NCJ Number
187800
Date Published
2000
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents the methodology and findings of a study intended to determine the current state of multicultural perspectives in undergraduate criminal justice education.
Abstract
The names of participants at the 1993 meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and American Society of Criminology were combined into a master list, and duplicate names were removed. A total of 500 names and addresses were randomly selected from the master list. Of the 500 surveys mailed, 214 were completed and returned by respondents. The questionnaire focused on attitudinal support for the inclusion of multicultural perspectives in undergraduate criminal justice education, how multicultural perspectives should be addressed within the curricula, the extent to which there is support among educators for teaching multicultural perspectives, the justification for including multicultural perspectives in traditional course work, and the process by which multicultural perspectives are brought into the core of criminal justice education. Survey findings indicate that approximately 96 percent of the respondents were not opposed to including multicultural perspectives in the curricula. The educators favored including such subject matter not only in specialty courses, but also integrated within the traditional curricula (69.1 percent). Only 4 percent of the respondents wanted to restrict multicultural perspectives to specialty courses. Respondents appeared to have significant agreement on what needs to be done to achieve an integrated curricula; i.e., the education of future educators, diversifying faculties, making available textbooks that have a multicultural approach, recruiting females and racial/ethnic minorities into both undergraduate and graduate programs, and using professional associations to promote and assist with diversification efforts. 5 tables and 35 references