Social Work and Criminal Justice Student Support of Civil Liberties

Varying levels of support for civil liberties have been imputed to social work and criminal justice personnel. Assuming students planning to pursue these professional roles reflect attitudes in accordance with anticipated demands of the positions and the effects of preparatory educational experiences, this paper examines the levels of support for selected provisions of the Bill of Rights among social work and criminal justice undergraduate students

Declining Enrollments Of Sociology Majors: Department Responses

Although the number of social science majors is purported to have slightly increased since 1988, in the period immediately prior to that year the figure was declining. Sociology was one of the disciplines to experience this decline. The possible reasons for the reduction include the quality of the subject matter presentation, an increase in career-oriented students, and the loss of those students now majoring in social work and criminal justice who might otherwise have majored in sociology. University administrations facing reduction decisions in the coming years are not likely to look favorably on sociology departments unless those units can position themselves more favorably. Undergraduate sociology departments need to examine ways to strengthen their political positions on campus, such as developing service courses and cooperative arrangements with other programs; generating activities that are associated with public constituencies; and most important of all, learning to do something that university administrations need and perceive to be essential, and therefore are likely to protect. © 1991 Transaction Publishers

Television dramas and homicide causation

Television crime dramas are part of the media presentation of crime and criminals, and they represent an element in the construction of reality about crime by the viewing public. A review of the portrayal of homicide in TV crime dramas is not completely consistent with the official data. An adequate explanation of cause, beyond the plot motive, is lacking in the dramatic portrayal of homicide. Viewing audiences are left with plot motives to explain homicides, and plot motives often legitimize crime fighting proposals and placement of responsibility consistent with an individually oriented explanatory ideology. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

Educational Backgrounds Of Most-Cited Scholars

There are many factors affecting the intellectual terrain of criminal justice. Among these is the educational background of influential scholars. A list of influential scholars was created by using those previously recognized as most-cited in the criminal justice literature. A glimpse at their educational backgrounds was accomplished through Dissertation Abstracts and it was determined that thirteen institutions were the source for the terminal degrees of 65.1 percent of the most-cited scholars in the field. The institutions providing the scholars were located primarily in the east and midwest, and 60.6 percent of the scholars had their terminal degrees in sociology. On the basis of this overview, it was concluded that there has been a concentration in the educational source of scholars in criminal justice. Sociology has been heavily represented among most-cited scholars, and those with degrees in criminal justice and criminology appear much less frequently. In addition, the geographical concentration of institutions from which degrees were received tended to exclude institutions from the southern region of the country. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

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. © 2011 Copyright Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences

Frequently Published Scholars And Educational Backgrounds

Criminal justice is a relatively new, formally recognized academic field, and it is possible to examine various aspects of its development. One subject for study is the intellectual terrain of the field of criminal justice as reflected in journal publications. Concentration of the institutional backgrounds of those making the most frequent contributions to criminal justice journals was examined. A list of institutions granting doctorates to those who contributed most frequently to eight leading journals from 1991 to 1995 revealed that thirty institutions produced the scholars associated with approximately two-thirds of the manuscripts and contributions. A comparison of this list of scholars was made with the institutional origins of most-cited scholars. Some concentration of origin was identified and it is argued that it may be a limiting factor in program development as well as the character of research produced in criminal justice. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd

Publication Productivity Of Criminal Justice Faculty In Criminal Justice Journals

An important dimension of university faculty life is publication expectation. Often the level of publication productivity is used to assess general program prestige or to evaluate individual faculty performance. The publication rates of faculty in PhD and master-level programs have been unclear. This study examined the publication rates using a general list of criminal justice journals, and a select list of the leading journals, over a five-year period. The faculty members were located in criminal justice programs that granted PhD and master degrees. Publication productivity rates were established for the two different degree level programs, and the institutions with the strongest publication rates were identified. Publication rates are only one factor used in the assessment of program quality and the relationship of publication rates to other program features is discussed. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved