Should Criminal Justice Interns be Paid? The Black Swan Case and Beyond

This paper examines the issues surrounding financial compensation of criminal justice student interns. This question has been the subject of inquiry for several years and was brought to the forefront of discussion in the legal and academic community as a result of the June 2013 US District Court ruling in what has become known as the Black Swan case, in which Judge William Pauley ruled that former student interns who had worked for no pay were entitled to compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This paper examines the legal, educational and social questions that have arisen as a result of the Black Swan case and other similar internship lawsuits. Suggestions for criminal justice academic programs and for internship agencies that may reduce the likelihood of liability are provided.     

Criminal Justice Interns’ Observations of Misconduct: An Exploratory Study

In an effort to explore criminal justice interns’ observations of misconduct and reporting patterns of their observations, a survey of criminal justice interns was conducted after their internships were completed. Students from four universities in the South (n = 463) were asked to participate. While only 2 percent of respondents reported observing illegal behavior by criminal justice agency personnel, over half of the respondents reported observing behavior they suspected was illegal; knew to be violations of department policy; or recognized as generally unprofessional behavior.     

What Motivates Today’s Criminal Justice Student to Become an Engaged Learner?

The use of student-centered High Impact Practices (HIPs) has become increasingly popular across university and college faculty. HIPs increase student development of critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills. HIPs also provide students the opportunity to engage in real-world application of course knowledge. While HIPs increase student engagement and intrinsic motivation, little research has explored student perception of these concepts. This article describes a pilot course offered to upper level criminal justice students that incorporated three HIPs: undergraduate research, collaborative assignments, and service/community-based learning. Semi-structured interviews were used to facilitate individual student discussion regarding their perceptions and experiences of the course related to their level of motivation and engagement as compared to traditional classes. Results indicated student expectations for the course were exceeded; students believed the course would positively impact their future career/education plans; and the HIPs motivated the students to engage more than their traditional lecture-oriented courses.     

Do Our Books Reinforce Criminal Justice Stereotypes? An Analysis of the Images in Introductory Criminal Justice Textbooks

Over the past 30 years, there has been much attention placed on the content within introductory textbooks in fields, such as education, sociology, economics, psychology, and criminal justice. Within the field of criminal justice, a surplus of information has been gathered through analysis of the text found within introductory textbooks. There has been much less emphasis, however, on the potential for stereotypical images found within the pictures of criminal justice textbooks. This study builds on the diminutive literature on the images in criminal justice textbooks. We examined the pictures in 22 introductory criminal justice textbooks over a 17-year period to determine the percentages of men, women, minorities, and other groups that comprise these pictures. We find that white males dominate the images of criminal justice personnel in these textbooks, and that minorities are more likely to be portrayed as criminals than as criminal justice employees.     

Social Work and Criminal Justice: Are We Meeting in the Field?

Social workers are needed but infrequently involved with criminal justice systems. One way to increase the number of social workers in the criminal justice system is by exposing students to work in these settings. This study examined the number, types, and utilization of criminal justice field placements in MSW programs by surveying field education directors. On average, 7.73% of field placements were in criminal justice settings. When asked about barriers to criminal justice placements, the most frequently identified challenge was a lack of MSW supervisors. Implications for future research and education are discussed.     

Included? The Status of African American Scholars in the Discipline of Criminology and Criminal Justice Since 2004

This article provides a re-examination of the progress of African Americans in criminology/criminal justice doctoral programs since 2004. It focuses on African-American faculty, their scholarly research, and involvement in professional associations. Recent trends in African Americans enrolled in doctoral programs also are analyzed. Findings indicate that the representation of African-American faculty and doctoral students in criminology and criminal justice programs has increased although both continue to be under-represented in programs at predominantly white institutions. Evidence of increases in their contributions to the body of knowledge and service to professional associations was notable. The article concludes with strategies and recommendations for ensuring that inclusion continues to matter in the next decade.     

Criminal Justice Education: Are We Missing One-third of the Crime Triangle?

Theoretical explanations, systemic response, and policy work on offenders and specific crime types are the backbone of criminal justice curricula in the United States. However, a similar breadth and depth of education on crime victims appear to be lacking in traditional criminal justice curricula, despite voluminous research on victims of crime. In this exploratory study, the authors conducted a content analysis of 679 programs from the Academy of Criminal Justice (ACJS) website directory. Departmental and course-level variables were included in the analysis. Results indicate that while more than half of the programs have faculty with expressed interests in victimization, only 11% of programs studied required coursework on crime victims and/or victimization. Implications of the results are discussed.     

A Cross‐Cultural Comparison of East Asian and American Higher Education Criminal Justice Student Learning Preferences Using the VARK Questionnaire

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between learning preferences of East Asian and American higher education students. A review of the literature revealed a body of qualitative studies suggesting a stereotypical perception of an Asian learning preference influenced by cultural variables and the historical roots of Confucianism. The pedagogical implications of this stereotypical perception are obvious to faculty engaged in teaching and learning with Asian international students in America or abroad. The authors surveyed 233 higher education students from Hong Kong and America using the VARK Questionnaire. The authors used a two‐way contingency table analysis and chi‐square statistical tests to conduct their cross‐cultural comparison on their variables of interest including age, gender, and country.     

A Replication of the Specter of Authoritarianism among Criminal Justice Majors: Does Race Matter?

Authoritarian personality types possess characteristics that are especially troubling if found among criminal justice (CJ) professionals. Recent research found significantly higher Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scores in male college students majoring in CJ than in male nonmajors as well as significantly higher scores among lower division students than their upper division counterparts. However, the results of that study were limited because the sample was predominantly Caucasian. Given the growth in African-American CJ professionals and the special salience of race, it is important to examine whether the findings can be generalized to African-Americans. In order to explore that issue the current study replicates that research with a largely African-American sample drawn from a historically black college/university (HBCU). Results indicate that, unlike the findings in the original study, CJ majors at the HBCU did not have statistically higher RWA scores. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

What Journals are the Most Cited Journals in Criminology and Criminal Justice’s “Big Three” Journals?

Recently, scholars have sought to learn more about scholarly activity within the fields of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ). Research in this area has examined which departments have the most productive faculty, which scholars are the most productive, and which journals are the most prestigious. However, no study of which we are aware has determined what journals criminologists are most likely to cite in their scholarly research. In this study, we rank the most influential journals by the number of times those journals were cited between 2009 and 2013 in Criminology, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and Justice Quarterly. Our analyses suggest that Criminology is clearly the most influential CCJ journal in terms of citations, while the American Sociological Review, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and the American Journal of Sociology remain influential in CCJ as well.     

What Every EFL Teaher Should Know about Using the Mother Tongue

Should I give a direct translation of an English word when my learners do not understand? Should I use the mother tongue in presenting a language structure that does not exist in L1? Should I translate instructions into L1 in a written test? Should I use English or mother tongue in setting discipline problems?     

Immigration and Education: What Should K-12 Teachers,School Administrators,and Staff Know?

We are currently living in an era of mass global migration. Therefore, it is a pertinent time to reflect on the challenges and the possibilities inherent in educating immigrant and refugee children. Because of the importance immigration has played in the history of the United States, it may be assumed that American K-12 teachers and school administrators understand the complexities surrounding the immigration process; however, this would be erroneous. This article aims to clarify and explain why educators need to gain awareness and become more knowledgeable about this topic.     

Do Students Know What They Know and What They Don’t Know? Using a Four-Tier Diagnostic Test to Assess the Nature of Students’ Alternative Conceptions

This study reports on the development and application of a four-tier multiple-choice (4TMC) diagnostic instrument, which has not been reported in the literature. It is an enhanced version of the two-tier multiple-choice (2TMC) test. As in 2TMC tests, its answer and reason tiers measure students’ content knowledge and explanatory knowledge, respectively. The two additional tiers measure the level of confidence of students in the correctness of their chosen options for the answer and reason tiers respectively. The 4TMC diagnostic test focused on the properties and propagation of mechanical waves. It was administered to 598 upper secondary students after they were formally instructed on the foregoing topics. The vast majority of the respondents were found to have an inadequate grasp of the topics tested. Mean scores and mean confidence associated with the answer tier was higher than those associated with the reason tier. The students tended to be poorly discriminating between what they know and what they do not know. Familiarity with the topic tested was associated with greater percentage of students giving correct answers, higher confidence, and better discrimination quotient. Nine genuine alternative conceptions (which were expressed with moderate levels of confidence by students) were identified.     

Article Productivity Among the Faculty of Criminology and Criminal Justice Doctoral Programs, 2010–2014

One important dimension of the quality of a graduate program is the quality of its faculty. Previous assessments of the publication productivity of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) faculties have been needlessly incomplete and narrow, reflecting publications only in a small number of CCJ journals. Assessments covering only CCJ journals fail to reflect the multi-disciplinary nature of CCJ and bias results against programs whose most productive scholars publish in non-CCJ journals. The present research covers the full array of major journals in which CCJ-related research appears, by searching for articles using the Web of Science and ProQuest databases. This article is an update of two previous evaluations, covering 2000–2004 and 2005–2009. Based on article counts, the most productive faculties are those of Sam Houston State University, Florida State University and the University of Cincinnati. The article also summarizes changes in rankings of CCJ programs from 2000 through 2014.     

What Should Instructional Designers & Technologists Know About Human Performance Technology?

Human performance technology (HPT) is having a significant impact on the field of instructional design and technology (IDT), and many IDT graduate programs now offer training in HPT to their students. However, some IDT programs may be struggling with the extent to which they should incorporate the principles and techniques of HPT into their courses. To provide some determination of which specific skills and competencies in HPT graduates of IDT programs should have, an online survey was administered to 24 IDT faculty members and 45 members of local chapters of the International Society for Performance Improvement and the American Society for Training and Development. Respondents rated the importance of HPT competencies for graduates of IDT programs. Results suggest strong support for the inclusion of HPT concepts in the curricula of IDT graduate programs. Implications of these results for IDT graduate programs, as well as for distinguishing HPT as a field of specialization separate from IDT, are discussed.     

What I ‘Know’: Literary Studies and the Teaching of English

This essay unfolds through a series of juxtapositions, involving storytelling and writing of a more analytical nature. In thinking about what I ‘know’ as an English teacher, my aim has been to present my ideas in a form that might do justice to the contradictions and complexities of my professional life, including my continuing efforts to negotiate a pathway between the rich particularities of the educational settings in which I have worked and my knowledge and values as an English teacher. My primary focus is on how my literary education has shaped and been shaped by my work as an English teacher vis-à-vis a devaluing of teachers’ disciplinary knowledge that has occurred through standards-based reforms. I attempt to make the standpoint from which I am writing an object of scrutiny, thus producing an account of what I ‘know’ that arises out of my work as an English teacher and returns to it as a necessary dimension of a politically committed praxis.     

What Are They Thinking? Findings for Educators and Practitioners on Youths’ Experience and Knowledge of the HPV Vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the HPV vaccination for boys and girls starting at age 11, yet adoption rates are low. We use eight focus groups to explore the decision making process, experiences, and social influences, including media and sex education classes, shaping attitudes of male and female college students. We find many students who have misinformation or no knowledge of the vaccination yet are eager to learn more. Due to youths’ range of knowledge about the vaccination and varied preparedness for making their own medical decisions, practitioners are in a challenging position to inform and encourage responsible decision making without appearing coercive.