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Burton B. Turkus Papers

The images in this collection portray arrested crime suspects, their rap sheets, crime scenes and crime investigation, dating from 1940–1945 and located mainly in Brooklyn. Burton Turkus (1902–1982) collected and created these documents while he was a Assistant District Attorney and Chief of the Homicide Division in the Office of the District Attorney, Kings County (Brooklyn), 1940–1945. During this time, he investigated and prosecuted key members of the organized crime syndicate based in Brownsville, Brooklyn that came to be known as Murder, Inc.

Lewis E. Lawes Papers

The images are of items collected by Lewis E. Lawes while Warden of Sing Sing between 1920–1941. Most are photographs taken in and around Sing Sing and illustrate the prison, its inmates and officers, and Lawes himself. Included are photographs of death row inmates executed at Sing Sing, some dating from before 1920.

Eugene Canevari Papers

These are selected images and documents from the Eugene Canevari papers, which were collected during 25 years (1927–1952) of investigative work. Canevari was an NYPD detective in the Manhattan Homicide Squad, Waterfront Squad, Bomb Squad and Radical Squad. There is also a finding aid to the full collection, which is available by appointment in our Special Collections Room.

Trial Transcripts of the County of New York 1883–1927

A portion of this collection of verbatim typewritten proceedings has been digitized. These cases are mainly criminal trials held in the Court of General Sessions, New York County. Read more about this collection.

Justice in New York: An Oral History

Justice in New York: An Oral History stretches across more than half a century, from the 1950s to the 2010s. Those years saw an unprecedented rise in social unrest and violent crime in the city, and then an equally dramatic drop in crime and disorder. If the interviews have an overarching theme, it is how the city—the police, courts, elected officials, and advocates—addressed and overcame those challenges. These men and women were actors in that drama, and their narratives stand on their own. The truth or mendacity of the story is for the reader to assess.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice Archives

The John Jay College Archives are part of the Special Collections of the Lloyd Sealy Library. The archives holds a wide variety of material such as correspondence, reports, studies, newspapers, newsletters, brochures, college yearbooks, bulletins, audiotapes, videotapes, photographs, and architectural plans. Some of these materials are presented in this online collection and are featured in the 50 Years of Educating for Justice exhibit.

Flora Rheta Schreiber Papers

These are selected items digitized from the The Papers of Flora Rheta Schrieber (1916–1988). Schreiber was the author of the books Sybil (1973) and Shoemaker (1983). She was also a journalist and a professor and director of Public Relations at John Jay College.

Joseph P. Riccio Jr. Collection of Historical Police Images

This collection, formerly belonging to Joseph P. Riccio, Jr., is composed of 19th and 20th century images of NYPD. Many illustrations come from newspapers and other periodicals.

Pamphlets on Criminal Justice

This collection consists of published pamphlets, many of just a few pages, in our Rare Book collections. While many were quite cheaply made and acquired when they were printed, they are now quite scarce and not easily accessible.

International Association of Women Police Records

These items are selections from the Records of the International Association of Women Police (IAWP), available by appointment in our Special Collections room. For more on this collection, see the finding aid. Established in 1915, the association is marking its centennial in 2015. See also the organization's newsletter WomenPolice and its website.

Images from the NYPD Annual Reports, 1912–23

The photographs and images in this collection are selected from the New York Police Department's annual reports issued from 1912 to 1923. The full annual reports are held in Lloyd Sealy Library and have been fully digitized. They include crime statistics, events in the history of the NYPD, and descriptions of city policy. Each image record includes the link to the source report.

Digitized books from the Library

The Lloyd George Sealy Library of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice is contributing digital content to the Internet Archive from their extensive collection in the broadly-defined field of criminal justice. Read these books online at the Internet Archive.

Shibels Family Papers

These are images are from the papers, dating to 1892–1911, which mainly document the work of Fred and Edward Shibels, NYPD police detectives.

Law Enforcement News Archives

This collection includes material that supported the writing of the articles of Law Enforcement News. See also: digitized issues of Law Enforcement News 1975–2005 on the Internet Archive.

Commissioner Benjamin Ward (1926–2002) Papers

These are selections digitized from the Benjamin Ward papers. Many of these items were exhibited in the library and as part of a 2014 event celebrating Ben Ward at John Jay College.

Broadsides Collection

Sections from the Lloyd Sealy Library's Broadsides & Broadsheet Collection.

John Jay Collection

These are documents in our Special Collections relating to John Jay (b.1745–d.1829). John Jay was first chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Gary McGivern and Marguerite Culp Papers 1967–2003

This collection documents the life of Gary McGivern, who was a prisoner at Green Haven and other New York State prisons. It also documents clemency campaigns for his release, organized by Marguerite Culp. Other prisoners, prison reform programs, organizers and activists are also documented.

Lloyd George Sealy Papers

Selections from the Lloyd George Sealy Papers documenting the career of former NYPD Assistant Chief Inspector Lloyd G. Sealy, who later became a faculty member of John Jay College and is the namesake of the library of John Jay College.

Richard Louis Dugdale Papers

These documents describe the preparatory reading and circumstances which led to Dugdale's conclusions about the relation of family history to crime and poverty as described in The Jukes. Included in the digitized portion of this collection is a large worksheet containing raw data from which Dugdale compiled tables for his studies.

NYPD Collection

The NYPD Collection consists of various documents, ephemera, publications and other materials related to the NYPD. Selected materials are available digitally here.

These interviews were conducted by Professor Gerald Markowitz in 1988 and 1999–2003 with faculty and friends of John Jay College in preparation for the 25th and 40th anniversaries of the College.

These are selections digitized from the Benjamin Ward papers. Many of these items were exhibited in the library and as part of a 2014 event celebrating Ben Ward at John Jay College.

This collection consists of 57 photographs of police officers modeling in their uniforms as well as some photos of police accessories. A few dates on the back of the photos refer to the 1930s. This collection of photographs was perhaps collected through connections made during Dr. Fuld's research for his dissertation.

Selections from the Richard E. Enright Collection. Richard Enright was a police officer who joined the NYPD in 1896, eventually rising to Commissioner, a position he held from 1918–1925.

Selected items from the Whitman Knapp Papers.which were created and collected in his role 1970-1973 as director The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Police Corruption and the City’s Anti-Corruption Procedures, popularly known as the Knapp Commission.