Use the resources on this page to find information on criminal law topics.
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Check legal dictionaries to help with your understanding of unfamiliar terminology and jargon used in the criminal law field.
Use legal encyclopedias for brief overviews of criminal law concepts, and references to key case law and/or legislative provisions. See the legal encyclopedias section for help with using these products.
Use Library Search to keyword search for books on criminal law topics or start with the subject Criminal law - Queensland or Criminal law - Australia.
Key titles are shown below.
Commentary services (also known as looseleaf or reporters) provide analysis of fields of law, including commentary on key legislative provisions and cases. Access commentary on criminal law issues in the Westlaw Australia and Lexis+ Australia law databases. Key titles are shown below.
The Westlaw Australia database also contains various criminal law commentary products for other Australian states, eg Criminal Law NSW, Indictable Offences in Victoria and Criminal Law, Investigation and Procedure Victoria.
Also see Part 1 - Criminal Law in the below Lawyers Practice Manual Queensland.
Scholarly law journal articles are authored by legal experts and are grounded in research and theory. They provide in-depth analysis on specialised topics for an academic or professional audience. Use the resources mentioned earlier in this guide to search for journal articles on criminal law topics. Key individual journals are shown below.
Explore criminal law information in Lexis+ Australia:
Lexis Practical Guidance modules provide guidance notes, commentary practice tips, legislation, legal precedents, cases, tools, forms and checklists etc.
The below guide demonstrates how to navigate and find information in Practical Guidance generally.
Identify key legislative provisions and leading cases using the secondary sources mentioned above.
For help with locating and researching cases see Australian case law earlier in this guide, particularly Cases on a legal issue/topic for strategies to find Australian case law on a specific subject area.
Use the below Westlaw Australia Key Number System headings to browse case law by criminal law topics. Additional information is also included in some other areas, eg 36 Fire, explosives and firearms.
The Australian Criminal Reports is a specialist law report series in the Westlaw Australia database:
For general help with locating and researching legislation see Australian legislation earlier in this guide. LawNow Legislation in Lexis+ Australia lists Acts by subject, including criminal law, however note this includes some repealed legislation.
Explore these websites for additional resources and statistics on criminal law and justice issues.
Simplified information about Queensland criminal law is available in the Offenders and Victims chapters in the below handbook:
