The role of state government in criminal justice higher education

Criminal justice higher education has grown rapidly beyond its early roots as subfields of sociology, social work, political science, and law. Programs, which are generally found at state institutions, are initiated at the institutional or state level and must be approved by campus governing bodies, who must be satisfied of the need, and by state legislatures, who must approve funding, and by separate coordinating councils. Influences such as the traditional vocational background of some of these programs, police training councils, associations of practitioners and educators, national organizations, and, to a lesser extent, students and minority groups, should be taken into consideration, but the responsibility of initiating programs should lie with the faculty members and their institutions. The state should then determine the need for graduates of such programs and should oversee the programs' continuity and quality.