Socrates in the Modern Classroom: How Are Large Classes in Criminal Justice Being Taught?*

Abstract

As education budgets shrink and interest in criminal justice at the collegiate level expands, large classes are being implemented in colleges and universities that traditionally have offered only small ones. If increasing criminal justice class sizes are inevitable, it is crucial that we gain an understanding of how large classes are currently taught and the extent to which these teaching techniques are employed in large criminal justice classes. This paper reports on an exploratory survey of criminal justice programs that ascertained the extent to which large classes are being offered, the organization of these courses, and how they are evaluated. These data enable us to identify current practices, speculate on the future of large classes in the criminal justice field and let us document how university/college characteristics are related to the prevalence, structure, and nature of large courses. *An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. The authors wish to thank Andrew Morabito, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Eloise Clarke, American University, and Sandra Baxter, Applied Research Analysts, for their aid in data collection and their critical comments on an earlier draft. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the three anonymous reviewers.