Criminal justice history as a field of research: A review of the literature, 1960–1975

A review of recent criminal justice textbooks and standard reference sources indicated a lack of historical studies. Scholars in the United States have not investigated the historical roots of criminal justice and as a result the literature and curricula of criminal justice educational programs portray a narrow contemporary perspective. The author critically analyzes selected historical publications of the past decade and provides suggestions for further research.     

Criminal justice faculty and criminal justice students: A case for the missing data

This article reviews the most current criminal justice education research. It examines the interrelationship between the work of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the Joint Commission on Criminology and Criminal Justice Education and Standards, and the National Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police, and describes and compares some of their more important findings. Discussed are types of criminal justice programs; characteristics of criminal justice faculty, particularly in terms of earned academic degrees; agency work experience; commitment to research and teaching; types of criminal justice curricula, as typified by certain educational philosophies; and criminal justice students. Although this article notes several areas with which future research might become fruitfully involved, the area in need of most immediate attention, and the area that current research has all but ignored, is the criminal justice student.     

Student Perceptions of Juvenile Offender Accounts in Criminal Justice Education

In criminal justice programs, a major teaching objective is to expose students to the wide range of experiences and career paths available in criminal justice. Technological advances increase instructional strategies so that students may gain more realistic educational experience and correct erroneous perceptions about the criminal justice system. This paper describes one such strategy for online criminal justice students, a virtual prison tour, founded on the principles of social learning, experiential learning, and e-learning. In an upperclass course in juvenile delinquency, 43 students viewed a video of incarcerated juvenile offenders recounting their experiences of institutionalization, sentences, challenges, programming, and fears upon release. Student responses to seven quantitative questions and one qualitative question revealed that the video greatly impacted their attitudes, understanding, and perceptions of the juvenile justice system and provided pedagogical benefits. This strategy can be used to help criminal justice educators enhance student learning so that students experience a major aspect of the juvenile justice system.     

Competency-based education: An alternative for criminal justice education?

Over the last several years, criminal justice education In the United States has increased dramatically. Much of this growth has been in response to the needs of an evolving criminal justice field. However, there is some concern among professionals that the criminal justice system needs to be impacted more directly, and that institutions of higher learning need to be impetus for this change. To complete this task, curricula in higher education programs need to become more relevant to the needs of the system, while not ignoring the student of the educational system. This article examines the use of competency-based education (CBE) as a model that will serve the criminal justice student of today and the criminal justice system of tomorrow.     

Expanding a traditional criminal justice curriculum into an innovative social control curriculum

Most criminal justice curricula are limited to crime and the criminal justice system. Such programs could profit from evolution into a curriculum covering all means by which behavior is controlled in society. Subject areas of such a social control curriculum would include: sources and nature of behavior; selection of behaviors for social control; criminal justice systems; non-criminal justice, legal, social control systems; and nonlegal, social control systems. Crime and criminal justice would remain major topics, but would be complemented by and blended with the topics of noncriminal behavior and non-criminal justice system controls on behavior. However, the focus would remain on social control of behavior and would not be expanded to include all community interaction.     

Criminal Justice Education and Training in North Carolina: History and Development from 1920 to 1980

This paper examines and analyzes primary and secondary data relative to the history and development of criminal justice education and training in North Carolina for six decades. Emphasis is focused on the early attempts to provide education and training for criminal justice personnel from 1920 to 1940, the expansion and improvement in criminal justice education and training from 1940 to 1960, and the establishment of criminal justice education and training programs in two-year community colleges and technical institutes and four-year senior public and private postsecondary education institutions from 1960 to 1980. In addition to discussing the similarities and differences in the methods utilized by institutions to establish criminal justice education and training programs, this paper discusses the curricula, course offerings, and characteristics of the faculties, as well as internal and external conditions, forces, and factors that influenced the history and development of education and training programs for criminal justice personnel. As a result of the impact of these and various influences from within police departments and individual institutions, educational and governmental state agencies, and from demands and needs of criminal justice personnel and society for better protection and safety, criminal justice education and training programs were in force at 15 two-year community colleges, 30 two-year technical institutes, 10 four-year senior, public institutions, and eight four-year, senior, private institutions in North Carolina in 1978.     

Making space for restorative justice in criminal justice and criminology curricula and courses

Restorative justice, rooted in the practices of indigenous people across the globe, has grown exponentially in both theory and practice since its beginnings in Canada in the 1970s. Restorative justice has influenced the interactions between offenders and victims, helped community members address crime and develop self-efficacy, and changed the way some countries rebuild after a history of oppression. Despite these restorative justice influenced changes, many criminology and criminal justice programs pay scant attention to restorative justice in curricula. This paper will examine ways to include restorative justice in criminal justice and criminology curriculum and the challenges involved in the process. The paper will then examine how the Law and Justice Department at Central Washington University has incrementally added restorative justice components to its curriculum, culminating most recently with the addition of a Community and Social Justice course. The paper will conclude with several examples of classroom activities and assignments that have helped connect students with the theory and practice of restorative justice.     

Criminal Justice Reform and the System’s Efficiency

This article discusses key issues that affect the efficiency and credibility of criminal justice systems. It discusses the consequences of an ineffective criminal justice system, which include unnecessary delays within the court process, ‘cracked’ or ‘collapsed’ trials, and lack of public confidence. It notes that a successful system must contain strategic, integrated, and sustainable mechanisms that enhance the entire criminal justice process. The article examines a number of initiatives taken by various countries, noting the measurable and sustainable results, while also suggesting ways that these programs could be improved. Finally, the author notes the importance of measuring the outcomes and impact of the suggested initiatives in an effort to promote transparency and accountability, as well as effectively record successful strategies.     

Nonresidential criminal justice graduate degree programs

Nonresidential criminal justice graduate degree programs were recognized as significant elements within the contemporary educational scene. The structure, nature, and extent of such programs, as reflected in the professional literature, were reviewed. A survey of the state level governing bodies in the United States was reported, as was a case study of one state's evaluation of an out-of-state graduate degree program in criminal justice, operating without license within the host state. These were used as vehicles for a consideration of the issues important to the consumer of nonresidential graduate degree programs. It was concluded that innovative educational methods and structures are desirable, but that some nonresidential programs have been inadequate academically, and the danger exists that such programs may undermine criminal justice education and defraud the criminal justice students. Criminal justice scholars were encouraged to require rigorous standards for such programs.     

Education as a component of law enforcement professionalism: the concept and its measurement

The. lack of empirical studies of education as a structural variable. within theoretical modelt, of professionalization was disucssed. Also, a scale. designed to measure. education, as a camponent of the. concept of low enforcement as a. profoession was developed. lnterpreted as valid and reliable, the scale. was employed in a survey of North Carolina law enforcement personnel. Although it was concluded that many law enforcement personnel did not identify education as an element of the concept of law enforcement as a profassion, a minority strongly endorsed education. Law enforcement. personnekl overwhelmingly phefered criminal justice. curricula over those. of other disciplines, and many anticipated participation in criminal justice educational programs. It was concluded the conceptualization of education as, a component of law enforcement as a profession was, emerging. However, such conceptualieation was not felt to be pervasive within the law enforcement community.     

Differences in assessments of relative prestige and utility of criminal justice and criminology journals

Several articles have been written about the relative prestige of journals in criminology and criminal justice. Almost uniformly, however, those rankings have focused on sociology and criminology journals and have generally reflected a sociological orientation. If criminal justice is indeed a separate discipline, such approaches are tantamount to asking psychologists to rate sociological journals within a list of psychology journals. Our approach is first to separate respondents by their degree of identification with criminal justice and their educational orientation. Second, we compile a list of responses to questions about prestige and utility to practitioners across the range of criminal justice and criminology journals. Analyses of these data indicate that there are differences in the way scholars rate journals, based on their identity with criminal justice and their educational orientation. These differences, however, are found in specific journals and in types of journals (i.e., police, corrections, criminal justice) rather than in aggregate perceptions of all criminal justice and criminology journals.     

“Scholarly influence” and white-collar crime scholarship

This article explores many of the factors that play a role in the relative lack of scholarly influence of criminology and criminal justice professionals who focus on studying white-collar and corporate crime. The latest studies of “scholarly influence” in criminology and criminal justice journals and textbooks based on citation analyses confirm the absence of scholars who study white-collar and corporate crime. The sparse inclusion of white-collar and corporate crime topics in criminology and criminal justice curriculum in academic programs also indicate that the area is considered by many as a subfield rather than a mainstream component of academic criminology. Whether or not this status will change remains to be seen, but, on a positive note, there are a few encouraging signs that scholarly influence in the field will include more white-collar criminologists in the future.     

Criminal justice: An emerging academic profession and discipline

The recent history and current trends of criminal justice educational programs are examined in light of traditional definitions of professions, disciplines, and sciences. The author concludes that criminal justice is clearly emerging as a unique academic profession and as a nontraditional discipline. The nature of contemporary criminal justice education is discussed to develop predictions of its directions.     

THE POLICE AND HIGHER EDUCATION The Challenge of the Times

As law enforcement agencies continue to increase their educational standards, it is incumbent upon colleges and universities to offer curricula that prepare policemen to meet the challenge of modern times Criminal justice programs should pave the way for innovation and change in the police establishment by producing well-educated men, with a strong liberal arts background, capable of understanding self, community, and the role of the police in modem society.     

Criminal justice students: A research note

During the last five years, there have been a good deal of discussion about the nature, purpose, and future of criminal justice education. On the whole, this research has focused upon three areas of investigation. First, it has focused upon the distribution of criminology and criminal justice programs and majors within the United States. Aside from a few comments about the composition of student bodies as an aspect of the makeup of criminal justice programs (Bennett and Marshall, 1979; Berger, 1980), there is little analysis of criminal justice students. This research note focuses upon an on-going longitudinal research effort which is tracking a cohort of criminal justice majors from their upper level college experience through the first few years of their early career development.     

Comparison of Status and Delinquent Offenders

National studies suggest that our college students do not have sufficient awareness or knowledge of international affairs, and this appears to be true of criminal justice students as well. A survey of programs in criminology-criminal justice indicates that we have not been giving sufficient attention to the international field in our curricula. This paper discusses the need for international courses in criminal justice, citing the vast increase in international crime and criminal activity, the increasing internationalization of crime, and the recent, rapid development of international agencies of crime control and prevention. The paper also suggests an outline and sketch of what should be covered in international courses of the field, and indicates suitable reference sources.     

Key Risk Factors for Relapse and Rearrest Among Substance Use Treatment Patients Involved in the Criminal Justice System

Substance use treatment programs for criminal justice populations have great potential for crime reduction, if they can effectively manage patients’ risk for relapse and rearrest. The current study used data drawn from the Comprehensive Assessment and Treatment Outcome Research (CATOR) system, a national registry of substance use treatment programs, which collected patient outcome data at 6- and 12-month intervals following discharge from treatment. The primary objective was to examine sets of factors that may compromise relapse and rearrest outcomes among patients who were court mandated to participate in treatment. Findings demonstrated that patients’ clinical severity of substance use was associated with relapse, which also significantly increased the probability of post-treatment arrest. Adolescent risk behaviors represented another set of risk factors, particularly among patients who experienced the most severe pattern of relapse and arrest outcomes. Additionally, demographic risk factors, including age, marital status (i.e., single or unmarried relative to married), employment (i.e., being unemployed compared to employed), and lower educational attainment were consistently linked to higher probabilities of relapse and rearrest. Treatment programs for criminal justice populations should consider incorporating appropriate clinical risk assessment measures, behavioral risk assessments, and appropriate employment interventions into standard treatment programming in an effort to improve outcomes.