Law -- Criminal Law Cases in the U.S. Supreme Court

Black's Law Dictionary defines Criminal Law as "the body of law defining offenses against the community at large, regulating how suspects are investigated, charged, and tried, and establishing punishments for convicted offenders." There are several ways to find Supreme Court Cases related to criminal law issues.

Online Sources

The following databases are available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account:

• Supreme Court Yearbook

  • Use the "Browse by Topic" menu to locate cases
  • Provides case summary, arguments presented, and court ruling
  • Links to full text of cases

• CQ Supreme Court Collection

  • Click on Case Finder/Browse Cases
  • Click on "Law and Society" then "Criminal Justice"
  • Click on a sub-topic that interests you.

  This retrieves a citation, case summary, and a link to the full text of the decision.

• HeinOnline
  Includes the United States Reports in digital format. Use the index in the back of each volume to locate cases related to criminal law.

Print Sources

Find cases by browsing the index at the back of each volume. To find Criminal Law cases, for example, you will choose a volume, turn to the back, and look for criminal law to be listed there. You will either find cases listed under Criminal Law, or you will find "See" or "See also" references that refer you to other areas of the Index for criminal law cases.

• United States Reports
  The official version as published by the U.S. Government Printing Office. (Social Sciences Library Legal Alcove, 2^nd Floor Paterno Library)

• West's Supreme Court Reporter (3^rd Floor Paterno Library Stacks)

• United States Supreme Court Reports. Lawyer's Edition (3^rd Floor Paterno Library Stacks)

A Legal Citation  provides you with the necessary information to find a case in either print or electronic resources and almost always follows this format:

volume number + source abbreviation + page number

          Thus, 410 U.S. 113 appears in

volume 410 of the United States Reports starting on page 113

Often you will find "parallel citations" to West's Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.) and to the Lawyer's Edition (L.Ed.)

Print sources

Supreme Court Cases can be found in:

• United States Reports (Social Sciences Library Legal Alcove, 2^nd Floor Paterno Library)

• West's Supreme Court Reporter (3^rd Floor Paterno Library Stacks)

• United States Supreme Court Reports. Lawyer's Edition (3^rd Floor Paterno Library Stacks)

Online Sources

The following legal databases are available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account:

• Westlaw Campus

  • Use the Find section (under Shortcuts) in the left frame
  • Enter the citation in the Find a Document by citation search box

• LexisNexis Academic

  • Select Legal Research from the left menu
  • Select Get a case (under Case law)
  • Click the button for Citation and enter your citation in the search box.

• HeinOnline

  • Scroll down to Supreme Court Library
  • Enter the volume number in the Vol. search box
  • Choose the reporter from the select a title drop-down menu
  • Enter the page number in the Page search box

  Alternatively, you may first click on Supreme Court Library from the list on the first page and choose the appropriate reporter and volume by clicking on the resulting links.

A Case Name is simply the names of the defendant and plaintiff (e.g., Roe and Wade).

Print sources

You will first need to determine the legal citation to find a case when you only have a case name.

Use the Table of Cases volumes (volumes 14 and 15) of the United States Supreme Court Digest to find the legal citation to a case name. Then use the citation to find the volume, reporter title, and page number on which the case appears.

• United States Reports (Social Sciences Library Legal Alcove, 2^nd Floor Paterno Library)

• West's Supreme Court Reporter (3^rd Floor Paterno Library Stacks)

• United States Supreme Court Reports. Lawyer's Edition (3^rd Floor Paterno Library Stacks)

Online Sources

• Westlaw Campus

  • Use the Find section (under Shortcuts) in the left frame
  • Enter the plaintiff/defendant names in the Find a Document by title search box

• LexisNexis Academic

  • Select the Legal tab from the upper left corner
  • Select Federal & State Cases from the left menu
  • Enter the plaintiff and defendant names in the Case Name boxes

• HeinOnline

  • Scroll down to Supreme Court Library
  • Click the Search link to the right of the title
  • Enter the plaintiff/defendant names in the Enter your Case Title search criteria search boxes
  • Scroll down to number 3, choose a reporter title or "all titles", then click the Search cases button