NCJ Number
162458
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Education Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1995) Pages: 281-297
Date Published
1995
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the need to provide criminal justice graduates with the computer skills that will be required of criminal justice practitioners and researchers in the 21st century.
Abstract
The discussion begins by describing the need to integrate computerization with criminal justice curricula, the importance of computer literacy in criminal justice education, and the use of computer hardware and software in the criminal justice field. The authors describe computer knowledge used by both the practitioner and the researcher. The computer knowledge currently used by both suggests directions for future curriculum revisions, innovative teaching approaches, and new expected outcomes for graduates of the discipline. The authors advise that it is the job of criminal justice faculty members to incorporate computer literacy into their students' educational experience. The first task is to review and revise existing criminal justice curricula, making sure to preserve the traditional curriculum and to create an applied learning environment. Not only courses in research methods and statistics, but other criminal justice courses as well should include applied computer components. Computers can be integrated easily into traditional courses, such as criminal justice administration and criminal law. In administration, many of the necessary budgetary and evaluation skills can be modeled and used for assignments to teach the course. Criminal law can incorporate a component in which students learn to use computers for legal research. Traditional teaching styles should be modified to incorporate applied learning techniques. Criminal justice faculty members should revise existing program goals to include computer literacy if graduates are to be competitive in the 21st century. 23 references