Classification of Criminal Charges

How does Library of Congress classify works about criminal charges?
Materials with subject headings pertaining to criminal charges may fall under the Library of Congress Classifications for the Social Sciences (H) and for Law (K).

Subject headings pertaining to the theory, psychology, or social aspects of specific offenses fall under the classification for the social sciences H-HX under the hierarchy:

Criminology – Crimes and offenses. They are further classed into the following broad categories:

• Political Crimes(HV6254-6322.7)
  • Descriptive works, history, politics, & cases are classed under D, HJ, JF-JK, K, etc.
  • Offenses against the government (HV6254-HV6295)
    • Treason, Conspiracy (HV6275)
    • Assassination of rulers (HV6278)
  • Offenses against the administration, election laws, etc. (HV6301-HV6322.7)
    • Administration (HV6306-HV6312)
      • Bribery of officials (HV6306)
      • Graft (HV6308)
      • City and state “rings” (HV6310)
      • Land steals (HV6312)
    • Elections (HV6314-6316)
      • Bribery of voters (HV6314)
      • Illegal voting (HV6316)
  • Offenses against individuals. Disappeared persons (HV6322-HV6322.3)
  • Genocide (HV6322.7)
• Offenses against justice(HV6323-HV6335)
  • Such as:
    • Subornation of perjury (HV6326)
    • Judicial corruption (HV6327)
• Offenses against the revenue(HV6337-HV6351)
  • Such as:
    • Counterfeiting (HG335-HG339)
    • Smuggling (HJ6690)
    • Illicit distilling (HJ5021)
• Offenses against public health (see RA1-1270)
• Offenses against the environment (HV6401-6412)
• Offenses against public safety(HV6419-HV6433.88)
  • Offensive and dangerous industries (see HD3611-4730.9)
  • Dangerous structures, etc. (TH349)
  • Traffic violations (HV6422-HV6425)
  • Terrorism (HV6430-HV6433.88)
    • Such as:
      • Bioterrorism (HV6433.3-HV6433.5
      • Maritime terrorism (HV6433.785-HV6433.786)
• Offenses against the public order(HV6435-HV6492)
  • Illegal organizations (HV6435-HV6453)
    • Such as:
      • Gangs (HV6437-HV6439)
  • Lynching (HV6455-HV6471)
  • Riots and unlawful assemblies (HV6474-6485)
    • See also:
      • Crowds (HM871)
      • Psychology of the criminal crowd (HV6084)
  • Disorderly conduct (HV6486-HV6491)
• Crimes against the person(HV6493-HV6627)
  • Homicide. Murder, etc. (HV6499-HV6535)
    • For religious aspects: BL65.H6
    • For regicide: HV6728
    • For euthanasia: R726
    • For psychiatry: RC569.5.H65
  • Infanticide (HV6537-HV6541)
  • Other special – filicide, parricide, matricide, uxoricide (HV6542)
  • Suicide (HV6543-HV6458)
  • Poisoning (HV6549-HV6555)
  • Sex crimes (HV6556-6593)
  • Stalking (HV6594)
  • Kidnapping (HV6595-HV6604)
  • Human trafficking (see HQ280-HQ285)
  • Mayhem (HV6608)
  • Bodily assault (HV6618)
  • Abuse of persons (HV6625-HV6626.7)
  • Organ trafficking (HV6627)
• Crimes against reputation, honor, etc.(HV6629-HV6633)
  • Libel and slander (HV6631)
  • Anonymous letters (HV6632)
  • Revenge (HV6633)
• Crimes against property(HV6635-HV6700)
  • Arson (HV6638-HV6638.5)
    • For arson investigation, use: HV8079.A7
  • Bombings (HV6640)
  • Theft (HV6646-HV6665)
  • Vandalism (HV6666-HV6669)
    • For Juvenile vandalism, use: HV9067.V2
  • Embezzlement. Forgery. (HV6675-6685)
  • Extortion (HV6688)
  • Fraud. Swindling. (HV6691-HV6699)
  • Humbugs, quacks, etc. (HV6700)
• Offenses against public morals(HV6705- HV6773.55)
  • Gambling (HV6708-HV6722)
  • Lotteries (HG6105-HG6270.9)
  • Obscene literature (HV6727)
    • See also:
      • Pornography (HQ471)
      • Social purity (HQ291-HQ295)
  • Malpractice (RA1056.5)
  • Grave robbing (RA637)
  • Prize fighting (HV6733)
  • Dueling (see CR4571-CR4595)
  • Prostitution (see HQ101-HQ440.7)
  • Alcohol, tobacco and drug habits (HV5001-HV5720.5)
• Imposture (HV6751-HV6761)
• Missing persons (HV6762)
• Commercial/Financial crimes(HV6763-HV6771)
  • See also:
    • HV6172 The financial criminal
    • HV6635-HV6670 Crimes against property
• Computer crimes (HV6772-HV6773.3)
• Hate crimes (HV6773.5-HV6773.55)

Materials with subject headings dealing with legal aspects of criminal charges fall under the Library of Congress classification K-KZ. The federal government and each U.S. state have their own bodies of criminal law. The Library of Congress Classification system reflects these distinctions by providing classifications for federal statutory law and common-law offenses, and then by referring users to individual states for their particular criminal law classifications.
Under the Library of Congress classification for Law of the United States (KF), the following broad categories are listed under Criminal law – Particular offenses – in the hierarchy:

• Offenses against the person(KF9304-KF9329)
  • Homicide (KF9305-KF9312)
  • Assault and Battery (KF9320)
  • Child abuse (KF9323)
  • Elder abuse (KF9324)
  • Stalking (KF9324.5)
  • Sexual offenses (KF9325-KF9329)
• Offenses against personal liberty(KF9332-KF9338)
  • Kidnapping (KF9332)
  • Peonage. Slavery (KF9335)
  • Shanghaiing (KF9338)
• Libel. Slander. Defamation (KF9345)
• Offenses against Property(KF9350-KF9379)
  • Corporate corruption and bribery (KF9351)
  • Thievery (KF9352-KF9358)
    • Larceny (KF9352)
    • Theft of use (KF9354)
    • Receiving stolen goods (KF9358)
  • Embezzlement (KF9360)
  • Fraud (KF 9365-9371)
  • Threats. Extortion. Blackmail (KF9372-KF9375)
  • Arson (KF9377)
• Offenses against government and public order. Political offenses(KF9390-KF9399)
  • Treason (KF9392)
  • Espionage (KF9394)
  • Sabotage (KF9395)
  • Criminal syndicalism (KF9395.5)
  • Sedition (KF9397)
• Offenses against the public administration(KF9405-9410)
  • Contempt of Congress (KF9405)
  • Corruption and bribery (KF9409)
  • Violation of conflict-of-interest laws (KF9410)
• Offenses against the administration of justice(KF9415-KF9421)
  • Contempt of court (KF9415)
  • Judicial corruption (KF9419)
  • Perjury. Subornation of perjury (KF9420)
  • Evidence tampering (KF9421)
• Offenses against public safety(KF9425-KF9430)
  • Crimes on the high seas (KF9425)
  • Riot (KF9428)
  • Terrorism (KF9430)
• Offenses against public convenience and morality. Crimes without victims(KF9434-KF9452)
  • Adultery (KF9435)
  • Bigamy (KF9436)
  • Gambling. Lotteries. (KF9440)
  • Obscenity (KF9444)
  • Contraceptive devices (KF9445)
  • Prostitution (KF9448-KF9449)
  • Vagrancy (KF9450)
  • Drunkenness (KF9452)
• Offenses against public property, public finance, and currency(KF9455-9456)
  • Counterfeiting (KF9455)
  • Illicit liquor traffic (KF9456)
  • Tax evasion (KF6334)
  • Customs crimes. Smuggling (KF6699)
• Offenses committed through the mail (KF9460-9461)
• Conspiracy (KF9479)