Rethinking Criminal Justice Education: Applying Experience Credits towards CJ Degree Completion – Generates Dollars, but Does It Make Sense?

Abstract

This article addresses a deceptively simple two-part question: what are the desired core skills obtained by completing the requirements for an undergraduate degree in criminal justice? And is it possible to obtain these skills outside the traditional university setting? Awarding academic credit for training, time spent in occupational roles, or life experiences, has been an oft-discussed topic, and the practice is particularly germane for criminal justice programs due to the large proportion of adult learners returning to school for degree completion or to earn an advanced credential to broaden their career options. The history of experienced-based credits in higher education programs is discussed within the framework of how CJ programs can be reimagined in ways that support likely changes in how future personnel are recruited and educated in the wake of recent deadly force incidents involving police and nonwhite citizens, and efforts to address the country’s reliance on mass incarceration.

Keywords:

• Criminal justice education
• experience credits
• training personnel

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Internal factors include curricular and pedagogical concerns as well as availability of faculty resources; external factors include student feedback and the needs of justice agencies

2 Course syllabus for CRIM.2010, Systemic Issues in Criminal Justice, approved by faculty (Fall, 2020)

3 Police academy training programs are a good example: Kringan and Kringen (2017) have offered a new model for police training that incorporates a community engagement experience into police academy training. This new addition to academy training is based on the notion that the best way to learn about community policing is through interactions with the community. Training academies that follow this model would appear to be a good match with newly designed policing courses offered by universities.

4 In contrast to the United States, training of prison officers in Norway became accredited as a university college education in 2012. The University College of Norwegian Correctional Service (KRUS) is responsible for all education of new recruits, senior officers, and probation officers as well as research. See University College of Norwegian Correctional Service (KRUS),), 2021.

5 While these individuals might leave their jobs in the corrections field, they often use their experience to get a position in another part of the criminal justice system. This movement has been documented under the heading of the multiple career paradigm. See Arthur, Khapova, and Richardson (2017) and Marschall (2019) for further discussion.

6 These incentives and benefits include the well-known GI Bill, but also include educational and career counseling (Chapter 36), as well as additional GI Bill funding that assists students who wish to attend higher-priced private or out-of-state institutions. A full detailing of educational benefits for veterans can be found at https://www.va.gov/education/

7 Although not covered here, we recognize that the reintroduction of Pell Grants (Stratford, 2020) will incentivize universities to include prisoners as an additional nontraditional target group.

8 See Redden (2020).

9 2015 data indicate a completion rate of 54% for veteran students, which is very close to the national average (53%) and higher than the completion rate of all ‘adult learners’ (39%). See Postsecondary National Policy Institute (2019). https://pnpi.org/veterans-in-higher-education/. Veteran student graduation rates, however, remain below the 64% completion rate of traditional students. See National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (2020). https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Completions_Report_2020.pdf

10 An assessment of the Indianapolis police department over twenty years ago found that 31 percent of successful applicants had prior military experience (Decker & Huckabee, 1999).

11 The second author of this article served in the UYA program in 1975. For more information on the UYA program and the VISTA ACTION initiatives, see https://www.vistacampus.gov/vista-timeline-celebrating-50-years-vista-service

12 Table 2 presents only a sampling of the institutions from the USN&WR Criminology rankings and MyDegreeGuide. A full table including all institutions is available from the first/corresponding author.

13 See Walls (2020).

14 Police and corrections training academies are also adding online components.

15 See Fernandes (2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Don Hummer

Don Hummer is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs, Penn State Harrisburg. His research focuses on corrections policy, violence, and the implications of technological advances for justice system actors. He is co-editor of The Culture of Prison Violence (2008) and Handbook of Police Administration (2008). Recent peer-reviewed publications have appeared in The Prison Journal, Federal Probation, Journal of Urban Affairs, and Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology.

James Byrne

James Byrne is a Professor in the School of Criminology and Justice Studies at University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Director of the Global Community Corrections Initiative (www.glob.cci.org). His edited texts include: The Social Ecology of Crime (1986), Smart Sentencing: The Emergence of Intermediate Sanctions (1994), The New Technology of Crime, Law and Social Control (2007), and The Culture of Prison Violence (2008). Dr. Byrne currently serves as a member of the Independent Review Committee responsible for advising the U.S. Attorney General on the design and implementation of the Risk Need Assessment System that is a central component of the Congressionally mandated 2018 First Step Act, a major federal prison reform initiative. Dr. Byrne also serves as a member, Panel of Experts – Correctional Services Advisory and Accreditation Panel, Ministry of Justice, United Kingdom. He previously served as the External Inspector of Prisons, Office of the Inspector General, Queensland Correctional Services, Australia (2014), where he conducted an independent review of the prison assault problem across Queensland's 12 prisons.