The needs of students seeking graduate degrees in criminal justice have shifted significantly over the past few decades, and this shift has been in conjunction with the changes to the field of criminology and criminal justice. Indeed, criminal justice graduate students today must not only master criminological theory, research, and administrative policy but also need computer and writing skills, as well as exposure to race, gender, and ethical issues. This study examines the focus that modern-day criminal justice graduate programs place on these areas by reviewing their curricula. Specifically, the authors examined 118 criminal justice masters programs that had curricula online during the spring and summer semesters of 2004. They found that the programs' curricula continue to place strong emphasis on traditional courses such as research, theory, and criminal justice administration, while placing less emphasis on courses centering on race, gender, ethics, computer applications, and comparative criminal justice.
The study was designed to compare the Rorschach protocols of violent murderers with nonviolent offenders. A total of 46 convicted male felons, that is, 23 violent murderers and 23 nonviolent offenders with a mean age of 34.43 and 32.48, respectively, participated in the study. Each subject was administered a Rorschach utilizing the Exner Comprehensive System for administration, scoring, and interpretation. The two groups differed at a .01 level of significance on 7 of the 22 variables that were subjected to a one-way analysis of variance. The violent murderers had a greater distortion of perceptual accuracy and cognitive mediation. In addition, they demonstrated a higher potential for impulsivity and vulnerability to stress. Both groups had a high frequency of ambitents, T-less protocols, and difficulty with emotional modulation. Although these findings should be viewed as tentative, they provide some initial information on the differences between the groups. Further study will be needed to replicate and extend the results.
To assess whether use of early recollections could be valuable as a tool for the selection of criminal justice interest areas the early recollections of 40 criminal justice majors and noncriminal justice majors were compared. The Manaster-Perryman scoring manual, covering 37 variables in 7 categories, was employed. Total scores on each variable were treated by chi-squared to identify differences. Analysis indicated that criminal justice majors have particular feelings regarding mother, concern for detail, illness and injury themes, new situation themes, work outdoors, travel, and homes of nonfamily members settings. These significant differences may suggest personality variables associated with interest in the criminal justice system. With additional research an instrument may be developed for selection of criminal justice personnel.
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