NCJ Number
169232
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 39 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1997) Pages: 1-26
Date Published
1997
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This survey obtained the sociodemographic and academic profiles of 175 current and former M.A., M.C.A., and Ph.D. students in criminology at Simon Fraser University and the Universities of Ottawa and Toronto; it also elicited experiences and opinions concerning their graduate education; the content and contributions of academic criminology; and various criminological issues and controversies that pertain to criminality, law, order, and social justice.
Abstract
Findings show that graduate respondents exhibited a wide diversity of personal attributes, professional interests, ideologies, and activities; women were consistently more inclined than men to challenge traditional criminological concepts and practices; and critical perspectives prevailed over conservative ones, particularly among current enrollees. Participants endorsed criminology as a socially relevant enterprise and considered the promotion of social justice and change to outweigh crime prevention as its principal mandate. Also, students generally assessed their education experience positively, although some concern was expressed about lack of graduate-faculty parity, the unavailability of research assistantships, and exposure to academic exploitation and harassment. This paper considers these and other survey results in the context of contemporary writing on the sociology of academic criminology and offers some possible avenues and priorities for future theory and research. 7 tables, 10 notes, and 41 references