Prisons, Prisoners & Outlaws » General Resources

Ancestry.com - Court, Governmental & Criminal Records $

Ancestry.com has searchable indexes; database results and some digitized images are available with a fee-based subscription. Free articles and helpful research materials.

Archives.com - Researching Black Sheep Ancestors

By Gena P. Ortega. The article is free to read. Use Archives.com with a FREE 7-day membership and search over 2.1 billion records. Pay-for-use after the seven day free trial.

Archives.com - The Darker Side Of Genealogy: Tracking Criminals, Rogues, Scoundrels & Black Sheep

By Lisa Alzo. The article is free to read. Use Archives.com with a FREE 7-day membership and search over 2.1 billion records. Pay-for-use after the seven day free trial.

Black Sheep: 10 Things to Know ^FREE

A free 4-page how-to article from the Ancestry.com Learning Center.

BlackSheepAncestors.com

Search for your blacksheep ancestors in free genealogical prison and convict records, historical court records, executions, insane asylum records and biographies of famous outlaws, criminals & pirates in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

Check Criminal Records

Family Tree Connection - Prison Records

Search the listings for free, view full details with a fee-based subscription.

GEN-UNSOLVED-MYSTERIES Mailing List

For people whose family genealogies include unsolved mysteries. Postings should include only mysterious disappearances or appearances, unsolved murders, questionable incarcerations, and other mysterious or unsolved events in an ancestor's life. Postings should not include brick walls since these would be repetitive of the content of other lists.

Genealogy Today - Ancestral Criminal Records - Vintage Mug Shots for Genealogy (1902-1981)

GenealogyMagazine.com - Vintage True-Crime Magazines: An Untapped Goldmine For Genealogists

Article by James Pylant. Dedicated genealogists are relentless when seeking facts on our families. We want to be thorough and consider every source available, even the obscure and unconventional. Oftentimes the history of a family has been impacted by crime, whether a relative was victim or perpetrator. The era of the true-crime magazine has virtually ended. Yet those countless articles that first came into print more than eighty years ago are a unique, untapped goldmine for family historians.

genealogyPro - Criminal - Arrest Researchers

International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists (IBSSG)

For those who have a dastardly, infamous individual of public knowledge and ill-repute in their family...within 1 degree of consanginuity of their direct lines. This individual must have been pilloried in disgrace for acts of a significantly anti-social nature.

International Committee of the Red Cross - Archives

Geneva, Switzerland. Instructions on how to request information on victims of armed struggle (prisoner of war, civilian held captive, deceased or interned).

Law Enforcement Memorial Directory

Links to states and cities who have memorial pages including names and often descriptions of officers who have died in the line of duty.

Legal Research Guide - Criminal Records, Federal

Links for US federal criminal record databases.

Legal Research Guide - Criminal Records, State

Links for online criminal searches for each US state.

Prison Records Federal and State Records before 1900

Postal addresses for national and state organizations.

Skillbuilding: In Search of Criminal Records

Gene F. Williams, CG, "Skillbuilding: In Search of Criminal Records," OnBoard 14 (September 2008): 17-18.

Unlocking the Files of the FBI: A Guide to Its Records and Classification System

A book by Gerald K. Haines.