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7 American J. Crim. Just. 3 (1982)

handle is hein.journals/acnjrlocm7 and id is 1 raw text is: A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Almost since the beginning of criminal justice edu- cation in institutions of higher education, there have been charges that instruction has been too technocratic--con- cerned with nuts and bolts and standard operating pro- cedures of criminal justice agencies. In the last decade, major studies have assailed a lack of consideration of the philosophic and theoretical underpinnings and issues con- cerning crime and justice. This real or perceived failure led some faculty members in more established disciplines to look with suspicion (and sometimes disdain) at crimi- nal justice education. It also stood in the way of crimi- nal justice faculty being afforded the same respect (and often the same salaries and rank and promotion opportuni- ties) as other faculty. Much of this has changed in the past few years--thanks to changes emanating from recommendations of national com- missions and of studies accomplished by the major academic/ professional associations in this young field of study. The Southern Association of Criminal Justice Educators can be proud that it was one of the earliest groups to call for academic parity for criminal justice education, while, at the same time, establishing standards for classroom and campus activities that would make criminal justice educa- tion worthy of such parity. The article in this issue by Melissa Hickman, while damning in its own way of criminal justice education, never- theless represents a step forward in the evolution of the discipline. That is, Ms. Hickman, winner of the SACJE Grad- uate Student Award last year, challenges the emphasis of the ideology and theory (as well as the technographic emphasis) of criminal justice education. Ms. Hickman cites the moral panic theory concerning creation of an inordinate fear of crime, far out of proportion to reported crime rates. She indicts the emphasis on crime control and solving the pro- blems of police, courts and corrections through the justice model, with its emphasis on tougher enforcement policies and imprisonment, because, she holds, this emphasis ignores ideologies which may better explain crime and justice in America, She warns criminal justice students to be wary of education that assumes a concensus viewpoint on Ameri- can values and thus supports the status quo--protection of the property and lifestyle of the ruling upper classes. 3