Reexamining Criminal Justice “Star Power” in a Larger Sky: A Belated Response to Rice et al. on Sociological Influence in Criminology and Criminal Justice

Abstract

To assess scholarly productivity in criminology and the criminal justice sciences, Cohn, Farrington, and Sorensen (2005, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 11, 35–48) and Rice, Cohn, and Farrington (2005, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 16(2), 244–264) identified cohorts of research “stars” who both graduated from criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) doctoral programs from 1988 to 1997 and authored frequent journal publications. Since stardom’s threshold criterion was a criminology or criminal justice PhD, sociology PhDs were categorically excluded. This operationalization problematically excludes and marginalizes sociology graduates specializing in crime, deviance, and law. The current study assessed the relative influence of sociology and CCJ doctoral programs on CCJ via publication measures drawn from an integrated cohort of prolific sociology, criminology, and criminal justice PhDs. Replicating aspects of Rice et al.’s (2005) methodology, this study updated productivity numbers, expanded journal analysis from 20 to 70 criminology and criminal justice journals, and calculated weighted rankings, following Sorensen, Snell and Rodriguez (2006, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 17(2), 297–322). The super cohort’s relative rankings suggested that sociology PhDs have remained influential in criminology and criminal justice.

Notes

1. The only exception was Advances in Criminological Theory, which Sorensen et al. (2006) included.

2. Several authors’ publication counts were identical causing two‐ and three‐way ties.