Teaching as Adjunct in Criminal Justice either online or B/M

Discussion in 'Online & DL Teaching' started by dhs320, Apr 15, 2012.

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  1. dhs320

    dhs320 New Member

    I currently have a bachelors in criminal justice with a 4.0 and will be retiring from the federal government early. A goal of mine is to teach so I am looking into graduate programs online. I noticed that most schools want a minimum of a masters and some want a terminal degree in a specialty. Along with master's programs, I have looked into Concord Law School as another option. Law has always been an interest of mine and it is regionally and nationally accredited so would a JD degree that is RA improve my qualifications and chances? Any insight will be appreciated.
     
  2. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    To teach at the undergrad level, you'll need at minimum an RA Master's in Criminal Justice, so the NA Concord degree will be of limited to no use. To teach at the graduate level, you'll need an RA doctorate, or a RA J.D. in addition to a RA Master's in CJ. Those are the recommended standards from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and most schools seem to adhere to them.
     
  3. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Concord was acquired by RA Kaplan University in 2007. Concord degrees have been RA ever since (although Concord still holds NA from DETC as well).

    So a Concord JD is an RA degree, although it lacks the professional accreditation from ABA that is usually associated with RA JD degrees.
     
  4. jam937

    jam937 New Member

    Just because they were acquired by Kaplan Univ. doesn't mean they get Kaplan's accreditation. Below is what is on Concord's website. Sounds like they are NA to me.

    Concord Law School Accreditation
    Kaplan University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA).* Concord Law School is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)** and registered with the California Committee of Bar Examiners.
    About Law Programs at Concord Law School | Concord Law School
     
  5. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    As noted above by jam937, Concord Law School appears to be DETC-accredited, and not RA.
     
  6. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Yes it does. Concord was merged with Kaplan, and since they are now a division of Kaplan, they fall under Kaplan's regional accreditation.

    Want proof? Kaplan University is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. You can easily check Kaplan's accreditation status with NCA.

    And if you do, you will see that NCA includes "Concord Law School of Kaplan University", in Los Angeles, as one of Kaplan's out-of-state operations (Kaplan's headquarters are in Iowa).

    Furthermore, you will see that Kaplan's regional accreditation includes explicit authorization to grant the following degrees:

    Doctor - 22.0000 Legal Studies, General (Executive JD) (Internet)
    Doctor - 22.0101 Law (Juris Doctor) (Internet)

    So Kaplan is clearly authorized to grant regionally accredited internet law degrees. Those are the Concord degrees. Kaplan doesn't operate any other internet law schools.

    It's both. Concord still has its old DETC accreditation, but now they have RA through Kaplan as well.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 15, 2012
  7. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Want more proof? Look up "Concord Law School of Kaplan University" in the US Dept. of Education's "Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs". Here's a shortcut.

    And here's what you'll get:

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 15, 2012
  8. dhs320

    dhs320 New Member

    As of 2007, Concord Law School became Regionally Accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and prior to that was NA by DETC. So with that put aside, I assume a J.D. that is Regionally Accredited will satisfy the requirement?
     
  9. If you only want to teach criminal justice class and not practice law then you would probably be better off not getting the J.D. in my opinion. If you check out higheredjobs.com then you will notice that most of the jobs don't even mention a J.D.. It may be better for you to obtain a Ph.D instead if you feel the need to have a terminal degree. The only jobs that I have seen involving CJ and mentioning a J.D. have stated that "a J.D. alone does not meet the qualifications. The candidate must have a J.D. and Master's in Criminal Justice (or related field) in order to be qualified". I have never worked in hiring process of faculty, but to my understanding when it comes to CJ most schools prefer the "seasoned veteran". With your government service (assuming that's law enforcement of some kind) and a Master's then you may be able to find a adjunct spot. That would be quicker and decent place to start.
     
  10. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    One other point to note here is that for JD degrees, the accreditation that really counts is ABA, not RA. It's true that Concord's JD degrees are RA, but they are not ABA. So they may not be accepted as "real" JD degrees, even with the RA.

    ABA accreditation guarantees that a JD degree will be accepted by state bars nationwide. Since Concord doesn't have it, they are forced to state that :

    In other words, Concord JD degrees are not guaranteed to be bar-qualifying in any state other than California. In practice, some state bars have accepted Concord JDs under some circumstances; other state bars will not accept them under any circumstances. The RA does not really matter in this regard; what matters is the lack of ABA. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if the lack of ABA accreditation was also a handicap in academia.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 15, 2012
  11. dhs320

    dhs320 New Member

    Interesting thought..I guess I would have to see about that. I figured since it would be a regionally accredited 92 credit doctorate level degree beyond a masters it would be acceptable.
     
  12. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    It's not "beyond a masters," though. A J.D. is a professional doctorate that requires only a BA/BS for admission (and you can even be admitted in some places without the completed BA/BS).

    The master's degree in law (LL.M.) is actually a higher degree than the J.D.

    The "highest" degree in law is the J.S.D., which is essentially a research-based degree in law. This degree isn't all that common, though, as law schools permit professors to be full professors with only the J.D. The LL.M. is fairly common, though, as it permits specialization in certain fields of law.
     
  13. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Historically, the first legal degree was the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B).
    More advanced study led to the Master of Laws (LL.M.)

    American law schools "rebranded" the LL.B. degree as the J.D. in the 1960s and 1970s. But they did not rebrand the LL.M. So in the US legal education system, the "master's" degree is now higher than the "doctoral" degree.

    Many older attorneys (including several current members of the US Supreme Court) still hold LL.B. degrees. They don't have the J.D., or any other "doctoral" degrees.

    In most other common-law countries (like Britain or Australia), the first degree in law is still the LL.B.
     
  14. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Another potential issue might be your state's policies on the use of the "J.D". title. This is a professional degree, and so professional regulations come into play, even if you do not plan to use the degree to practice law.

    When the general public sees someone with the title of "J.D.", they will typically assume that person is qualified to practice law. In the same way, if you met someone using the title of "M.D", you would probably assume that person was qualified to practice medicine.

    So state bars tend to get uncomfortable when the "J.D." title is advertised by someone who is not a licensed attorney in that state. They might be particularly touchy in the case of Concord JD degrees, since such degrees are not even bar-qualifying in many (perhaps most) states.

    Some state bars require unlicensed JDs to post legal disclaimers in this situation. If you have a valid JD degree, you can advertise that fact, but you must also disclose that you are not licensed to practice law in that state. In the case of a Concord JD outside California, it might also be necessary to disclose that the JD degree is not recognized by the state bar association.

    More discussion of the isse in the ABA Journal here.

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 16, 2012

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