NCJ Number
79300
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1980) Pages: 5-11
Date Published
1980
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The extent to which criminal justice education has achieved its stated objectives to date is examined, and conceptual modification of the focus of criminal justice education is recommended.
Abstract
There is little evidence that criminal justice education has achieved its primary goals of reducing the crime rate or substantially improving the functioning of the criminal justice system. Further, criminal justice education has tended to endorse the rules and standards of the current system more than it has sought additional truth and advocated needed changes. The narrow focus of criminal justice education has precluded its producing leadership with the knowledge and perceptions necessary to guide the criminal justice system in addressing the complex problem of crime. The conceptual base of criminal justice education should be revised toward a commitment to social justice. Social justice involves every citizen experiencing a valued state of existence characterized by selected features. One of these features is the opportunity for every person to compete for societal rewards and to maximize their abilities. Another component of social justice is the notion that action, policies, and decisions affecting people should reflect a rational approach to the circumstances involved and help to achieve desired conditions. Further, social justice requires the redress of grievances and the constant review of goals and objectives to determine if the system that influences people's lives is producing social justice. In stimulating the broad concern for social justice among students, criminal justice education can produce a leadership that will use the power of the criminal justice system, in cooperation with other powerful agencies and institutions, to attack the social injustice that breeds crime. Seven references are listed.