The Educational Background of the Most-Cited Scholars in Criminology and Criminal Justice

• In Event: The Role of Institutional Claims-Makers in Shaping Public Narratives About Crime and Safety

Abstract

Educational background is a factor that may help explain scholarly influence. This study updates one conducted by Fabianic (1999) which examined the educational background of influential scholars in criminology and criminal justice (CCJ). We used the lists of most-cited scholars identified by Cohn, Farrington, & Skinner (2003) and identified their academic background, including the university where they obtained their Ph.D. (or other terminal degree), the year in which this degree was obtained, and the field of study. The study found that the 146 scholars graduated from 76 different institutions. Overall, 18 institutions produced 50% of the most-cited scholars while 56% of the institutions produced only one scholar each. The most common majors were sociology (31%), psychology (28%), and CCJ (26%). We compared the results of this study to those of the previous work to identify changes over time.

Authors

• Ellen G. Cohn, Florida International University

• Gabriella Zelaya, Florida International University