NCJ Number
214474
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 23 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 167-185
Date Published
June 2006
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article explores the reasons why the field of criminal justice/criminology has failed to recognize the importance of developing an accessible and recognized theoretical infrastructure about criminal justice and crime control occurrence.
Abstract
It has been taken for granted that the central object of theorizing in crime and justice studies is crime. Reorienting the field to pursue criminal justice theory is necessary. A criminal justice theoretical infrastructure emphasizing academic credibility, quality research, informed practices, and sound pedagogy is of essential importance. A criminal justice theoretical infrastructure would involve a well-organized and usable collection of explanatory frameworks targeted at making theoretical sense of criminal justice and crime control phenomena. With this theoretical infrastructure, “criminal justice” would range from explaining individual practitioner decisionmaking to the exponential growth in power and size of criminal justice equipment over the last 30 years. This article’s goal is to start the process of reorienting the discipline to approach the study of criminal justice/crime control as a legitimate and essential object of theorizing in and of itself. Crime and criminal justice would be treated as dual objects of study, as opposed to approaching criminal justice phenomena as the simple outcome or effect of crime. References