A current awareness resource for the students and faculty members in the Criminology department.
National Survey of US State Laws - Now Available
Published by Yolanda Koscielski I'm pleased to note we now have access to the latest edition (9th / 2022) of the National Survey of State Laws (NSSL) via HeinOnline.
Curious about which of the United States allow for the sale of raw milk or permit corporeal punishment in schools? Or how about what the consequences are for parents who withhold their child(ren) from educational requirements? (In one state, punishment includes "possibly up to 90 days of hard labour for the county".) And which of the states specifically criminalize online bullying? The NSSL helps answers these comparative legal questions efficiently.
The NSSL provides a clear summary of the status of the law for each state on hot topics in an easy-to-scan tabular format. Nuances of the law are summarized state-by-state, and sections of the relevant legislation are linked. Each topical section begins with a brief summary.
The NSSL covers 61 popular legal topics from a broad range, for example:
- Antitrust
- Computer Crimes (includes copyright issues)
- Criminal Statutes of Limitations
- Food Law (food labelling, health codes, selling of foraged or homemade goods, etc.)
- Legal Ages
- Prohibited Consensual Sexual Activity
- Right to Die
- Voter Laws
From HeinOnline: "National Survey of State Laws (NSSL) is a print and online resource that provides an overall view of some of the most-asked-about and controversial legal topics in the United States. The database is derived from Richard Leiter’s National Survey of State Laws print editions. Presented in an interactive chart format, NSSL allows users to make basic state-by-state comparisons of current state laws. The database is updated regularly as new laws are passed or updated."
Below is a sample image from the NSSL chapter on Food Law. For a Canadian summary of the current state of Canadian law (not comparative), please see the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest.
