NCJ Number
183967
Date Published
2000
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The American Society of Criminology (ASC) has been in existence for 50 years and has helped criminology become a respected academic discipline and an influence on criminal justice policy and practice.
Abstract
As an academic discipline, criminology is relatively new but is now a respected field. Ninety universities have graduate programs in criminal justice and 16 have doctoral programs. The ASC has gone from the original 8 planners to nearly 2,500 members. Despite accomplishments in the field of criminology, the author believes it is necessary to consider whether the academic momentum of criminology is moving away from the ASC's original purposes. Criminal justice research may not be influencing policy and practice the way a scientifically rigorous body of work should and government funding of criminal justice research has declined. To ensure the policy relevance of criminology, attention needs to focus on public concerns about crime, improvements to the criminal justice system, and ways of making policymakers and practitioners confident that criminal justice research is relevant and responsive to their needs. 12 references, 4 notes, 1 table, and 1 figure