Criminal Justice

References List format: 

Party v. Party, Legal Citation (Issuing court abbreviation year)

Example Entries:

Christopher S. v. Stanislaus County Office of Education, 384 F.3d 1205 (9th Cir., 2004)
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
People v. Stockton Pregnancy Control Medical Clinic, 203 Cal. App. 3d 225 (Cal. App. 3d 1988)
Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 131 Cal. Rptr. 14 (Cal. 1976)

Part of the legal citation for a court case: 

1. volume #
2. Reporter Abbreviation
3. page number

Example:

384 = volume 384
F.3d = Federal Supplement 3rd Series
225 = page 225

Note: The issuing court abbreviation is not always included (especially for Supreme and Appellate Court cases).

Reporters and Legal Citations:

Reporters:

Federal and state supreme and appellate court decisions are usually gathered from the official court releases, and reprinted in commercial sources known as "reporters."  Each reporter will provide a "legal citation" to a case, which usually includes a volume or year, reporter abbreviation, and a page number.

140 P. 3d 775  - California supreme court case republished in the 3rd series of the Pacific Reporter (P. 3d), in volume 140 and starting on page 775.

References List format: 

Party v. Party, Legal Citation (Issuing court abbreviation year)

Example Entries:

Christopher S. v. Stanislaus County Office of Education, 384 F.3d 1205 (9th Cir., 2004)
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965)

Issuing Court: 
Use abbreviations for court that issued ruling (Skip this if you are unable to find the abbreviation but be sure to include the year.)

U.S. Supreme Court = U.S.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the nth Circuit = 1st Cir., 2nd Cir., etc.
U.S. District Court for California

Central District of California = C.D. Cal.
Eastern District of California = E.D. Cal.
Northern District of California = N.D. Cal.
Southern District of California = S.D. Cal. 

References List format: 
Party v. Party, Legal Citation (Issuing court abbreviation year)/

Example Entries:

People v. Stockton Pregnancy Control Medical Clinic, 203 Cal. App. 3d 225 (Cal. App. 3d 1988)
Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 131 Cal. Rptr. 14 (Cal. 1976).

Notes:

Party names are displayed at top of court opinion in legal research tools like Lexis or Westlaw.  (If the list of party names is overly long, often only the first name or institution is used.)
Legal Citation = volume # Reporter Abbreviation starting page #
Issuing Court: Abbreviation for court that issued ruling (Skip this if you are unable to find the abbreviation but be sure to include the year.)

Abbreviations for Issuing Courts in California:

California Supreme Court = Cal.
Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District = Cal. 1d.
Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District = Cal. 2d.
Court of Appeal of California, Third Appellate District = Cal. 3d.

Format for in-text citations:

Name of the law, year

If the name of the law is not available, some authors use the Legal Citation (e.g. to the US Code section) only:

# U.S.C. § #

Examples for in-text citations:

(Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974)

(Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010)

:(18 U.S.C. § 2258). 

References list:

Format 1 – law name with US Code citation
Name of law, title # U.S.C. § section #.
Example Entry:
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, 42 USC §§5101–5106.

Format 2 – law name with Public Law and/or Statutes at Large information included
Name of law, Pub. L. ##-##, volume Stat. page, codified as amended at title U.S.C. § section #.
Example Entry:
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, Pub. L. 93-247, 88 Stat. 4, codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§5101–5106.

Format 1 - Code (usually preferred format, using citation to California Codes):
Name of law (if available), State Abbreviation Code Abbreviation § section number(s) (Year if available).
Example Entry:
Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, Cal. Penal Code § 11164 et seq.

Format 2 – Bill/Chapter (use if new law updates many code sections instead of one):
Name of law, State Abbreviation Branch (Assemb. or S.) Bill number, Chapter number (Cal. Stat. Year).
Example Entry:
California Fostering Connections to Success Act, Cal. Assemb. B. 12 (2010-2011), Chapter 559 (Cal. Stat. 2010).

Example: 344 U.S. 1 cites the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision as published in the governments Supreme Court series, United States Reports.

The legal source is a "reporter" which publishes the opinions issued by a court in an ongoing series of volumes. While court cases are usually referenced by name (e.g. Roe vs. Wade), most legal materials also include a legal citation indicating where the decision is found in a specific reporter.
 

Parallel Citations
Citations to the same law or opinion published in different sources are called parallel citations. Many legal citations include references to the same case published in several different sources. The first cite is usually considered the official or primary cite. The subsequent cites reference additional sources published by private companies which include additional editorial features. 

Example: Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113; 93 S. Ct. 705; 35 L. Ed. 2d 147)

Source Publication : Parallel Cite
United States Reports (U.S.) : 410 U.S. 113
Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.) : 93 S. Ct. 705
Lawyer's Edition (L.Ed.) : 35 L. Ed. 2d 147

Codes arrange all laws (e.g. statutes) or regulations by subject, and are cited by section (instead of page number). Section numbers are denoted by the § symbol.

Examples:

34 CFR §300.300
Volume 34
Code of Federal Regulations
Section 300.300

20 USC §1400
Volume 20
United States Code
Section 1400

California codes are typically cited as the code name/abbreviation followed by the sections.  Sources outside of California usually add a "Cal." to the citation.

Typical format: Code name/abbreviation § #

Example: Welfare and Institutions Code §§ 10050 - 10063

Note: Sources outside of California usually add a "Cal." to the citation.

Example: Cal. Welf & Inst. Code §§ 10050 - 10063

Abbreviations: California organizes its codes by name instead of title number, such as "Education Code," "Penal Code," "Vehicle Code," and "Welfare and Institutions Code."  Very frequently, code names are abbreviated. 

•  The state of California uses three or four letter abbreviations for their Codes (EDC, PEN, VEH, WIC).

Example: WIC §§ 10050 - 10063

References
APA requires that the reference list be double-spaced and that entries have a hanging indent (180). 

Book (202): 

Author, A. A. (Year). Title: Subtitle. Location: Publisher. 

Ex: 

Berk, R. (1981). Water shortage: Lessons in conservation from the great California drought, 1976-1977. Cambridge, MA: Abt Books.

Web page (205): 

Author, A. A. (Year). Title: Subtitle. Retrieved from URL

Ex: ​

California Department of Fish and Game (2017). Coho Salmon. Retrieved from https://www.wildlife .ca.gov/Conservation/Fishes/Coho-Salmon

Journal article from an online database with DOI (198): 

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Volume number(Issue number), Page numbers. doi: 

Ex: 

Hladik, M. L., Domaglski, J. L., & Kuivila, K. M. (2009). Concentrations and loads of suspended sediment-associated pesticides in the San Joaquin River, California and tributaries during storm events. Science of the Total Environment, 408(2),356-364. doi:/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.09.040

Numbers
The general rule on the use of numbers is to use numerals to express numbers 10 and above and words to express numbers below 10 (111).

Use numbers expressed in numerals when (111-112): 

• Numbers are 10 and above.
• Numbers are in the abstract of a paper.
• Numbers that immediately precede a unit of measurement. Ex: a 5-mg dose
• Numbers that represent statistical or mathematical functions, decimal quantities, percentages, ratios, and percentiles. Ex: 3 times as many [proportion]
• Numbers that represent time, dates, ages, scores and points on a scale, exact sums of money, and numerals as numerals. Ex: 2-year-olds
• Numbers that denote a specific place in a numbered series, parts of books and tables, and each number in a list of four or more numbers. Ex: Grade 8

Use numbers expressed in words when (112): 

• Any number that begins a sentence, title, or text heading.
• Common fractions.
• Universally accepted usage.

Combine numerals and words to express numbers when (112-113):

When conveying back-to-back modifiers. Ex:  ten 7-point scales

When readability may suffer, spell out both numbers. Ex: first two items

Ordinal numbers (113): 

Treat ordinal numbers as you would cardinal numbers (113). Ex: the fourth graders; four grades

Commas in numbers (114):

Use commas between groups of three digits in most figures of 1,000 or more (114).

Exception: page numbers       page 1029

Plurals in numbers (114): 

To form the plurals of numbers, add s or es along, without an apostrophe (114).

Ex: 10s and 20s; fours and sixes

Citation help using Credo Information Literacy Core!

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