NCJ Number
159256
Journal
Judicature Volume: 79 Issue: 2 Dated: (September-October 1995) Pages: 58-59,102
Date Published
1995
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The author contends that the narrow focus of law school curricula and academic analysis is at least partially responsible for the public's lack of confidence in the criminal justice system.
Abstract
Public opinion polls and victim statements indicate the criminal justice system systematically ignores public interests. Although responsibility is widespread, the academic community must accept part of the blame for the loss of public confidence in the criminal justice system. Law schools are not giving students an adequate perspective from which to view the criminal justice system, and too often scholarship in the criminal law area is based on truncated and incomplete analysis. While law professors have some influence on the criminal justice system, the system has considerably more influence on them and on what they must teach if students are to be successful. Criticisms of criminal procedure courses are examined, and the need for a comparative perspective in law school curricula to positively alter the public's view of the criminal justice system is emphasized.