Ovid Technologies Field Guide

Criminal Justice Abstracts (CJAA)

Read about the Criminal Justice Abstracts database in the Release News!

Scope

Criminal Justice Abstracts provides comprehensive coverage of the major journals in criminology and related disciplines, extensive coverage of books, and unparalleled access to reports from governmental and non-governmental agencies. For each document, an informative summary of the findings, methodology, and conclusions is provided.

Topics include crime trends, prevention projects, corrections, juvenile delinquency, police, courts, offenders, victims, and sentencing.

Go: Table of Contents or Back

General Information

Searching the CJAA Fields

The following list is sorted alphabetical by field alias. Click a field name to see the description and search information.

Field Name	Label	Field Name	Label
Abstract	AB	Original Title	OT
Accession Number	AN	Physical Description	PD
Author	AU	Publisher Information	PU
Book Source	BK	Publication Type	PT
Classification	CL	Series Title	ST
ISBN	IB	Subject Headings	sh
ISSN	IS	Title	TI
Journal Source	JN	Update Code	UP
Language	LG	Year of Publication	YR
Notes	NT

Go: Table of Contents or Back

The following list is sorted alphabetically by the two-letter label, and includes the relevant alias, at least one example for all searchable CJAA fields, and a description of the field.

Label

Name / Example

Abstract [Word Indexed]
abandonment.ab.
machinery.ab.

The Abstract (AB) field contains a summary of the journal, book, or book chapter.

Stopwords such as "the" or "of" are not included. See the list of stopwords for more information.

Back

Accession Number [Phrase Indexed]
"0039 18".an.
"10003".an.
"10003 1".an.
"07158".an.

The Accession Number (AN) field contains a unique five- or six-digit number assigned by Rutgers University to identify the document.

Back

Author [Word Indexed]
smith$.au.
mitchell.au.

The Author (AU) field contains the name(s) of the author(s) of the book or journal from which the abstract was taken.

To search the AU field from the Main Search Page, if you do not know the exact spelling of the author's last name, consider using the truncation symbol. The truncation symbol, $, retrieves records with word variants. For example, searching "smith$.au." retrieves "smith," "smithburn," and "smithmyer," among others.

To search the AU field from the index, click the Author icon on the Main Search Page. Enter the author's last name, then click Perform Search to display the author index.

Back

Book Source [Word Indexed]
annual.bk.
michael.bk.
university.bk.
"1".bk.

The Book Source (BK) field indicates the book title, editor, publisher, place of publication, and page numbers for the book chapter.

Back

Classification [Phrase Indexed]
adult corrections cr.cl.
police p.cl.

The Classification (CL) field contains one of the following classifications, and the corresponding one- or two-character code used for searching.

C Crime, the Offender, and the Victim
CP Crime Prevention and Control Strategies
CR Adult Corrections
CT Courts and the Legal Process
J Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
P Police

Back

ISBN [Word Indexed]
0047228x.ib.
0060185384.ib.

The ISBN (IB) field contains the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) assigned to the book described in the record.

Note: This field displays in book or chapter records added to the database from September, 1999 forward.

Back

ISSN [Phrase Indexed]
"0007".is.
"1077".is.

The ISSN (IS) field contains the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for the journal article described in the record. Include the hyphen in the ISSN when searching.

Note: This field displays in journal article records added to the database from September, 1999 forward.

Back

Journal Source [Word Indexed]
"101".jn.
academy.jn.
sciences.jn.

The Journal Source (JN) field indicates the journal from which the abstract was taken, as well as the volume, issue, and pages of the journal.

Back

Language [Word Indexed]
english.lg.
german.lg.

The Language (LG) field indicates the language(s) of the original document for non-English records added to the database from 1988, forward. If the original document contains a summary, the language(s) in which the summary was written follows the document language. Only non-English languages display as the primary document language; any language can display as a summary language.

Use the following list of languages when searching for articles originally published in a specific language.

Afrikaans
Croatian
Danish
Dutch
English

Finnish
French
German
Hebrew
Hungarian

Italian
Japanese
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese

Russian
Serbo
Spanish
Swedish

Back

Notes [Word Indexed]
justice.nt.
prepared.nt.

The Notes (NT) field indicates the agency for or by whom the document was prepared.

Stopwords such as "the" or "of" are not included. See the list of stopwords for more information.

Back

Original Title [Word Indexed]
jeunes.ot.
korruption.ot.

The Original Title (OT) field contains the title of the abstract in the language in which it was originally written.

Stopwords such as "the" or "of" are not included. See the list of stopwords for more information.

Back

Physical Description [Word Indexed]
281p.pd.
appendix.pd.

The Physical Description (PD) field indicates the number of pages in the book or journal from which the abstract was taken, as well as whether it includes any appendices.

Back

Publication Type [Phrase Indexed]
book.pt.
journal article.pt.

The Publication Type (PT) field provides the format of the original document. Possible document types are book, chapter, and journal article.

Note: This field displays in records added to the database from September, 1999 forward.

Back

Publisher Information [Word Indexed]
new york.pu.
american bar association.pu.

The Publisher Information (PU) field indicates the publisher and place of publication for the book or journal from which the abstract was taken. For book chapter records, use the Book Source (BK) field to search for the publisher and publication place of the book chapters.

Back

Subject Headings [Word Indexed]
criminal law.sh.
parol$.sh.

The Subject Headings (SH) field contains descriptors assigned from the Criminal Justice Abstracts thesaurus that describe the key points of the document.

To search the SH field from the Main Search Page, consider using the truncation symbol. The truncation symbol, $, retrieves records with word variants. For example, searching "parol$.sh." retrieves "parole," "parolee," and "parolees."

To search the SH field from the index, click the Search Fields icon on the Main Search Page. Select the Subject Headings checkbox, enter the heading word you wish to search, and click Display Index(es).

Back

Series Title [Word Indexed]
dissertation.st.
technical report.st.

The Series Title (ST) field indicates the title of the series, for documents taken from a series.

Stopwords such as "the" or "of" are not included. See the list of stopwords for more information.

Back

Title [Word Indexed]
delinquency.ti.
prison reform.ti.

The Title (TI) field contains the title of the abstract.

Stopwords such as "the" or "of" will display in documents but do not appear in the Title index. However, the word "a," which is a stopword in other fields, can be searched in titles. See the list of stopwords for more information.

Back

Update Code [Phrase Indexed]
2003$.up.

The Update Code (UP) field appears in all records and contains the date the record was released into the database. It consists of eight digits, in YYYYMMDD format, where YYYY is the release year, MM is the release month, and DD is the approximate release day.

Back

Year of Publication [Phrase Indexed]
"2002".yr.

The Year of Publication (YR) field provides the year in which the book or journal was published.

Back

Go: Table of Contents or Back

Advanced Searching

You can use special words and symbols to combine search terms and refine a search. For efficient searching, use the most appropriate operator from the list below to combine search terms. For more information on these and other searching techniques, including command line syntax searching, refer to the Ovid Gateway Help.

Operator	Syntax	Example	Results
OR	OR	self mutilation or cutting	Retrieves records that contain either term or both terms.
AND	AND	drug abuse and brain damage	Retrieves records that contain both terms.
NOT	NOT	cutting not suicide	Retrieves records that contain the first term but not the second term.
ADJ	ADJ	Texas prisons	Retrieves records that contain both terms, in order, and adjacent in the same sentence.
	ADJn	"HIV/AIDS" adj4 prison	Retrieves records that contain both terms, in either order, with no more than n number of words between. The example will retrieve records containing the phrase, "HIV/AIDS in prison."
FREQ	x.fd./FREQ=n	alcohol.ab. /freq=5	Retrieves records that contain n occurrences of the term in the specified field. The example will retrieve records containing the word "alcohol," at least five times in the Abstract (ab) field.
$	x$	rat$	The unlimited truncation symbol, $, retrieves records that contain the search term and all possible suffix variations of a root word. The example will retrieve records containing words such as rat, rats, rate, rationalize, ratify, etc.
	x$n	dog$1	The limited truncation symbol, $n, Retrieves records that contain the search term and all possible suffix variations of a root word with the maximum number of characters that may follow the root word or phrase, specified by n.The example will retrieve records containing words such as dog and dogs, but not dogma.
#	#	wom#n	The mandated wildcard symbol, #, retrieves records that contain the search term with substituted character(s) in the specified locations. The example will retrieve records containing woman and women.
?	?	colo?r	The optional wildcard symbol, ?, retrieves records that contain the search term with either no characters substituted, or with substituted character(s) in the specified locations. The example will retrieve records containing color and colour.

Go: Table of Contents or Back

Stopwords

Words of little intrinsic meaning that occur too frequently to be useful in searching text are known as stopwords. You cannot search for the following stopwords by themselves, but you can include them within phrases by placing the entire phrase within quotation marks.

a	by	having	neither	seem	those
about	can	how	no	seen	through
after	could	however	nor	several	thus
again	did	if	not	should	to
all	do	in	obtain	show	under
almost	does	into	obtained	showed	up
also	done	is	of	shown	upon
although	during	it	often	shows	use
always	each	its	on	significant	used
among	either	itself	only	significantly	using
an	enough	just	or	since	various
and	especially	kg	other	so	very
another	etc	km	our	some	was
any	followed	largely	out	such	we
approximately	following	like	overall	suggest	were
are	for	made	per	than	what
as	found	mainly	perhaps	that	when
at	from	make	possible	the	whereas
be	further	may	previously	their	which
because	give	might	quite	theirs	while
been	given	min	rather	them	with
before	giving	mm	really	then	within
being	had	most	regarding	there	would
between	hardly	mostly	resulted	these
both	has	must	resulting	they
but	have	nearly	same	this

Go: Table of Contents or Back

CJAA Limits

The following limits are available from the Limit menu on the Main Search Screen.

Publication Year: A limit to Publication Year restricts retrieval to records between the selected dates.

Popular Command and Sentence Syntax for Limits:

Classification
Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to adult corrections cr

Publication Type
Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to book

Publication Year
Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to yr=2000
	limit 1 to yr=1999-2003
Command Syntax:	..l/1 yr=2000
	..l/1 yr=1999-2003

Go: Table of Contents or Back

Change to CJAA from Another Database

Command Syntax:	..c/cjaa
Sentence Syntax:	use cjaa

Go: Table of Contents or Back

Sample CJAA Documents

<Sample 1>
Accession Number
  87241
Author
  Hamilton-Smith-Niall, et. al. (eds.)
Title
  Anticipated consequences: Developing a strategy for the targeted 
measurement of displacement and diffusion of benefits
Book Source
  Evaluation for crime prevention, edited by Nick Tilley, Monsey, N.Y.: 
Criminal Justice Press: pp. 11-52
Series Title
  Crime Prevention Studies, Vol. 14
Classification
  Crime-Prevention-and-Control-Strategies (CP)
Abstract
  This essay and review examines how displacement and diffusion of benefits
can be measured within the context of crime reduction project evaluations. 
It reviews the existing empirical and theoretical literature on displacement
and diffusion benefits, and argues that many of the difficulties associated
with their use stem from the lack of a systematic basis for targeting 
measurement. It also reviews some of the key literature on offender decision
making, motivation and mobility to explore the empirical basis for 
anticipating the direction and form of any benefits. .Within the context of 
typical project evaluation research, however, offending characteristics may 
be modeled with the aim of anticipating any possible offender adaptation to 
the impact(s) of project work. This point is illustrated through the example
of the .buffer zone selection model,. which was developed to select areas to
test for spatial displacement/diffusion of benefits from the Reducing 
Burglary Initiative (RBI) projects established in the U.K. Overall, if 
measurement is placed within the broader context of project development and
tied to the routine monitoring of crime and social trends, displacement can
be measured, albeit roughly. Thus placed, such monitoring can inform the 
ongoing consideration of such trends and the formulation and evaluation of 
policies, and provide a perspective on the long-term consequences of both.
Publication Type
  Chapter
Update Code
  20030321
Year of Publication
  2002

<Sample 2>
Accession Number
  83633
Author
  Leuw-Ed; Mertens-N-M
Title
   Evaluation of new legislation for compulsory forensic psychiatric treatment
Original Title
  Tussen recht en ruimte: Eerste evaluatie van de tbs-wetgeving van 1997
Publisher Information
  The Hague, the Netherlands: Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-en Documentatiecentrum
Physical Description
  164 pp.
Subject Headings
  PSYCHIATRY-; TREATMENT-; NETHERLANDS-
Abstract
  In 1997, the Netherlands adopted legislation to regulate the internal and
external legal position of delinquents detained in institutions for forensic
psychiatric treatment. This report presents the findings of an evaluation 
of the first 3 years of the new legislation. The evaluation conducted 
interviews with institution personnel, judges, public prosecutors, defense 
attorneys, defense complaint boards, and probationers. Treatment institutions
were intensively involved in the development of the new legislation, which 
has resulted in a general willingness of personnel to conform to the new 
rules created by the bill. The majority of respondents believed that the 
legislation has succeeded in striking a compromise between the partly 
contradictory aims of the penal measure. As regards the internal legal 
position, the legislation has resulted in a considerable increase of 
complaints to the relevant judicial boards. The new options have ameliorated
the practice of releasing patients against the advice of the treatment 
institution. Findings point to the need for a clearer and less ambiguous 
legal position within the specific context of treatment.
Language
  Dutch; English-summary
Publication Type
  Book
Update Code
  20030321
Year of Publication
  2001

Go: Table of Contents or Back

CJAA Producer Copyright Information

Go: Table of Contents or Back

Field Guide Updated May 26, 2005

Go: Table of Contents or Back

Producer
	Sage Publications 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 Tel. 805 499 0721 Fax 805 499 0871 URL: www.sagepub.com
Years of Coverage
	1968-present
Segments
	cjaa (1968 to present)
	This database does not support Ovid's AutoAlerts. If you want to create a reusable search strategy, save the search as a Permanent Saved Search instead. See the Ovid Web Gateway User Manual for details about permanent saved searches. Saved search information also appears in the Ovid Web Gateway Help System.
Default Fields for Unqualified Searches
	Abstract (AB)	Subject Headings (SH)
	Original Title (OT)	Title (TI)
All Display/Print Fields
	Abstract (AB)	Journal Source (JN)	Subject Headings (SH)
	Accession Number (AN)	Language (LG)	Series Title (ST)
	Author (AU)	Notes (NT)	Title (TI)
	Book Source (BK)	Original Title (OT)	Update Code (UP)
	Classification (CL)	Physical Description (PD)	Year of Publication (YR)
	ISBN (IB)	Publication Type (PT)
	ISSN (IS)	Publisher Information (PU)
Default Display/Print Fields
	Abstract (AB)	Journal Source (JN)	Subject Headings (SH)
	Accession Number (AN)	Language (LG)	Series Title (ST)
	Author (AU)	Notes (NT)	Title (TI)
	Book Source (BK)	Original Title (OT)	Update Code (UP)
	Classification (CL)	Physical Description (PD)	Year of Publication (YR)
	ISBN (IB)	Publication Type (PT)
	ISSN (IS)	Publisher Information (PU)
Update Frequency
	Quarterly