Allie Giardini
Criminal Justice Education
After reading Agre’s article “How to be a Leader in Your Field,” I
focused on the question: “Look at the way that work in your profession
is evolving, and see if a new "class" is emerging. This might happen,
for example, if a new division of labor is creating a group of workers
who have common interests that differ from the interests of people
who are doing other parts of the work. If the new group hasn't yet
developed a collective identity and collective institutions, then you can
help by articulating the issues that affect them.” My major is criminal
justice. I focused on the way criminal justice education has evolved,
and still is evolving today. Criminal justice education was not always
what it is today. In fact, criminal justice has not always been
considered an academic discipline. Criminal justice has evolved
substantially from where it came from.
According to James O. Finckenauer, “The future of criminal
justice education must focus on standards, certification, and
accreditation,” (413). An example of poor criminal justice education is
shown in Massachusetts. This state had many issues with their criminal
justice education with poor instructors, outdated curricula, and underfunding. These issues must expand knowledge bases that include
analyses of new forms of crime, the role of science in law enforcement
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and justice administration, public security in the face of terrorist
threats and tactics, and evidence-based criminal justice policy
(Finckenauer, 414). This push for higher education began with wanting
to professionalize police in hopes of making their performance better.
Leaders who recognized a need for “professionalism” in policing and of
the role of higher education in achieving it included August Vollmer,
O.W. Wilson, and V.A. Leonard (Finckenauer, 413). It was President
Lyndon B. Johnson’s Crime Commission, which called for college
education for police. President Johnson stated that the safety and
security of its citizens is the first duty of government. He called upon
Congress and the nation to join in a three-stage nation strategy
against crime, welding together the efforts of local, state, and federal
government. In doing so, the Law Enforcement Education Program
(LEEP) was created (Gerhard Peters, Special Message to the Congress
on Crime and Law Enforcement, The American Presidency Project).
Criminal justice educational problems were also debated in the
aftermath of the Sherman Report, which discussed the quality of police
education (1978). People argued whether police education should be
comprised of liberal arts or vocational courses (which includes a blend
of liberal arts, field work, and technical courses). In addition to that,
there was an issue with the criminal justice system orientation versus
criminal justice component orientation. The Sherman Report suggests
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that the system approach is inadequate, because much of police work
falls outside the criminal justice system. According to R T Dull, “Issues
associated with colleges include whether college credit should be
offered for training and life experience, whether criminal justice
students should be enrolled full-time instead of part-time, and whether
2-year degree programs in criminal justice should be offered at
community colleges,” (316). Faculty issues are (1) full-time versus
part-time faculty, (2) academic credentials versus criminal justice
experience, and (3) the retooling of PH.D.s from the arts and sciences
disciplines to teach criminal justice.
Higher education is significant, specifically with criminal justice
education. This level of education will create the critical and creative
thinking skills needed in this area of study. It’s a rather accepted
thought that spending time in academic atmospheres can help to lay
the groundwork for future successes for most people. College courses
and atmosphere can provide the sterile learning environment in which
students can perfect their skills. According to Brian F. Kingshott,
“Criminal justice educators need to develop their students into persons
who are capable of making these decisions which requires knowledge
and skills and leads to effective leadership and management,” (63).
This source states that higher education within criminal justice will
prepare graduates to make decisions as both citizens and leaders.
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Criminal justice programs have an obligation to provide students with
skills that include, but are not limited to the skills of logic, systematic
reasoning, and analysis of thought as well as philosophical input that
encourages personal reflection (Kingshott, 68). A goal for the criminal
justice educators should be making their students into people who are
capable of making decisions that requires knowledge, skills, and leads
to effective management and leadership.
The growth of the doctoral programs in the criminal justice field
was very large but fragmented from 1966 to 1978. In 1966 there were
four institutions offering doctoral programs in criminal justice: by
1978, this number had increased to twenty-one (Fruamann, 36). One
large disagreement among the criminal justice doctoral programs was
whether criminal justice should be a criminology specialty, a division of
the professional studies or an offering by a School of Criminal Justice
(Fruamann, 38).
Edwin Fraumann did research on and compared twenty-four
institutions that offered criminal justice doctoral programs and told
about it in Criminal Justice Doctoral Education in the United States.
First, catalogs were compared and analyzed to reveal their scope and
objective. He then modified 1978 questionnaire was prepared based
on the 1974-1975 Criminal Justice Manpower Survey dealing with
criminal justice doctoral programs’ status, changes, and future
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intentions with twenty-one institutions responding. Between 1975 and
1978 alone, the frequency with which fifteen different criminal justice
areas of study were offered by doctoral programs in criminal justice
increased by 97 percent (Fraumann, 67). Some findings from the
catalog analysis was that twenty-two universities require having a
Master’s Degree as a prerequisite for admission to their doctoral
program and only two universities allow admission with the
expectation that the applicant having a bachelor’s degree will complete
the total work required by the doctoral degree, 54.6 percent do not
require a foreign language but instead require statistics, research
methodology and/or computer language, and only five universities
require doctoral candidates complete a prescribed set of core courses
in their criminal justice programs (Fraumann, 68). The questionnaire
data showed that fifteen different criminal justice areas of study are
offered a total of 71 times and the most frequently earned degree
among criminal justice faculties is the Doctor of Philosophy, followed
by a law degree (Fraumann, 68)
Today, students in the criminal justice programs tend to study
topics including the philosophy of justice, government, public policy,
sociology, and advanced statistics. Through a combination of
coursework, assistantships and dissertation work, they research the
real problems of law and order, aiming to reduce crime and violence
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while working directly with law enforcement officials, offenders, victims
and policymakers (Krulik, Law and Academia, The Washington Post).
Now, we have about 200 universities across the United States
that offers a four-year and in some cases, graduate programs in
criminal justice. Criminal justice has not always been considered an
academic discipline, but now, in most places, it is.
Work Cited
Finckenauer, James O. "The Quest for Quality in Criminal
Justice Education." Justice Quarterly: JQ
22.4 (2005): 413-26. Print.
Dull, R.T. "Current Issues in Criminal Justice Education Aftermath of the Sherman Report."
Journal of Police Science and Administration 10.3
(1982): 315-25. Print.
Kingshott, Brian F. "Leadership Approach to Criminal
Justice Education: Developing Tomorrow's Decision Makers."
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Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and
Society
21.1 (2008): 61-77. Print.
Tatem, Barbara A. "Higher Education in Criminology and
Criminal Justice: Current Issues and Future
Directions." Southern Review of Public Administration
2.1 (1978): 1-9. Print.
Fraumann, Edwin. "Criminal Justice Doctoral Education in
the United States." Police Studies 2.4
(1980): 1-5. Print.
The American Presidency Project. Gerhard Peters, 1999. Web.
24 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=27478>.
The Washington Post. Tracy Krulik, 10 June 2013. Web. 24
Apr. 2014.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2013/06/10/lawacademia/>.
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