An Inventory of Juvenile Justice Curriculum in the Largest Criminal Justice/Criminology Programs in the US

• In Event: Evaluating the State of Juvenile Justice

Abstract

As more attention is focused on juvenile justice and delinquency prevention in the United States, there is a growing need for students, academic professionals, and practitioners to offer and receive more formalized instruction through criminal justice programs. To examine the prevalence of juvenile justice courses and concentrations across the United States, the researchers began with a pilot study containing a smaller selection of cases (n = 96 schools). After engaging in a limited analysis, the researchers conducted a study with a larger and more inclusive sample (n = 402 schools). For the larger study, the target sample was public and private institutions (five of each type in each state, as well as Washington, D.C.) with the largest overall enrollment that had a criminal justice or criminology program. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that colleges rarely offer more than one juvenile justice course; even fewer offer a multi-course concentration on the topic. The discussion of findings includes school characteristics correlated with offering a greater variety of undergraduate juvenile justice classes, as well as graduate classes. Recommendations concerning the benefits and obstacles related to offering more juvenile and youth courses are also explored.

Authors

• Sarah J. Giarrusso, University of New Haven

• Danielle Cooper, University of New Haven