Teaching and Learning in Criminal Justice Ethics (From Teaching Criminal Justice Ethics: Strategic Issues, P 59-78, 1996, John Kleinig and Margaret Leland Smith, eds.)

• NCJ Number: 170176
• Author(s): C S Claxton
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Anderson Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Conference Material
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at a workshop on criminal justice ethics education held June 6-8, 1996, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.

Annotation

The focus of criminal justice ethics education should not be on the content to be taught in the classroom, but rather on the activity of learning, i.e., on the students' active construction of meaning.

Abstract

The author views the aim of ethics teaching to be that of helping "learners increase their capacity of thought, so that they can deal more effectively with ethical issues." Working from the research of Sharon Parks, he argues that students must be supported as they move from a process in which their thinking is dominated by external ("interpersonal") authority to one in which their thinking is more autonomous or "inner-dependent." Much of this essay describes ways of achieving this goal. It is the task of teachers to present their materials in a manner that allows learners to grasp what is presented and to transform the material into something that has increasingly complex meaning for them. This is not a simple transfer of information, but a collaborative venture that involves students, teacher, and text. The author models this approach with two examples drawn from criminal justice. As a result of criminal justice ethics education, students will assess the thinking process, become more aware of their assumptions, and develop a sense of responsibility for their own judgments. 1 figure, an appended comparison of educational paradigms, and 67 notes