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The topic for today’s OPB’s Thinking Out Loud will be Finding a Home for the Criminally Insane. To participate in the discussion, visit the Thinking Out Loud site for links and instructions.

I previously posted on Criminalizing the Mentally Ill.

The Beer and Blog dot com gathering is weekly at the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub, 915 SE Hawthorne, Portland, Oregon.

Their motto: Bloggers helping bloggers over beer. They are even working on a logo.

Now if only we can get a few more Oregon lawyers in on some blawging fun ….

Repeat after me: Don’t believe most of what you hear, old wives do tell tall tales, and THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SINGLE, COMPREHENSIVE criminal records database. This essay by Genie Tyburski, may make the point for those who haven’t gotten it so far: To Catch a Thief

Excerpt from To Catch a Thief:

“The myth of a one-stop shop for criminal records is not new to Lawyer X. He has heard other lawyers and clients alike ask for national criminal searches. He has even listened to expectations that include getting such information quickly and cheaply. Lately, he has had to debunk myths about a low-cost option known as the National Criminal File (NCF).
Lawyer X doesn’t mind explaining all of this to his friend. Contrary to popular belief, criminal background checking is a complex type of research and much about the field is changing.”

To Catch a Thief was written in 2004 and has not been updated, but the point it makes is still valid. Click on Genie Tyburski in this list for more updates and articles on public records searching and visit other sites that describe how to search criminal records searches, including but not limited to here, here, and here.

JSTOR, in a nutshell, is just another database of scholarly articles on a variety of topics. You could also say it’s a storage place for journals, thus JSTOR. (See, even scholarly sorts can’t spell 🙂

For the most part, only academic libraries and large public libraries subscribe to JSTOR, but if an article you are seeking pops up in a search engine with a JSTOR location, ask at any library reference desk. Librarians Know Things and, more to the point, know how to find things.

P.S. A database can be much more than a collection of articles. If you want to know more about databases, without screaming, visit here and here. If it helps, online library catalogs can be databases, mailing lists can be databases, but they can also be … no, I won’t make you scream. (But I will whisper spreadsheet, field, file structure, ….)

Articles from Willamette Law School law journals can be found here, here, and here.

Articles from law journals from Lewis & Clark Law School are highlighted at BoleyBlogs.

Articles from law journals from the University of Oregon Law School are highlighted here, and here, and here.

The latest issue of the Willamette Law Review (vol.44, #2, Winter 2007) is chock full of articles on Oregon:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Oregon Law Commission: Bridging the Gaps Between Islands of the Legal Profession, by Jeffrey C. Dobbins

The Oregon Law Commission at Ten: Finding Vision for the Future in the Functions of the Past, by David R. Kenagy

Visit Justice Bedsworth here A Criminal Waste of Space.

Some archives are here, if you want more.

I came across this Free Teleprompter while browsing the law librarian blogs, and this one, AbsTracked, in particular.

I’m not sure how you would use it, without looking as if you are, ah, reading a teleprompter (not always a pretty sight), but one never knows, does one?

From Neat New Stuff comes this lead to Rules of Thumb. There is a Lawyer category but not a Librarian one. Most of these Rules of Thumb are kind of silly, but legal researchers sometimes need the darndest things. Most interesting to me is the design of the web site, which is not bad at all for this sort of information.

From their About This Site:

“The goal of this website is to gather every rule of thumb on earth into one gargantuan, easily searchable online reference database that will be accessible from anywhere in the world and continue to grow forever.”

The Oregon Supreme Court is going to hear the Special Session case on Friday, February 1, 2008. From this Oregonian news report, on Tuesday.

“The case has been fast-tracked through the courts. Briefs are due tomorrow and Thursday with arguments on Friday. Legislators are scheduled to convene on Monday.”

A few lawyers aren’t going to get any sleep tonight – or tomorrow night.