NCJ Number
72222
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1980) Pages: 29-36
Date Published
1980
Length
8 pages
Annotation
A criminal justice education and faculty survey in North Carolina is reported as one aspect of the need for a description of the field and as one means of judging the quality of criminal justice education.
Abstract
Radical changes appear in the composition of the criminal justice student both in North Carolina to a younger and less experienced group, contrasting with the former, more experienced inservice people. The technical coursework is now less important then when the inservice student predominated. Rather, programs for preservice students should be oriented around preparation for general life experiences coupled with skills applicable in a wide range of criminal justice settings. Some criminal justice programs, operating primarily with a part-time faculty, without administrative support, whose full-time faculty possess marginal qualifications, should be terminated. Confusion regarding the purpose of criminal justice programs must be resolved, as some schools see themselves as training programs, others as transition programs, and still others as 'terminal' programs. Overall, however, academically strong criminal justice programs, particularly at the graduate level, should be maintained and strengthened because their curricula will provide a more comprehensive and complete study of crime and the criminal justice system than will 'concentrations' within other disciplines. Students have shown sufficient interest in studying crime, justice, and social control mechanisms. Structurally separate departments and schools of criminal justice will attract scholars intending to devote their primary efforts to criminal justice matters, which will inspire more research and higher priorities for criminal justice issues. Moreover, criminal justice education tends to be more agency oriented than other academic areas; such interchange between academic institutions and the community benefits both. Finally, the social significance of crime and delinquency justifies the existence of a separate academic department or school focused on these matters, particularly at the graduate level. National commission findings from a survey of programs on a nationwide basis help to support the desirability of a scholarly perspective on criminal justice education. Eighteen references are provided. (Author abstract modified)