Mission
Although there are certainly many contributing factors to the success of the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, three are paramount. First, the School has maintained its strong academic emphasis within the context of professional education. A professional school will, by its very nature and mission, maintain close liaison with its constituency, will sponsor the kinds of research necessary to cope with current and long term problems, and will offer a curriculum that reflects the changing needs of the student, practitioner, and academic communities. However, we are not, a professional school in the sense of providing a narrow, technical education. While a number of schools of criminal justice throughout the country have followed such a narrow model, the School of Criminal Justice at MSU continues to stress the importance of a broadly based liberal arts education. This commitment has, and will continue to be reflected in the School’s curriculum, research and public service.
A second factor that has significantly contributed to the success of the School of Criminal Justice has been its holistic approach to the study of criminal justice. Through two comprehensive revisions of the School’s curricula over the past six years we have developed an integrated curriculum at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. All degree candidates (graduate and undergraduate) are required to complete coursework which can be termed “system wide” in emphasis rather than specializing solely in a narrow occupational area within the field of criminal justice. Such coursework broadens the conceptual base for students majoring in criminal justice as well as those who complete coursework in criminal justice on an elective basis.
The third important contribution to the success of the School of Criminal Justice is the link that the School has, and continues to maintain, between academia and those practicing criminal justice in the agency world. Such a link is reflected in the School’s commitment to improving the quality of criminal justice training.
The training of practitioners is an integral part of the School of Criminal Justice. The training component provides the opportunity for academic theories to be shared with the field. By becoming involved with practitioners, the training component opens doors to agencies for field research and student placement opportunities. The feedback that accompanies both the training and the field work greatly assists the collaborative identification of new problems confronting criminal justice agencies and the refinement of thinking.