Discipline Of Criminal Justice Research Articles

The State of Diversity in Criminal Justice Higher Education: An Analysis of Curricula in Criminal Justice Bachelor’s Degree Programs

The study examines diversity-themed course offerings in criminal justice and criminology (CJC) bachelor’s degree programs in the United States in 2020–21. Using a sample of 359 CJC programs, we document the presence of diversity-themed courses and degree requirements using data collected from university websites. We explore patterns of diversity-themed courses by department and institutional characteristics and assess the current state of diversity curricula in the discipline of criminal justice and criminology. Results of our analysis reveal that a substantial majority (75 percent) of CJC programs possessed at least one diversity-themed course while only 12 percent required students to complete a diversity-themed course in the major. We consider what these and related findings mean for the discipline in light of previous research and discuss the importance of developing student competencies in racial, gender, and other dimensions of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the contemporary context of American criminal justice.

‘An online survey is less personal whereas I actually sat with the lecturer and it felt like you actually cared about what I am saying’: a pedagogy-oriented action research to improve student engagement in Criminology

ABSTRACT Student engagement plays a central role in teaching and learning, given its impact on students’ retention and ability to actively participate in the learning process. This study evaluates the impact of an Interactive Action-Oriented Learning (IAOL) and teaching style on improving students’ engagement in the Explaining Punishment module in a UK university by adopting McNiff’s model of action research. Furthermore, it aims to fill a gap in the existing literature regarding the paucity of research on improving student engagement within the Criminology and Criminal Justice discipline. Two focus group discussions, each comprising eight students, were conducted. Additional data were collated from module evaluation, end terms results, and peer-feedback. Based on the end-term results, it was found that the inclusion of the IAOL contents and teaching style improved student engagement and student performance. Hence, this study suggests a model that provides practical outcomes that inform best practices in teaching and learning.

Clickers and Online Homework in the Criminal Justice Classroom: A Test Study

The criminal justice discipline has few studies that explore the use of technology as a supplement to traditional face-to-face instruction. Using a sample of criminal justice students enrolled in two sections of the same 300-level foundational criminal justice course, this study examines the impact of clickers and online homework on student performance in the course, as well as observes student perceptions of the integrated technology. Results reveal that while students perceived the technologies as helpful to their learning, the addition of technologies to the one section of the course had little impact on student performance indicators such as test scores and final letter grades. Potential explanations for these findings and directions for future research are discussed; and suggestions on how to potentially make these supplemental tools more useful are provided.

Teaching Law and Courts in Criminal Justice: Outside Looking In

The law plays an important role in society generally and the criminal justice system in particular. Without the law there would be nothing for the police to enforce and no need for courts to adjudicate offenders and impose criminal sanctions. But while the significance of the law and, by implication the courts wherein the law is enforced, is great, the academic discipline of criminal justice has not given law and courts the attention they deserve, either in the classroom or research. In this essay I lay out the case for why the teaching and study of law and courts is so important to academic criminal justice, and how the discipline has failed its students and the public in the way it deals with the law and courts.

Building Legal Competency: Foundations for a More Effective Criminology and Criminal Justice Discipline

This article argues for the need to build legal competency in the discipline of criminal justice and criminology through incorporating law courses in its PhD program curriculum, whether as black letter law (i.e. criminal law, criminal procedure, courts), sociology of law, or socio-legal studies (i.e. law and society courses). Through requiring law courses as a necessary and integral part of the curriculum, and recognizing the mainstream impact of these courses, the discipline stands to enrich the field of legal studies in criminology and criminal justice. The discipline’s need and demand for law trained tenure track faculty with PhD credentials can only be met through consistent law course offerings.

Looking for the Law: ACJS Program Certification Standards and Introductory Criminal Justice Textbooks

Comprehending the United States system of government, its primary law sources and the decision-making process of its courts is essential foundational knowledge for criminal justice students. The ACJS Certification Standards for Baccalaureate College/University Criminal Justice Programs (2005) include Law Adjudication, with the identified related content topics of “[c]riminal law, criminal procedures, prosecution, defense, and court processes and decision-making” (p. 9), a recognition of the importance of these content areas. The ACJS recommendations are not radical ideas. Anderson, Reinsmith-Jones, and Mangels (2011) propose that the addition of legal knowledge and techniques to the traditional criminal justice methodology will provide a triangulated approach strengthening the criminal justice discipline. This suggestion is based on their recognition that “the law is the main catalyst and foundation governing both criminology and criminal justice” (p. 97). Integrating basic legal concepts into introductory courses would similarly strengthen the foundational knowledge of students in the discipline. With the ACJS standards as a framework, this study examines the coverage and depth of treatment in introductory criminal justice textbooks of concepts related to these basic categories of legal knowledge. The study has operationalized these topic areas as: the roles of the three branches of government, the separation of powers among the branches, the levels of government, the hierarchical organization of the court system between trial and appellate courts and state and federal courts and the differences between criminal and civil law, enacted law and common law and the primary sources of law.

Hiring Criminology and Criminal Justice Academics: The Perceived Importance of Job Candidates’ Attributes

Scant research is currently available on the characteristics that criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) departments believe are important for academic job applicants. The current study uses a nationally representative sample of faculty members to assess the perceived importance of a wide array of applicants’ attributes, to explore the extent of agreement about valued attributes among current criminal justice and criminology faculty members, and to analyze correlates of these ratings. We find that many characteristics are considered at least moderately important. At the extremes, involvement in research, publishing, and teaching stand out as particularly important, and demographic characteristics are relatively unimportant. We also find considerable consensus among faculty regarding the value of various candidate attributes. We discuss our implications in terms of what they reveal about preparing for the job market and about the discipline of criminal justice more broadly.

“Epidemiological Criminology”: Coming Full Circle

Members of the public health and criminal justice disciplines often work with marginalized populations: people at high risk of drug use, health problems, incarceration, and other difficulties. As these fields increasingly overlap, distinctions between them are blurred, as numerous research reports and funding trends document. However, explicit theoretical and methodological linkages between the 2 disciplines remain rare. A new paradigm that links methods and statistical models of public health with those of their criminal justice counterparts is needed, as are increased linkages between epidemiological analogies, theories, and models and the corresponding tools of criminology. We outline disciplinary commonalities and distinctions, present policy examples that integrate similarities, and propose "epidemiological criminology" as a bridging framework.

Finding fit: The nature of a successful faculty employment search in criminal justice

While the process of finding employment in academia has always been a daunting task for the job candidate, in recent years, in the criminal justice discipline, the process of finding an acceptable candidate to fill a university vacancy has become an equally formidable problem for the employer. This research addresses this reality from the perspectives of both potential employers and employees. Job candidates applying for a university position in 2005, and universities soliciting for hires in criminal justice during the same time frame were surveyed in relation to a variety of issues surrounding their respective search procedures. The primary goal of the research was to determine what factors were associated with perceptions of a successful job search. Suggestions about “successful” searching are offered.

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy: The JD/PhD Debate in Criminal Justice Education

There is an ongoing debate in criminal justice departments as to whether a person with a JD degree has the education necessary to be a full‐time faculty member. Recently, several authors have argued that a JD should be sufficient and that a PhD should not be required. In this essay I argue otherwise. JD training is not equivalent to PhD training. PhD training provides a background in social science methods, statistical analysis, and theory that JD training does not. The discipline of criminal justice needs to assert control over its credential standards lest others do it for us.

Violence Against Gays and Lesbians

While the issues of women and the criminal justice system have become an increasingly significant area of both study and policy, issues surrounding gays and lesbians have largely been ignored. A review of the literature suggests this is largely an omission. In discussing sodomy laws and the homosexual panic defense, the discriminatory nature of the law becomes apparent. Significant in the history of the criminal justice system and the discipline of criminal justice is the predominantly macho, quasi-militaristic nature of the field. A discussion of the military policy regarding gays and lesbians is an example of institutional discrimination which fosters antipathy toward gays and lesbians in larger society.

Sustainable economic development: A criminal justice challenge for the 21st century

The environmental challenges of the 21st century require co-operation between criminal justice experts and economists. Three different economics perspectives are relevant for the discipline of criminal justice in general and for adressing environmental problems in particular: neo-classical econoics, political economics and the economics of sustainable development. Criminal justice pays a role in the effort to attain sustainable development because the limitations of market based decision making necessitate a role for law and regulation in addressing environmental degradation. Sustainable development itself is relevant to the general discussion of crime. Issues of sustainable development are already discussed in criminal justice literature. While criminal law has limitations as a tool against environmental crime, it will necessarily suplement the tools of the market and civil regulation in coping with environmental problems. The inherently multidisciplinary undertaking of sustainable development will be most effectively met if experts in both economics and criminal justice understand more of one another's fields. Suggestions for including the three perspectives of economics in the criminal justice curriculum are provided.

Criminal justice: Portrait of a discipline in process

Criminal justice is an academic discipline in practice but not yet in theory. An analysis of intellectual resources used in recent criminal justice books shows that theory development is still tied to established disciplines, does not accurately reflect and incorporate the multiple intellectual traditions from which the discipline of criminal justice arose, and has failed to achieve a genuine multidisciplinary and multitheoretical stance or project. Some reasons for this state of affairs and some suggestions for training and practice in the new discipline of criminal justice are advanced.

Combating Terrorism on the Corporate Level: The Emergence of Executive Protection Specialists in Private Security

Terrorists attacks have increased dramatically over the past two decades and have targeted Americans with greater frequency. The inability of local, state and federal police agencies to protect individuals most prone to attack, kidnapping and assassination has led to the emergence of a new growth industry in the United States and abroad: The Executive Protection Specialist. This paper will focus on the variables that influence the terrorists' decision to target individuals and corporations rather than governments and the resultant emergence of Executive Protection Specialists within the private security profession. Recruitment and training for this sophisticated new field will be emphasized along with an appraisal of career opportunities that will impact the criminal justice discipline generally and the corporate security field specifically. Also included will be an analysis of the evolving professionalism in this area as the progression from bodyguard to protection specialist is accomplished.

Seeking justice: The advantages and disadvantages of being educated

Criminal justice needs to be examined and developed in the larger context of social justice. Social ills such as pervasive individual and corporate greed and evasiveness need to be addressed as we attempt to promote a greater sense of social peace. Such an effort involves teaching meaningful social values in both general education settings as well as in the particular discipline of criminal justice.

Criminal justice scholarship: The southern dimension

This paper reports an empirical assessment of the current status of criminal justice scholarship within the southern region of the United States. The data reflects stratification both of scholarly productivity within the discipline of criminal justice and across the various disciplines that contribute to the literature on crime and justice. The data should be particularly useful for identifying weaknesses in scholarly productivity and, hence, directions for growth within the discipline of criminal justice.

Reexamining the President's Crime Commission

In the ten years following the initial publication of the report of the Presi dent's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, we have seen significant changes in criminal justice. Though widely con sulted today, the report has become out of date. As a reference work, The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society ( 1967) remains valuable, but it no longer reflects the dominant issues in American criminal justice. The single most important change over the past decade has been the decline in faith in the idea of rehabilitation. The report of the President's Crime Commission reflected the belief that alternative correctional programs could effectively attack the causes of crime; now, however, rehabilitation has become an unpopular goal. The debate today over deterrence and the growing interest in determinate sentencing are phenomena unforeseen by the commission's report. These changes in criminal justice are, in part, a result of the growing public frustration over the continued rise in the rate of violent crime. Another significant change-for which the President's Crime Commission is partially responsible—is the increased awareness of the criminal justice system as a system. The development of a federal justice agency and the emergence of a new academic discipline of criminal justice represent the new strategy of approaching criminal justice as a un ified system.