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.     

Predicting Academic Success: A Longitudinal Study of University Design Students

This article presents a longitudinal study, over eleven years, of the academic progress of a cohort of design students (n = 475) at a major Australian university. The students were from four different spatial design disciplines: architecture, industrial design, interior design, and landscape architecture. The article identifies cognitive variables that may predict future academic success. This research uses regression analysis to identify correlations across a range of variables, in particular exploring the relationship between university entrance scores, subjects studied at school (art and graphics) and academic success as defined by university grade point average and time to completion. This study shows that prior knowledge in art and graphics is not a useful predictor of future academic success, while university entrance scores and first year performance are related to ongoing academic success. These results suggest that for the design disciplines explored here, discipline‐specific prior knowledge is not an important requirement for university entrance.