In 2026, the United States marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Gregg v. Georgia, a landmark ruling that restored capital punishment under revised constitutional standards and shaped the modern framework for death-penalty sentencing.
Read moreCrim Pro: Bail
The Crim Pro Ex Libris Juris series highlights general topics and legal information resources on Texas Criminal Procedure. This installment covers the requirements for bail in Texas and also briefly touches upon some of the constant changes that are being made within Houston specifically and the United States to ensure bail requirements continue to change and evolve when necessary.
Read moreCrim Pro: Basics of Criminal Procedure
The Crim Pro Ex Libris Juris series highlights general topics and legal information resources on Texas Criminal Procedure. This post summarizes the information found in the State Bar of Texas Criminal Justice Section publication The Texas Criminal Justice Process: A Citizen’s Guide, the Wex legal dictionary of the Legal Information Institute, and the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
Read moreLatest & Greatest - Mental Health Law for Prosecutors
Defendants with an intellectual disability or mental illness present unique challenges for those involved in law enforcement, such as peace officers and prosecutors. As the number of defendants increases, the need for law enforcement to be educated and trained to manage those individuals becomes much more evident. Recognizing this need, the Texas District & County Attorneys Association has published Mental Health Law for Prosecutors, a manual addressing not only the laws regarding insanity and incompetency but also the availability of mental health resources.
Read moreCriminal Justice and Criminology
Harris County Law Library is excited to tell you about a new and improved database offered by HeinOnline. Criminal Justice and Criminology features 2,159 titles, 5,866 volumes, and an astounding 2,299,540 pages of content. Formerly called Criminal Justice in America: U.S. Attorney General Opinions, Reports, and Publications, the newly updated Criminal Justice and Criminology database affords users with an historical overview of both the system under which justice is administered and the study of criminal behavior and how that study has changed the criminal justice system.
The database is divided into 16 sections: Attorney General; Crimes and Criminals; Criminal Statistics; Criminology; Drug Enforcement; Government Law; Investigation and Forensics; Juvenile Justice; Law and Procedure; Law Enforcement; Penology; Reform and Recidivism; Reminiscences; Sex Crimes; and Victimology. The collection consists of periodicals, books, attorney general reports and opinions, congressional hearings, CRS reports, GAO reports, and external links. The periodicals include student-edited journals and law reviews from law schools in the United States and peer-edited journals from top publishers plus publications covering international legal and social issues affecting people around globe. Useful for scholars, practitioners, and those in law enforcement alike, these periodicals encompass a broad range of topics from current issues in criminal law and criminal justice policy to social science research and forensic psychiatry and psychology and so much more in between. Also available are CRS Reports, research reports that provide non-partisan advice to legislators on current issues that may arise on Capitol Hill. These reports address such topics as DNA testing, immigrations-related criminal offenses, juvenile delinquency, and sex offender registration, to name a few.
There is also a LibGuide associated with the database that explains how to navigate the collection and provides search tips for using the main search bar and the Venn Diagram search (which is way cool, by the way). There are also links to other training materials, such as Searching 101 and HeinOnline’s Comprehensive User’s Guide.
Like the other databases featured on HeinOnline, Criminal Justice and Criminology is chock-full of information and interesting reading. Not included in this database is another resource for those interested in criminal law but also available on HeinOnline is Trial Manual 6 for the Defense of Criminal Cases. Read about it here