTA) document produced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, that details threats to the U.S.. Threats detailed include cyber, foreign influence, economic security, terrorist, transnational criminal, illegal immigration and natural disasters.

Sentencing Project
FREE - The Sentencing Project is a 501(c)(3) organization that takes action to eliminate racial inequity in the criminal justice system. Includes issues, facts, and specific ways to assist.

The Violence Project
FREE - The Violence Project is a nonprofit research center dedicated to reducing violence through data and analysis. Contains a hub of information, training and resources for violence prevention - includes data on mass shootings, gun violence, street gangs, and youth violence.

Public Mass Shootings
FREE - Congressional Research Service Report on public mass shootings and policy implications for federal policy. Excludes gun control, but includes law enforcement, public health and education policy implications - spans prevention, preparedness, and response.

Columbine
FREE - Non-fiction book Columbine by Dave Cullen - attempts to answer why they did it, and how the community recovered - to aid prevention going forward. Ten years in the making, it debunks everything that was commonly understood about the incident.

"Tower"
FEE - The Tower, a documentary on the mass shooting in 1966 from the University of Texas Tower. Inspirational stories of witnesses, heroes and survivors of America's first mass school shooting.

Southern Poverty Law Center
FREE - Learning for Justice, formerly Teaching Tolerance, provides educators with curriculum supplements to create inclusive school communities. Includes a magazine, films, podcasts, trainings and webinars, as well as a hate map of where US hate groups and other extremists are located.

National Institute on Drug Abuse
FREE - National Institute on Drug Abuse - science based lessons, activities and drug facts to educate on the consequences of drugs. Also includes exercises on developing healthy coping skills for dealing with stress and challenging circumstances.

America's Opioid Epidemic
FREE - NPR podcast on the historical origins and complexities of the opioid epidemic. Details the role of misinformation intended to minimize the unintended consequences of addiction.

U.S. Supreme Court
FREE - U.S. Supreme Court website containing opinions of the court, a case citation finder, instructions on filings and rules for procedures the court uses to resolve cases. Includes argument transcripts and audio recordings of oral arguments, as well as general information about the court and the justices.

Hennepin County Courts
FREE - Minnesota Judicial Branch website contains a specific section for teachers and students. Includes informational brochures, lesson plans, speakers bureau, public access TV show details, and opportunities to observe the legal system in the courtroom.

Tradecraft - Verbal Judo
FEE - Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion provides a framework for preparing for challenging verbal encounters. George J. Thompson crash tested his ideas on creative ways to handle conflict, listen and speak more effectively, and successfully communicate and persuade while he was a police officer on an urban beat.

Tradecraft - Dictionary of Body Language
FEE or FREE to Kindle Unlimited subscribers - The Dictionary of Body Language: A Field Guide to Human Behavior provides a guide to all types of nonverbal communication. Joe Navarro, a Special Agent for the FBI for 25 years, specialized in counterintelligence and behavioral assessment - here he describes over 400 behaviors that allow you to gauge anyone's true intentions.

Tradecraft - Video
FREE - Former FBI agent, Joe Novarro, breaks down the way we communicate nonverbally. He explains how to read body language in less than 15 minutes on YouTube.

Tradecraft - Video
FREE - Former FBI agent, Joe Novarro, helps decode facial expressions. He breaks down the way the face imparts nonverbal information.

Police Attitudes
Robert Peel's 9 Principles of Policing

Police Attitudes
FREE - Washington Post article by Patrick Skinner, a former CIA officer turned hometown police officer, that argues that police fighting crime like a war is doomed to failure. He argues that treating people as neighbors, not enemies, is the path to successful police interactions.

Police Attitudes
FREE - TED talk by Dean Crisp, a 30 year law enforcement veteran, on the criticality of shifting the police mindset from one of a warrier, to one of a guardian. Argues the importance of rethinking and repairing police and community interactions.

Police Attitudes
FREE - PBS Frontline video clip on police reform in the LAPD. Raises the issue of how to address a real violence problem without just pouring more police into the mix.

Women in Policing
FREE - Documentary video clip on the first LAPD S.W.A.T. officer, Jennifer Grasso. Includes interviews with her peers, and presents her perspective on what law enforcement requires.

Discover Policing Scenario Videos
FREE - Animated video sessions presenting a realistic job preview of policing. Provides virtual ridealongs of various scenarios typically encountered by the police.

Discover Policing
FREE - Self assessment questions to be used in conjunction with the animated discover policing videos. Assessments help viewers focus on key messages from the videos and their interest in the profession.

"First 48"
FREE with A&E plus some YouTube clips - Police documentary shows that take viewers behind the scenes of real-life murder investigations during the critical first 48 hours. Also contains a show on what it takes to be a good police detective.

"Crime 360"
FREE with A&E - Police documentary shows that follow cases from beginning to end. Focus is on evidence collection.

Officer Down Memorial Page
FREE - Officer Down Memorial pages honors fallen officers and K9s by name and story. Provides current and historical cause of death statistics nationally and by state.

Police Shooting Case
FREE - MPR news podcast 74 Seconds received a Peabody Award for the 22 episodes that tell the story of the first police shooting in Minnesota that went to trial. Details the shooting of Philando Castile as well as the trial of Officer Jeronimo Yanez in 2016.

Missing Person's Case
FREE - True crime podcast series To Live and Die in LA covers a recent missing person investigation of a young woman. While the police are closing the case, the families involved are dissatisfied with the results.

Court TV
FREE - Court TV provides live coverage of high profile court cases. Includes series, specials, and podcasts.

Inside 9/11
FEE - National Geographic four-hour documentary mini series Inside 9/11. Spans al Qaeda's origins through 9/11 and the aftermath, and includes detail on the lapses that allowed it to happen.

"The Central Park Five"
FEE - A documentary film from award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns. The Central Park Jogger case, and the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park in 1989, is detailed in this documentary video from PBS.

"Anatomy of Doubt"
FREE - This American Life podcast on two investigations into a sexual assault. One goes very wrong through poor assumptions, and the other highlights the police at their best.

"Rikers Island Jail"
FREE - PBS Documentary film by Bill Moyers, focuses on people detained in New York City's infamous Rikers Island Jail. Reveals the violent arc of the experience - from traumatic entry to inmate extortion and oppressive corrections officers.

2020 MN Statutes
FREE - Minnesota Legislature administrative statutes, laws and rules organized by the agency or department that administers them. Contains a document search by keyword.