criminal justice/criminology vs. cj administration

Hello,

I have been searching for a distance Master's CJ program, but recently found out there there is a new off-campus Masters of Criminal Justice Administration degree that will be offered close to me. It is an accelerated program that meets once a week for 4 hours over the course of 1.5 years.

What are the pros/cons of a regular cj degree vs. cj administration. My ultimate goal is to be an adjunct, teaching cj at the college level. I am currently a police officer but will be getting promoted soon to sergeant. I looked at the course offerings and like what I see. I think the cja would be beneficial to me personally in my understanding of leadership and supervision, but it is not necessary for further promotion as these positions are civil service based.

Also, should there be any concern about a first year program? Another local college has been offering a Masters in Management under the same type of program (accelerated, off-campus, one night a week) that has gained popularity by many local businesses over the years.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

For the most part, teaching CJ at the college level requires a graduate degree "somewhere close" to the area that you would be teaching... most institutions (that are practitioner-oriented) will check for the graduate degree, note your civilian employment as a Police Sergeant (assuming you get promoted), and if you pass the "not a weirdo" test (based on personal impressions of you), they should pick you up... if they have an opening for you... and someone better than you doesn't enter the picture at the same time...

I'm going to offer that the degree gets you in the door... and your experience does the rest...

Now of course if the program is more research than practitioner-oriented, where you earned the degree, exactly what it is in, and the coursework subject matter might just matter more...

Regarding the first year of the program... if it matters at all... the most important factor is probably who the institution is... rather than the newness of the program...

 

There is a theory that a cop should get a Bachelors in business management and a Masters in CJ because it is the Masters degree that enables you to teach in that particular field. I got a Bachelors in business management and I hated it because it was boring and has no practical application to what I do in the real world (I'm a cop too).

There is really no difference between criminology, criminal justice and criminal justice administration, at least not in the big picture. My Masters is in criminology, but it was geared towards:
- human resource issues, such as hiring, firing, etc.
- liability issues, such as training and supervision, etc.
- theories behind criminality e.g. the broken windows theory, comstat, et al.

 

I respectfully beg to differ... I believe that there IS a difference... although admittedly, perhaps not all schools differentiate...

I see Criminology as being the more theoretical explanation of crime causation... CJ Admin is the administrative-management world within the practical application of CJ... and the "vanilla" CJ degree as being somewhere between the two...

Of course not everyone subscribes to this definition... but I believe that the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences would somewhat agree with me on this...

Returning to the original question though... will it make a difference??? Only if you're trying to be an adjunct in a non-practitioner program (and in that case you probably need to have a doctorate, or be well known locally for something (like being the Police Chief, Undersheriff, or a "well published" somebody)...

 

Grrr... this turned into a double post... sorry...

 

Not to sound completely dumb, but what do you mean by non-practictioner?

me again...what are studying for your phd?

 

Hi JH50 and Bruce,
I also asked this very same question before and I find the following answer from CoachTurner very inspiring:

KK


See...

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20080

CoachTurner wrote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Criminal Justice is often intended as a subfield of sociology while Criminal Justice Administration is a subfield of Public Administration.

CJ would consider the "why" of criminal behavior and the implications of the variety of avenues proposed to reduce the social and individual impact of criminal behavior. It is generally an area of academic inquiry and you might expect some research component in the CJ MSc/MA.

CJA would consider more the hands-on "how" of rehabilitating criminals and the techniques of managing institutional populations and the personnel of those institutions. You might expect a bit more business component to the CJA MSc.

That said, many programs do not follow this pattern and some even call their "Law Enforcement Administration" (an entirely different animal) programs by the CJ or CJA titles.

If you plan a career in the administration of criminal justice or in law enforcement management, then the CJA style is probably what you want.

If you are deeply concerned about why criminals act the way they do and you wish to better understand (and maybe resolve) the social implications of criminal behavior, then the CJ academic style is probably what you want to find.

Most important -- ignore the title of the degree for a moment and examine the degree content to be sure it is what you are looking for. There's no reason a university couldn't offer an MBA with a specialization in criminal justice administration for example. I'd bet there are MPA programs for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice management types. I know that there are MA (sociology) programs with concentrations in criminal justice and criminology.

Forensic Science programs are most often found in the programs they are most directly related to. If that's the interest then look in anthropology (UTn), computer science (Western Carolina), accounting (alot of places), and chemistry departments among others...

It seems to me that both of the programs you cited lean toward the CJA with a touch in academic study of criminology.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FYI, I was referring to the following two programs in the question:
1. Southwest U MSCJ - http://www.southwest.edu/degreeprogs/mscj.htm
2. Columbia Southern U MSCJA - http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/dis...degree/MCJ.html

KK

 

Yep, I agree that in theory, it is supposed to be that way, but in actuality, they are all about the same. If you look at the curriculum that is required for a degree in criminology vs. criminal justice vs. criminal justice administration, I would venture to say that the difference would be minimal, if at all. Furthermore, a CJ degree from one school is likely to be vastly different from a CJ degree from another school.

My Masters is in criminology, but if your theory were to be accurately applied to the real world, then my degree should be aptly re-titled Criminal Justice Administration.

 

Sorry for the delay in responding... I was up to my neck in allegators at work...

There are usually two orientations in academe for graduate degrees... Practitioner and Research...

The practitioner-oriented degrees are for those who are practitioners (or wanna-be's) and are not interested in research

The research-oriented degrees are for those who aspire to do research or for those who desire to work in the Ivory Tower of academe...

The practitioner-oriented degrees usually avoid use of the thesis in the graduate curriculum... sometimes this avoidance is accomplished by way of requiring a graduate project (somewhat less than a thesis) or sometimes by adding an extra class or two onto the curriculum

The research-oriented degrees 99.9 to 100 percent of the time require a thesis.

It is true that the subject-matter name of the degree varies by program and institution, and it does not necessarily correspond to exactly what is contained in the curriculum...

 

I totally agree. This is a problem within the field for those who are interested in academe and curriculum design... in reality (the practitioner world) a graduate degree is a graduate degree... with the only real differences occurring between accreditation and where your degree is from.

 

KK,

Be very-very careful here... you have chosen two schools that are DETC accredited and if you want to teach as an adjunct in a regionally accredited program they will most likely turn their nose up at the DETC graduate degree... Now if you want to teach at a DETC accredited institution it is just fine...

Run a search on accreditation for more information in this area... Dr Bear's books are awesome sources of information in this area... It is possible that the institution might accept your degree... but I would hate to spend the cash, put in the work and then have someone snub you.

 

I think a DETC school would still secretly prefer a RA degree so they can put things like "MA Harvard University" in the educational background of their staff. That being said, most DETC schools are "career" oriented almost 100%, or should be, since the research element of their degrees would be of little value to practitioners of said discipline, unless research was a key element to their profession, such as a paralegal.

Also I think that in a DETC school, more emphasis will be placed on an instructor’s experience, not just their education….but I could be wrong. Bruce is the man with experience here.

As for the various degree offerings...Criminology of course is the study of crime, its causes, etc. (You guys know this of course)

Criminal Justice ....would seem to be more of a study of a system with a nod towards criminology, law, etc.

Criminal Justice Admin.....would seem to be a management degree within the Criminal Justice system, thus be focused upon that while giving the learner a fundamental background in CJ.

Forensic Science....is what it is...science based upon forensic evidence. I believe this degree will grow in popularity with shows like CSI becoming all the rage (albeit they are grossly misleading).

As for which degree would be most useful for teaching…it depends on the course I would think. For instance, if I am looking for an instructor for Criminal Justice Leadership, then a graduate in Criminal Justice Admin may fit the ticket…

My .02

 

If God grants me the ability, patience and money, it will eventually be a DBA with a specialization in CJ. The dissertation will be something in the CJ field.

 

So what would be the difference between criminal justice administration and criminal justice counceling...obviously one is administration and one counceling but does anyone know the different types of jobs these would be or would they be quite simular?

I know I want a degree in CJ, but I guess Im not sure exactly what I want to do with it after college. So if you could just explain the different jobs for the two I would greatly appreciate it! Not finding much on the internet.

Thanks!

 

Who is offering a degree in criminal justice counseling? The reason I ask is because I've never heard of it.

 

Neither have I, but it's Peru State College. I didn't find much on their website about it in general, but when I filled out the application I had to chose one or the other.

 

I guess a school can name their degrees just anything they want and I guess it would depend on:
- What the department chair wants
- and/or what is most marketable for that particular area.
A perfect example of a more marketable title is CJ Administration. Over the last two years, a lot of schools have been adding "Administration" to the end of their CJ degrees, probably because it implies that it will help the student to run an agency --- as opposed to just an ordinary CJ degree. However, in my book they are all virtually the same. LOL

There was a time when a Bachelors in business administration was all the rage... and then someone started offering degrees in business management... and pretty soon almost everyone was offering degrees in business management. But if the curriculums were compared (between business administration & business management), I'm not sure that we would find a qualitative difference between the two!!! What does that tell me??? That the "name" of a degree is extremely important, regardless of the the underlying curriculum is!!!

 

This is very true. A local college started a Masters in Organizational Management, a program for working professionals. This year the degree is called Masters in Strategic Leadership. Same curriculum I believe.

As far as my future educational prospects, I have decided to wait as I want to be sure that the degree I obtain will be beneficial personally and professionally.

 

Melissa,

The Counseling degree sounds like it's more towards the corrections or community corrections spectrum of CJ... Of course, many police officers do counseling on an hourly basis (discussions over your speeding, your inability to get along with your neighbor, or any number of things)... What you could do with this degree depends on the curriculum, your immagination and your future employers ability to envision you in their agency.

The Administration degree is intended as a degree for people in police management (usually Sergeants and higher)... however now-a-days even "wanna-be's" take these programs.

The utility of a CJ degree (including the various associated flavors, CJA, Criminology, Forensics, etc.) is mostly dependent on what I mentioned above.

If I was doing it all over again (and I am, just not in CJ work any more), I would chose a program that is vocationally oriented. Forensics programs would be a great example. The counseling degree has utility too.

 

Thanks Bruce that clears it up much better!!!