Academic credit for life experiences in criminal justice: Issues and concerns

This article focuses on awarding credit for life experiences (work experience, training, or other forms of experiential learning) in criminal justice education. The efficacy and consequences of this practice are explored in an attempt to delimit the issues and raise relevant questions that need to be explored in developing policies for awarding such credit. The authors raise questions concerning the definition of viable and relevant experiential learning and the process of evaluating life experiences. The article also discusses the need to consider a number of factors in implementing a credit-for- experiential-learning program; for example, the implications for “in-service” versus “preservice” students, extra-university regulations, the transferability of credit to other institutions, and the importance of a careful assessment of the overall impact on the criminal justice system and on criminal justice as an academic discipline.     

PLEA BARGAINING AS A GAME: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF NEGOTIATED SENTENCING DECISIONS

Current studies of courtroom decisionmaking emphasize contextual variation and the interaction of large numbers of variables In explaining decision outcomes. However, theory suggests that courtroom decisions may be dominated by simple "rules of thumb" that allow decisionmakers to cope with scarcity of time and resources. Following this approach, a parslmonious model of plea bargaining as a two-person game is developed and hypotheses are derived. Data on negotiated sentences for burglary and robbery in three California counties serve to test the hypotheses. The findings confirm that prior criminal history is the dominant factor in determining the severity of negotiated sentences and that defendents with more extensive prior records have less incentive to plea bargalh. Identlfication of this decision rule for negotiated sentences contradlcts arguments for limiting plea bargaining that assume negotiations result in sentencing leniency across the board.     

THE BOOKSHELF

FATHER & CHILD: DEVELOPMENTAL & CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES Edited by Stanley H. Cath, M.D., Alan R. Gurwitt, M.D., John Munder Ross, Ph.D.
EFFECTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR LOW-INCOME MINORITY PATIENTS Frank X. Acosta, Joe Yamamoto, Leonard A. Evans
101 WAYS TO BE A LONG-DISTANCE SUPER DAD George Newman