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Created: December 10, 2003
Latest Update: December 10, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Criminal Justice Curriculum Integration

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, December 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

Lacunae in Present CJ Curriculum:

Heavy emphasis towards "cleaning up the streets" and making our communities "safe" ignore the underlying social problems that have created such unsafe conditions and focus on a dichotomy of "labeled" folks who are either good, bad, or "apathetic."

A criminal justice/social justice course on relabeling communities and community members. Would need to include community participation in at least the preparation of some of the course materials. Would need to emphasize the answerability of "all" community members and would need to teach the means of participatory work with a community and would need to establish the means of creating forums in which all voices could be expressed.

Recommended this start in our traditional classrooms with teaching an understanding of answerability and establishing means of developing both answerability and accountability. Start with visual presentation and application. Segue into the reading of related theory. Segue into outreach programs that are participatory. Segue into community applications with university and advanced students as resources.

Lacunae of Any Role for an Understanding of Religion, including Atheism, in Present CJ Curriculum

Particularly in the present east/west concern for religious guidance and "truth" answerability becomes an essential component of non-agression. Answerability here means the ability of the Other to hold a different perspective from that of Person, in an area of knowing where "truth" either does not exist or cannot be proven by means available to humans at this time.

Convict criminology has already developed an entire sequence of studies in this area.

Community self policing would also fit into this area, though it has not been so developed.

Victimology also fits, but has not been so developed. I do not suggest that an understanding of deviance and violence be fit into victimology, but that such understanding be the focus of parallel courses, essential to breaking the cycle of violence.

Methodology

Program would need strong methodological component on participatory development of visual tools, and on participatory teaching. Would need to bring in the community on all levels. With the same kind of segue suggested above.

Theory, of course, would be included throughout the program, with same kind of visual to application to theory cycle.

Conclusions

This kind of development would link several new directions in sociology, would provide strong links with the traditional cop-training aspect that makes CJ attractive to PA, would emphasize that cop-training is a minute piece of CJ and would demand that such training programs open up to the more complex training providing by communications, sociology, anthropology, and governance.

Such a program should draw many students besides those interested in the planned PA CJ program, for many such students are scattered throughout the school looking for something that seems to make a difference in their lives. This would.