Building Legal Competency: Foundations for a More Effective Criminology and Criminal Justice Discipline

This article argues for the need to build legal competency in the discipline of criminal justice and criminology through incorporating law courses in its PhD program curriculum, whether as black letter law (i.e. criminal law, criminal procedure, courts), sociology of law, or socio-legal studies (i.e. law and society courses). Through requiring law courses as a necessary and integral part of the curriculum, and recognizing the mainstream impact of these courses, the discipline stands to enrich the field of legal studies in criminology and criminal justice. The discipline’s need and demand for law trained tenure track faculty with PhD credentials can only be met through consistent law course offerings.     

Conceptualizing Justice: Revising the Introductory Criminal Justice Course*

Criminal justice is often criticized for lacking theoretical grounding. This article argues that the introductory criminal justice course should be reconceptualized in such a way that permits a critical assessment of theoretical bases underlying crime, law and justice. Doing so would better prepare students to understand key questions in the study of criminal justice and would also help give criminal justice greater credibility as a stand‐alone academic discipline. In addition to presenting the benefits of a theory‐driven introductory course, possible content and pedagogy are described.     

Alumni Research and Criminal Justice

Alumni studies use past graduates of educational programs or institutions to address various types of research aims. While alumni research is common in disciplines such as business, psychology, nursing, and social work, few criminal justice alumni studies have been published in the academic literature. This article reviews the types of alumni studies that are typically conducted, discusses reasons for conducting criminal justice alumni surveys, considers barriers to these surveys, identifies criminal justice‐specific themes that address why alumni studies are rare in the discipline, and suggests strategies for enhancing and expanding this sort of research in the discipline.     

Criminal justice education in relation to law school expectation: A failure of confidence

This paper discusses the findings from a survey of admissions officers at law schools in the United States. Deans of Admission (N=119) were asked a variety of questions pertaining to how the undergraduate criminal justice major is perceived in relation to the adequacy of the academic preparation it provides for individuals applying and/or currently attending law school. The findings suggest that the criminal justice major is not perceived as adequate preparation for law school education by the Deans of Admission. Results are discussed within the context of the criminal justice curricula standards recommended by the academic review committee of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.     

Unexpected Pathways: Criminal Justice Career Options in the Private Sector

Career guide books and scholarly articles alike focus on courts, corrections, and law enforcement careers for criminal justice students. While those careers are noteworthy and popular among students, there are numerous professions available to criminal justice students in the private sector. This study outlines possible career choices outside of the criminal justice system as well as potential organizations for employment. Employment options are located in the fields of investigation, security, legal assistance, intelligence analysis, research and academia, and others with defense contractors, consulting firms, intelligence agencies, and Fortune 500 companies among additional private corporations.     

Criminology and Criminal Justice Hit Parade: Measuring Academic Productivity in the Discipline

Previous research assessing the productivity of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) scholars has sought to determine the overall most productive scholars based on various measures (e.g. total articles published, total cites, and articles per year). While such lists may be important for those who rank high, they may be best used to establish benchmarks for the discipline. To date, research examining the stars in CCJ has focused on overall stars. The aim of the current research is to highlight the most productive scholars (in CCJ doctoral programs), but to do so based on academic rank. As such, our sample is more inclusive than others that have assessed highly productive scholars in the field. By disaggregating productivity measures by academic ranks, it is possible to determine rising stars in the discipline as well as top stars overall. Additionally, and we think more importantly, such rankings give insights into the state of the discipline.     

Ideology and criminal justice: Suggestions for a pedagogical model

Without the explanatory power of general theoretical principles, criminal justice educators are limited to subjectively describing the structure and function of our systems of criminal justice rather than explaining why these systems behave the way they do. Because of this, criminal justice lacks integrity as a legitimate academic discipline that seeks to meet the objectives of a liberal arts education. This paper explores the establishment of ideology as a first principle of criminal justice, derived from political philosophy and sociological theory. We examine ways to build upon this principle as a means of teaching criminal justice within the guise of the liberal arts tradition by guiding students toward a deeper understanding of the nature of our criminal justice systems and their place in larger society.     

刑法解释的思想理念和方法运用

刑法的适用过程其实就是刑法的解释过程。刑法有各种解释方法,在处理个案时究竟该如何选择适用才能合乎法理达成正义,这就涉及到刑法解释的规则问题。学界在解释目标的确立上历来存在主观解释论、客观解释论和综合解释论的争论。事实上,罪刑法定主义的价值旨趣和存在使命正是刑法解释生成和规则设计的基点。刑法的适用解释应当以文义解释为原则,同时辅之以论理解释,按照文义解释、体系解释、历史解释、目的解释并最终诉诸于合宪性解释的方法与顺序依次展开。     

先行行为范围研究

先行行为的范围一直是刑法理论研讨的重点,如何对其进行合理的界定关系到刑法功利和公正价值的实现。原则上,先行行为应当以违反法律规范为必要,但是,在对行为人施加作为义务不与刑法允许的其他更高价值目标相矛盾的情况下,合法行为也能引起作为义务。在刑法并未对先行行为本身作出法律评价,如规定为结果加重犯、转化犯等前提下,应当肯定犯罪行为引起的作为义务。先行行为既可以是作为,也可以是不作为。既可以是出于故意或者过失实施的行为,也可以是无责行为。     

刑事辩护制度诚实信用原则初论

20世纪30年代以来,诚实信用原则适用范围逐渐从私法领域渗透到包括诉讼法在内的公法领域。在我国刑事辩护制度中确立诚信原则,能够规范控辩双方以及其他诉讼参与人的诉讼行为,有利于最大限度的实现实体公正和程序公正,实现多种法律价值的平衡。     

论现代刑法的宽容之维

宽容是协调国家、社会和个人之间相互关系的道德和法律准则。现代刑法必备宽容之维源于法治社会中必须充分保障和尊重被告人人权和人性的要求,毕竟被告人实施犯罪除了自身主因之外,还有社会因素的影响和被害人因素的作用。刑法的宽容理念已经在宽严相济刑事政策精神指导下,以刑事和解的方式践行,这种新型方式通过犯罪人和被害人之间真诚协商达成谅解以恢复和睦关系,而且这种宽容理念在《刑法修正案（八）》许多条文中又得到进一步确认,愈发凸显我国刑法深厚的宽容底蕴。     

PhD Program Prestige and Faculty Location in Criminal Justice and Sociology Programs

Criminal justice education is striving to become completely integrated into the academic community and in the process has assumed many of the characteristics of the more established disciplines. Prestigious academic programs hiring PhDs from other prestigious programs has been a familiar pattern for many established academic programs. The initiative to maximize program prestige by hiring PhDs from high-ranking programs is thought to benefit both program and individuals. This study examined the sources of PhD degrees among prestigious and less prestigious programs in criminal justice and compared the results to those found for sociology. Taking into account the multidisciplinary nature of criminal justice and its faculties, among ranked criminal justice programs, a tendency for highly ranked programs to hire PhDs from other highly ranked programs was observed although not as strongly as that found in sociology. Some questions for criminal justice education raised by this pattern were identified.     

Consider the lawyers: Law school's lessons for criminal justice education

For two disciplines interested in similar issues, law schools and criminal justice programs may as well be on different sides of the moon when it comes to pedagogy. Undoubtedly, criminal justice has lessons to share with law, but legal instruction also offers innovations for justice education. The following essay presents my experience from both law school and criminal justice programs, offering recommendations to improve criminal justice teaching. I offer the suggestions not under any brazen notion that I have discovered the secrets to ideal pedagogy, but rather to suggest that many of law's methods would benefit criminal justice as well.     

A study on the attitudes and experiences of chairpersons in American Criminology and Criminal Justice Programs

Building on Todd Clear’s () recent declaration that academic criminal justice has come of age, this study examines chairs in American criminology and criminal justice programs. By way of survey, chairpersons (n?=?78) randomly selected from programs across the United States were questioned in a number of areas related to their positions. The study finds that chairs in these programs are struggling with the same concerns as chairs in other academic disciplines (i.e., competing roles and job‐related stress). As such, while many of them are fairly satisfied with their positions, most of them plan on returning to the faculty once their term is completed. Based on the results of the research, there were two clear implications. First, because of the onerous time demands, young scholars are to be discouraged from taking on significant administrative responsibilities until they have been promoted, tenured, and have achieved some level of accomplishment within the discipline. Second, scholars who are currently chairs and have ambitions of moving through the administrative ranks should be encouraged to do so. As more criminologists progress through the administrative ranks, it is anticipated that the discipline will be viewed and treated more favorably within American universities.     

Integrating Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual,and Transgender Issues into the Undergraduate Criminal Justice Curriculum

Although criminal justice has made strides to incorporate issues of race, ethnicity, class, and gender into both research and teaching, the same cannot be said about issues of homosexuality. Prior research indicates criminal justice students are more homophobic than their peers in other majors and that bias against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) persons continues in the criminal justice system. As a result, this article argues that criminal justice educators should integrate issues of sexuality into criminal justice curricula as part of diversity education within the discipline. Few programs currently do so. This article outlines four methods for infusing justice‐related GLBT content into criminal justice classes, including: The teachable moment; incorporating GLBT‐relevant material in required courses; incorporating GLBT‐relevant material into diversity courses; and the development of new electives. These strategies can help combat heterosexism and homophobia.     

Lawyers Practicing Medicine: Criminal Justice,Criminology, Sociology and Differential Curricula

Recently there has been a vigorous dialogue over the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) academic standards pertaining to the role of JDs within criminal justice academic programs. It is a next logical step to open a discussion on a related aspect of the ACJS standards: “doctorates in a closely related field.” This discussion should center on how “closely” the “closely related fields” should be. This article examines the relationship between an education in sociology and criminology/criminal justice programs respectively by comparing the general curricular requirements, undergraduate and graduate, in a selection of sociology and criminology and criminal justice programs. This analysis indicates that there is a great deal of similarity within the sociology curricula, which contain sociologically oriented classes and criminology/criminal justice curricula, which contain criminologically oriented courses, but there is little overlap in course offerings across these two academic areas. Specifically, sociology graduates are not exposed to a meaningful number of criminology/criminal justice classes.     

Criminology and Criminal Justice Doctoral Programs in 2012–2013: Transformation of a Male-Dominated Arena

This study provides a cross-sectional portrait of female scholars working as tenure-track faculty members at institutions offering doctoral degrees in criminology and/or criminal justice. Relying primarily upon departmental websites as an initial source of information, it was determined that the 35 programs were comprised of 198 (35.9%) female and 353 (64.1%) male tenure-track faculty members. Despite the historical male domination of criminal justice professions as well as higher education instructional roles, this study finds that females represent an increasingly visible and instrumental component of doctoral education within the discipline. Females comprised at least 50% of faculty members within seven doctoral programs, and seven programs had female administrators. Most importantly, a majority of the hires over the previous 12?years were female. Assuming this trend continues, a once male-dominated academic discipline will soon find itself in the midst of unprecedented change.     

论我国刑事诉讼缺席判决制度之构建

缺席判决作为诉讼中一种重要的结案方式,在我国的民事诉讼法和行政诉讼法中都有明确规定。然而在我国的刑事诉讼法中,缺席判决制度无疑是一种缺憾,与现行的诉讼经济理念相违背,也不利于诉讼公正的实现。本文认为,应该借鉴国外先进立法经验,结合我国的司法经验和实际国情,构建我国的刑事诉讼缺席判决制度。     

科学发展观视阈中的刑事和解制度价值之分析

随着科学发展观等一系列重大战略思想的提出,刑事和解作为一种与传统的诉讼机制不同的解纷机制,引起了理论界和实务界的重视。全国多个地方的检察机关和法院开展了刑事和解的探索与尝试。如何正确认识刑事和解制度的价值就具有重要的意义。文章在科学发展观的视阈下,分析了刑事和解制度的哲学基础价值、恢复正义价值、诉讼效益价值、刑事政策价值以及社会建设价值。