This page brings together free online books, topic searches, audiobooks, and Open Access resources related to crime and punishment, including criminal justice, prisons, policing, trials, legal systems, famous crimes, and social responses to crime. The materials range from older public domain works to modern scholarly studies.
The Topics section below helps readers find books and documents within the huge Internet Archive collection, which includes periodicals and other materials, from older historical works to recent publications. Each topic link generates an Internet Archive search focused on that subject. Browsing the topics and selecting those of interest is usually easier and more effective than searching Internet Archive directly.
Sections below Topics provide links to related audiobooks and modern Open Access books. See those sections for more information.
Topics – Crime Books, Criminals, Procedures, Investigation, Justice
The topic links below lead to Internet Archive search results related to crime and criminal justice. Each link opens a books-and-documents search focused on a particular topic.
Search results generally include fully readable books, periodicals, and other documents. For some subjects, Internet Archive also contains other media, such as images, audio, or video files. These can be selected from the media options above the search results. Filters on the left side of Internet Archive pages can help narrow search results by year, language, or related subjects.
Crime Books
- Alcoholism and crime
- Breach of the peace
- Commercial crimes
- Computer crimes
- Conspiracy
- Copycat crimes
- Crimes against humanity
- Crimes against peace
- Crimes of passion
- Crimes without victims
- Criminal syndicalism
- Disorderly conduct
- Drug abuse and crime
- Drunkenness (Crime)
- Education and crime
- Employee crimes
- False testimony
- Fear of crime
- Firearms and crime
- Gambling and crime
- Genocide
- Hate crimes
- Hypnotism and crime
- Illegitimacy and crime
- Impostors and imposture
- International crimes
- Juvenile delinquency
- Loitering
- Mass media and crime
- Military offenses
- Music and crime
- Naval offenses
- Occult crime
- Offenses against property
- Offenses against public safety
- Offenses against religion
- Offenses against the environment
- Offenses against the person
- Organized crime
- Parapsychology and crime
- People with disabilities and crime
- People with mental disabilities and crime
- Perjury
- Political crimes and offenses
- Reading disability and crime
- Receiving stolen goods
- Recidivism
- Resisting an officer
- Rural crimes
- Sex crimes
- Smuggling
- State crimes
- Suburban crimes
- Swindlers and swindling
- Transnational crime
- Unemployment and crime
- Vagrancy
- Vigilantism
- Violent crimes
- War and crime
- War crimes
- White collar crimes
- Wildlife crimes
Criminals Books
Criminal Procedure Books
- Alternative convictions
- Amparo (Writ)
- Arrest
- Bail
- Competency to stand trial
- Complaints (Criminal procedure)
- Confession (Law)
- Contumacy
- Correctional law
- Criminal jurisdiction
- Default (Law)
- Defense (Criminal procedure)
- Detainers (Criminal procedure)
- Detention of persons
- Dock (Criminal procedure)
- Double jeopardy
- Evidence, Circumstantial
- Evidence, Criminal
- Executions and executioners
- Pleas (Criminal procedure)
- Police charges
- Post-conviction remedies
- Prejudicial actions
- Preliminary examinations (Criminal procedure)
- Presumption of innocence
- Privileges and immunities
- Prosecution
- Searches and seizures
- Sentences (Criminal procedure)
- Speedy trial
- Stay of proceedings (Criminal procedure)
- Summary proceedings
- Surety of the peace
- Venue
- Wager of battle
- Writs
Criminal Investigation Books
- Arson investigation
- Art thefts – Investigation
- Assassination – Investigation
- Automobile theft investigation
- Bicycle theft investigation
- Bombing investigation
- Burglary investigation
- Child abuse – Investigation
- Child sexual abuse – Investigation
- Child trafficking – Investigation
- Citizen crime reporting
- Cold cases (Criminal investigation)
- Commercial crimes – Investigation
- Computer crimes – Investigation
- Corruption investigation
- Crime scene searches
- Drug traffic – Investigation
- Drunk driving – Investigation
- Electronics in criminal investigation
- Embezzlement investigation
- Employee theft – Investigation
- Evidence, Criminal
- Extortion investigation
- Fraud investigation
- Genocide investigation
- Hate crime investigation
- Homicide investigation
- Human trafficking – Investigation
- Juvenile delinquents – Abuse of – Investigation
- Kidnapping – Investigation
- Larceny – Investigation
- Legal documents – Identification
- Lie detectors and detection
- Military offenses – Investigation
- Money laundering investigation
- Motorcycle theft investigation
- Occult crime investigation
- Occultism and criminal investigation
- Older people – Abuse of – Investigation
- Organized crime investigation
- Parapsychology in criminal investigation
- Police charges
- Police patrol – Specialized units
- Police patrol – Surveillance operations
- Police questioning
- Political crimes and offenses – Investigation
- Rape – Investigation
- Rewards programs (Criminal investigation)
- Robbery investigation
- Rural crimes – Investigation
- Sex crimes – Investigation
- Smuggling – Investigation
- Tax evasion – Investigation
- Terrorism investigation
- Typewriting – Identification
- Undercover operations
- Underwater crime investigation
- War crimes investigation
- White collar crime investigation
- Wife abuse – Investigation
- Wildlife crime investigation
Books on Administration of Criminal Justice
Crime and Justice Audio Books
These audiobook links lead to public domain recordings from LibriVox at Internet Archive. The books recorded by Librivox volunteers were nearly all published before 1930. Recordings include works on criminals, true crime, prisons, murder, law enforcement and the justice system.
All Librivox audiobooks are free and can be streamed online or downloaded for offline listening.
Open Access PDF Crime and Criminology Textbooks and Books Free Download
The Open Access books and other materials below are modern works made freely available online by universities, academic publishers, the Library of Congress, and other organizations. Many reflect current scholarship and research.
Some works may only be read online, but many can also be downloaded as PDF or EPUB files.
Criminology Textbooks PDF and Educational Materials for Free Download
Criminal Justice Textbook at LibreTexts
Criminology and Criminal Justice Books at OASIS
Intro Criminal Justice Book and Textbooks at OER Commons
Criminology Books at OER Commons
Intro Book on the Administration of Criminal Justice at Library of Congress
Textbooks, Online Courses, Teaching Materials on Criminal Justice at MERLOT
Scholarly PDF Books on Criminal Justice for Free Download
Criminal Justice Textbook Introduction at Doab
Criminology and Criminal Justice System Books at Doab
Books on Criminal Justice Law at OAPEN
Books on Criminal Law: Procedure and Offenses at OAPEN
Books on Criminology: Legal Aspects at OAPEN
Criminal Justice System Textbooks at Taylor & Francis Group
Prison Newspapers
Related Pages on Century Past
See our Century Past directories for hundreds of webpages of Books; Magazines; Articles, maps, & photos; and Newspapers. You’ll find the same directories on the top Menu. Here are a few suggested pages: