Criminal Justice Education: A Suggestion for Conceptual Modification

Abstract

A general review of criminal justice education yields the conclusion that it has not achieved some of its original goals, in particular, influencing the crime rate or substantially affecting the functioning of the criminal justice system. Furthermore, criminal justice education has assumed a conventional character which does more to endorse the rules and standards of the current system than it does to pursue the truth or advocate meaningful changes. Under current circumstances the prospects of making a significant impact on the national crime rate or the operation of the criminal justice system are slight. But criminaljustice education can improve its character and make a better contribution to academe and the community by realistically revising its objectives and modifying the concept of criminal justice education to be more cognizant of other social institutions and more responsible to its students. The narrow focus of criminal justice education precludes the development of a more comprehensive perspective which is essential to the complete understanding of crime in society. An alternative concept proposed here is that of socialjustice, which would permit greater intellectual and applied flexibility.