Criminology/Criminal Justice Representation in the Discipline of Sociology: Changes between 1992 and 2002

This paper examines changes in the representation of criminology, as an area of specialization, in the discipline of sociology between 1992 and 2002. Utilizing the ASA Guide to Graduate Programs in Sociology, we note faculty areas of specialization. We expect that criminology will appear more often as a specialty area in 1992 than 2002. All full‐time faculty in U.S. graduate programs in sociology are included in the analyses. We found no significant change in listing criminal justice as a specialty between 1992 and 2002. Our findings suggest that faculty with terminal degrees from less prestigious institutions and those who teach in less prestigious institutions are more likely to list criminology as a specialty area.     

Faculty Employment Trends in Criminology and Criminal Justice

The academic job search process is perhaps one of the most important and stressful events for scholars hoping to gain full‐time employment in academia. The stress that this process induces is due, at least in part, to the fact that candidates are forced to make important, life‐changing decisions with very little information. The goal of the present study is to provide an update on faculty employment trends in criminology and criminal justice by examining faculty position announcements posted in The Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) from August 2004 to July 2009. Findings reveal that candidates seeking assistant professor positions will have the most choice, as positions posted at this rank make up the largest category of advertisements. Furthermore, when a specialization was included in the announcement, most departments sought those with a law enforcement focus, followed by generalists.     

Measuring Journal Prestige in Criminal Justice and Criminology

Recent years have seen an increased reliance on the Thomson Reuters Journal Impact Factor (JIF) as a method of evaluating the prestige of academic journals. While the JIF has existed for many years, the increased use of technology to track publications and citations has resulted in other methods of measuring prestige, including Google Scholar’s H-index and Elsevier’s Cite Score. It is unclear, however, whether these “objective” methods of evaluation are correlated with the journals’ reputations among scholars. This paper compares objective and subjective evaluations of journals in criminal justice and criminology among a sample of ASC and ACJS members. Our findings indicate that subjective evaluations of experts are more strongly correlated with Google’s H-Index and Elsevier’s Cite Score than with impact factors. We conclude that for criminal justice and criminology scholars, Thomson Reuters’ JIF may not be the best measure of quality.     

Bridging the Normative Gap in Graduate Criminal Justice Curricula: Teaching Theories of Justice

Feminist criminology is a vital and growing area of scholarship, but it is not making its way into the classroom. This paper assesses the reasons why such material is not used frequently, makes a case for why it should be used, particularly in a liberal arts curriculum, and offers suggestions for how it can be used.     

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.     

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.     

Promoting the Study of Wrongful Convictions in Criminal Justice Curricula

Criminal justice education promotes interdisciplinary learning, critical thinking skills, and ethical decision making. A course on wrongful convictions falls squarely within that paradigm, as it draws upon criminology, criminal justice, law, psychology, and forensic science to examine basic assumptions about the criminal justice system and the actors within it. In a wrongful convictions course, students learn to think critically about the criminal justice system, and what happens when it fails to function as it should. Students identify practice and policy reforms that improve the accuracy and reliability of the system. This article first considers the broad objectives of criminal justice education. It next situates the subject of wrongful convictions squarely within criminal justice education curricula. Finally, this article provides a comprehensive overview of an effective undergraduate course in wrongful convictions. It sets out clear goals, learning units, and potential resources for members of the academy who might be interested in developing such a course.     

Persona Non Grata: The Marginalization of Legal Scholarship in Criminology and Criminal Justice Journals

Recently, concern has been voiced within the academy regarding the marginalization of legal scholarship within the criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) discipline. Although conventional wisdom and anecdotal evidence indicate that it is difficult to get legal scholarship published in CCJ journals, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the representation of legal scholarship in CCJ journals. The present study assesses the representation of legal scholarship in 20 CCJ journals from 2005 to 2015, examining both trends over time and variation across journals. Findings indicate legal scholarship comprises a very small portion of articles published, there has been a steep decline in the number of legal articles published in recent years, and the average number of legal articles per year is very low for nearly all of the journals in the sample. The implications of the marginalization of legal scholarship within the CCJ discipline are discussed.     

律师与司法公正

司法公正是司法的最高价值理念,其基本内涵就是要在司法活动的过程和结果中坚持和体现公平与正义的原则.为了实现司法公正,司法实践中必须坚持司法人权,并对司法实施有效监督.律师作为广泛参与司法实践的非司法人员,其执业行为对司法公正有着独特的影响.律师是司法人权的忠实捍卫者,是司法监督的有效实施者,是程序公正的直接推动者,是实体公正的积极践行者.     

Everything Old is New Again: The Criminology/Criminal Justice Freshman Research Seminar

This is a report of an action-research project undertaken in tandem with the development of a new freshman seminar in criminology and criminal justice. In the freshman seminar the goal is to teach the research, critical thinking and writing skills that are the underpinnings of scholarship and good citizenship. Utilizing a unique approach, this class focuses on resources available through the University library and is taught by a professor, two librarians and a graduate teaching assistant. We hypothesize that freshmen who experience this seminar will show improvement in critical thinking skills, and that this will contribute to greater levels of academic success. This report describes the educational innovation (seminar) in sufficient detail to make replication possible, and presents preliminary findings that indicate the seminar enhances research and writing skills, fosters ability to think critically, and has a positive influence on students’ academic careers.     

h-Index and m-Quotient Benchmarks of Scholarly Impact in Criminology and Criminal Justice: A Preliminary Note

Because Scopus and metrics like the h-index and m-quotient have become increasingly popular for assessing the impact of social science scholarship, criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) departments may be tempted to use those metrics when making important decisions like tenure and promotion. However, since no discipline-wide standards based on those metrics yet exist, CCJ departments have no comparative basis for interpreting the results of citation analyses of a particular faculty member’s scholarship. To identify what a set of disciplinary standards might look like, we used Scopus and calculated mean and median h-index and m-quotient values for faculty members (n?=?504) in CCJ Ph.D. granting departments (n?=?35) by rank and for editorial board members (n?=?91) of Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. Our results illustrate how comparative disciplinary standards could be developed and used by those in CCJ departments to assess the impact of faculty members’ scholarship.     

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.     

Changes in Scholarly Influence in Major American Criminology and Criminal Justice Journals Between 1986 and 2005

To investigate changes in scholarly influence in criminology and criminal justice over 20 years, the most‐cited scholars in six major American journals were determined for 2001–05, and the results were compared with those obtained for 1996–2000, 1991–95, and 1986–90. The most‐cited scholars in 2001–05 were Robert J. Sampson in American criminology journals and Francis T. Cullen in American criminal justice journals. Highly cited scholars in American criminology journals focused on longitudinal/criminal career research and/or criminological theories, while those in American criminal justice journals focused on these topics or on criminal justice issues. Some highly cited authors were specialized, with one or two highly cited major works, while others were versatile, with many different works cited a few times each. Over time, older scholars such as Marvin E. Wolfgang were cited less often, while younger scholars such as Robert J. Sampson were increasingly cited. The waxing and waning of criminological influence careers are documented.     

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.     

Successful Transitions to Graduate School: Using Orientations to Improve Student Experiences in Criminology and Criminal Justice Programs

The initial transition to graduate school provides a critical opportunity for promoting a positive educational experience among incoming students. This study discusses the importance of this transition and then describes a novel student-led orientation approach to facilitating successful entry of new students into criminology and criminal justice graduate degree programs. Results from an evaluation of this approach are presented. Analyses of focus group and student survey data indicate that graduate students matriculating into a criminology and criminal justice program in a southern state felt welcomed and found the information, guidance, and social networks that they developed to be helpful. At the same time, students identified ways the orientation could be improved for future cohorts. A student-led orientation, along with evaluation of it, provides a promising strategy for criminology and criminal justice graduate programs to create positive educational and professionalization experiences for their students.     

Perceptions of the Trend of Collaborative Publications: Results from a Survey of Criminal Justice and Criminology Department Chairs

Department heads are unique academic positions which can bridge the worlds of faculty and administration. As such, they are sometimes in the unique position where their perceptions and experiences can have real-world impact in the realm of assessing a colleague’s work, tweaking departmental policies of promotion and advancement, and mentoring. While faculty members of all levels have opinions of collaboration, department heads are the leaders who can actually act upon those perceptions, yet these perceptions have not been examined. This study addresses this gap in a survey of Criminal Justice and Criminology department heads (n?=?73). The survey varied authorship order, journal prestige, medium of journal, and also examined co-author prestige. In addition, 12 years of 20 criminal justice journals were coded for solo-authored publications. Results demonstrated differential publication trends between top tier and lower tiered journals, and that department heads attributed these trends as a combination of increasing social research networks and more pragmatic concerns. Of particular interest, is the differential value respondents placed on solo-authored work and collaborative work even when taking into consideration prestige of the journal.     

Exploring the Scholarly Output of Academic Organization Leadership in Criminology and Criminal Justice: A Research Note on Publication Productivity

A number of studies analyzing publication productivity of criminology and criminal justice scholars have emerged in recent years. More specifically, this body of literature applies varied cross‐sectional and longitudinal methodological approaches to demonstrate the publication productivity of scholars. Furthermore, these studies often diverge in their operationalization of the key construct of interest (publication productivity); however, one relative consistency is the list of “elite” criminology and criminal justice journals. This study seeks to explore the elite publication productivity among recent executive board members of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences along with the board members of Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ regional affiliate associations. Comparisons are made between and within organizations/associations, and individual board member rankings are also presented. The results of this study indicate that publishing in the elite criminology and criminal justice journals is rare and there is variation across organizations/associations and variation among their respective members in the rate of publishing in these elite journals. Suggestions for future research examining publication productivity are also discussed.