Allie Giardini Criminal Justice Education After reading Agres article How to be a Leader in Your Field, I focused on the

question: Look at the way that work in your profession is evolving, and see if a new "class" is emerging. This might happen, for example, if a new division of labor is creating a group of workers who have common interests that differ from the interests of people who are doing other parts of the work. If the new group hasn't yet developed a collective identity and collective institutions, then you can help by articulating the issues that affect them. My major is criminal justice. I focused on the way criminal justice education has evolved, and still is evolving today. Criminal justice education was not always what it is today. In fact, criminal justice has not always been considered an academic discipline. Criminal justice has evolved substantially from where it came from. According to James O. Finckenauer, The future of criminal justice education must focus on standards, certification, and accreditation, (413). An example of poor criminal justice education is shown in Massachusetts. This state had many issues with their criminal justice education with poor instructors, outdated curricula, and underfunding. These issues must expand knowledge bases that include analyses of new forms of crime, the role of science in law enforcement

and justice administration, public security in the face of terrorist threats and tactics, and evidence-based criminal justice policy (Finckenauer, 414). This push for higher education began with wanting to professionalize police in hopes of making their performance better. Leaders who recognized a need for professionalism in policing and of the role of higher education in achieving it included August Vollmer, O.W. Wilson, and V.A. Leonard (Finckenauer, 413). It was President Lyndon B. Johnsons Crime Commission, which called for college education for police. President Johnson stated that the safety and security of its citizens is the first duty of government. He called upon Congress and the nation to join in a three-stage nation strategy against crime, welding together the efforts of local, state, and federal government. In doing so, the Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) was created (Gerhard Peters, Special Message to the Congress on Crime and Law Enforcement, The American Presidency Project). Criminal justice educational problems were also debated in the aftermath of the Sherman Report, which discussed the quality of police education (1978). People argued whether police education should be comprised of liberal arts or vocational courses (which includes a blend of liberal arts, field work, and technical courses). In addition to that, there was an issue with the criminal justice system orientation versus criminal justice component orientation. The Sherman Report suggests

that the system approach is inadequate, because much of police work falls outside the criminal justice system. According to R T Dull, Issues associated with colleges include whether college credit should be offered for training and life experience, whether criminal justice students should be enrolled full-time instead of part-time, and whether 2-year degree programs in criminal justice should be offered at community colleges, (316). Faculty issues are (1) full-time versus part-time faculty, (2) academic credentials versus criminal justice experience, and (3) the retooling of PH.D.s from the arts and sciences disciplines to teach criminal justice. Higher education is significant, specifically with criminal justice education. This level of education will create the critical and creative thinking skills needed in this area of study. Its a rather accepted thought that spending time in academic atmospheres can help to lay the groundwork for future successes for most people. College courses and atmosphere can provide the sterile learning environment in which students can perfect their skills. According to Brian F. Kingshott, Criminal justice educators need to develop their students into persons who are capable of making these decisions which requires knowledge and skills and leads to effective leadership and management, (63). This source states that higher education within criminal justice will prepare graduates to make decisions as both citizens and leaders.

Criminal justice programs have an obligation to provide students with skills that include, but are not limited to the skills of logic, systematic reasoning, and analysis of thought as well as philosophical input that encourages personal reflection (Kingshott, 68). A goal for the criminal justice educators should be making their students into people who are capable of making decisions that requires knowledge, skills, and leads to effective management and leadership. The growth of the doctoral programs in the criminal justice field was very large but fragmented from 1966 to 1978. In 1966 there were four institutions offering doctoral programs in criminal justice: by 1978, this number had increased to twenty-one (Fruamann, 36). One large disagreement among the criminal justice doctoral programs was whether criminal justice should be a criminology specialty, a division of the professional studies or an offering by a School of Criminal Justice (Fruamann, 38). Edwin Fraumann did research on and compared twenty-four institutions that offered criminal justice doctoral programs and told about it in Criminal Justice Doctoral Education in the United States. First, catalogs were compared and analyzed to reveal their scope and objective. He then modified 1978 questionnaire was prepared based on the 1974-1975 Criminal Justice Manpower Survey dealing with criminal justice doctoral programs status, changes, and future

intentions with twenty-one institutions responding. Between 1975 and 1978 alone, the frequency with which fifteen different criminal justice areas of study were offered by doctoral programs in criminal justice increased by 97 percent (Fraumann, 67). Some findings from the catalog analysis was that twenty-two universities require having a Masters Degree as a prerequisite for admission to their doctoral program and only two universities allow admission with the expectation that the applicant having a bachelors degree will complete the total work required by the doctoral degree, 54.6 percent do not require a foreign language but instead require statistics, research methodology and/or computer language, and only five universities require doctoral candidates complete a prescribed set of core courses in their criminal justice programs (Fraumann, 68). The questionnaire data showed that fifteen different criminal justice areas of study are offered a total of 71 times and the most frequently earned degree among criminal justice faculties is the Doctor of Philosophy, followed by a law degree (Fraumann, 68) Today, students in the criminal justice programs tend to study topics including the philosophy of justice, government, public policy, sociology, and advanced statistics. Through a combination of coursework, assistantships and dissertation work, they research the real problems of law and order, aiming to reduce crime and violence

while working directly with law enforcement officials, offenders, victims and policymakers (Krulik, Law and Academia, The Washington Post). Now, we have about 200 universities across the United States that offers a four-year and in some cases, graduate programs in criminal justice. Criminal justice has not always been considered an academic discipline, but now, in most places, it is.

Work Cited Finckenauer, James O. "The Quest for Quality in Criminal Justice Education." Justice Quarterly: JQ 22.4 (2005): 413-26. Print. Dull, R.T. "Current Issues in Criminal Justice Education Aftermath of the Sherman Report." Journal of Police Science and Administration 10.3 (1982): 315-25. Print. Kingshott, Brian F. "Leadership Approach to Criminal Justice Education: Developing Tomorrow's Decision Makers."

Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and Society 21.1 (2008): 61-77. Print. Tatem, Barbara A. "Higher Education in Criminology and Criminal Justice: Current Issues and Future Directions." Southern Review of Public Administration 2.1 (1978): 1-9. Print. Fraumann, Edwin. "Criminal Justice Doctoral Education in the United States." Police Studies 2.4 (1980): 1-5. Print. The American Presidency Project. Gerhard Peters, 1999. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. <http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=27478>. The Washington Post. Tracy Krulik, 10 June 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2013/06/10/lawacademia/>.