The Vanishing JD—How ACJS Certification Ensures Extinction of the Species

Abstract

Criminal Justice departments across the country are experiening unprecedented growth. This growth has created a demand for qualified tenure‐track faculty. Obviously, it is important to maintain quality standards for the hiring of tenure‐track faculty during periods of growth. In an effort to improve the quality of Criminal Justice education, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences has adopted standards for certification of baccalaureate and graduate degree programs. One area adressed by the ACJS standards is the area of acceptable faculty credentials for certification. For example, graduate programs that desire the ACJS imprimatur cannot have a faculty with more than 1 in 10 faculty members who hold a Juris Doctor degree. Efforts to eliminate the JD from the CJ faculty ranks are misguided. Instead, CJ departments should focus on the individual candiadate. Graduates from top‐tier institutions with a history of scholarly productivity and who possess ample skills in empirical study should not be excluded from tenure‐track consideration solely because they lack a PhD. The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.—William Shakespeare, Henry VI (Act IV, Scene II)