The Search for Criminal Justice Theory: Reflections on Kraska’s Theorizing Criminal Justice

Abstract

This essay discusses the role of theory, law, and legal institutions in criminal justice teaching and research. It combines personal reflections of the author’s experiences from the early days of academic criminal justice with a review and critique of Kraska’s Theorizing Criminal Justice: Eight Essential Orientations (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2004). Kraska recapitulates a variety of theories prominent in the early days of criminal justice with others that significantly advance theoretical discourse in criminal justice. His text should stimulate the advance of criminal justice as a discipline by establishing the idea that a number of theoretical orientations are essential for understanding the norms and behaviors of criminal justice agents and agencies. Kraska’s (2004) schema, his positioning of law, and his fit of law and legal studies in criminal justice and criminal justice education are critiqued and comments are offered on the role of law and legal institutions in criminal justice education.