Incorporating Writing in Criminal Justice Curriculum

Abstract

While the ability to communicate in writing is important for criminal justice professionals, criminal justice educators continue to express concern about the poor writing and analytic skills of their students. To address this problem, instructors should routinely incorporate writing assignments into their classes, thereby providing students the opportunity to develop research and writing skills through practice. Some instructors identify a number of obstacles to assigning more writing, including lack of student interest. This paper describes one professor's experience assigning a series of papers in two small, introductory-level criminology classes (17 and 19 students) and concludes that criminal justice students are not only willing to take classes which include a substantial writing component, but also that they appreciate the professional value of writing about criminal justice issues.

Notes

1. New England College (NEC) is a small, liberal arts institution which ordinarily offers one Criminology class per semester, with enrollments of 15–20 students per class. This small sample size admittedly limits the utility of these findings. This author nevertheless believes that these survey responses provide relevant insights into students’ perceptions of criminal justice classes which incorporate writing assignments.