NCJ Number
153645
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Education Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1994) Pages: 167-187
Date Published
1994
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Based on questionnaire responses from criminal justice programs that offer a history course, this paper discusses justifications and approaches to teaching criminal justice history.
Abstract
The author interviewed representatives of criminal justice doctoral programs to examine the extent to which future criminal justice educators are being exposed to historical study and the degree to which these programs are forging interdisciplinary links with history departments. In answering a question on the reasons for teaching criminal justice history, respondents stated it is to study the development of current criminal justice components and institutions; to observe the social, economic, political, and philosophical forces that have shaped contemporary reactions to deviance; to compare contemporary American criminal justice practices with those of the past and those of both similar and different cultures; and to enable students to place current criminal justice issues in historical context. The interviews showed that few programs offer doctoral-level courses devoted exclusively to historical study, but the link between criminal justice and other academic disciplines, including history, is fairly strong in several doctoral programs. Almost all representatives of the criminal justice doctoral programs who were interviewed, as well as some questionnaire respondents, wanted to see greater emphasis on history at both the graduate and the undergraduate levels. Even though some doctoral programs are encouraging their students to be "historically literate," few require those students to be proficient in historical research. 23 references and appended lists of criminal justice history resources with nonwestern orientations and resources used in criminal justice history courses