JUSTICE WITHOUT BORDERS: THE PRESENCE AND ABSENCE
OF INTERNATIONALISM IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE
GRADUATE CURRICULA
Keith N. Haley
Tiffin University
Scott Blough
Tiffin University
Theodora E.D. Ene
University of Bucharest
John D. Collins
Beckfield College
The article is copyrighted. All rights pertain.
INTRODUCTION
By the close of 2002, just a glance at one of the nation’s major newspapers, a cable TV news show, or an active news website would reveal the prominence of international justice issues that affect America and its citizens. Some of the more conspicuous issues are the new International Court, extradition of fugitive criminals, legal and illegal immigration, overseas deployment of U.S. justice officials, Europe’s staunch resistance to the death penalty in the U.S., and the legion of national and international matters that relate to terrorism. Some of the most pressing issues have to do with adding additional border security personnel, tightening our lax immigration policies, beefing up airport security, coordinating national and international intelligence, and implementing a myriad of other security measures to protect our most vulnerable human and physical targets from terrorist attacks inside the U. S. and overseas.
The authority, jurisdictions, and assignments of our criminal justice agents have also changed, particularly for federal law enforcement officers. In Timisoara, Romania, for example, the Romanian Center for Fighting Drugs and Organized Crime recently joined the U.S. Secret Service in busting up an international credit card cloning operation (Pressreview.ro. 2003). Moreover, the FBI recently opened a field office in Bucharest. With Romania already approved for membership in NATO, these kinds of operations are likely to increase. Overseas deployment of federal agents, in fact, is much more common than it was several yeas ago. But local police officers are also deployed abroad. The New York City Police Department recently sent a senior counterterrorism expert to London to work on a ricin poison case (Rashbaum 2003).
Multi-national private prison systems are also common. Understanding the subtleties of another culture is paramount in providing high-quality criminal justice services in another nation. . A private U.S. prison firm recently got in hot water when it was discovered that its inclusion of the race of the inmate on a jail ID card was considered racist by many corrections officials in Canada (Brennan 2003). The private prison administrators had thought the procedure was standard procedure until the Canadian protest erupted.
Indeed local police agencies have taken on a much larger international role since September 11, 2001. A Dallas police officer, for example, was deployed with the FBI to look for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Some local police officers in Florida have also been appointed as federal officers to help the Immigration and Naturalization Service in controlling illegal immigration (citation). We, of course, have a plethora of situations where local state, and federal agents are working together in new ways to protect the homeland from members of international terrorist organizations. University police officers now serve on regional task forces with federal, state, and local police agents in an attempt to combat terrorism. (citation).
What is the appropriate role of the hundreds of criminal justice degree programs in the United States in promoting an understanding of internationalism and all of its attendant crime and justice related issues as it prepares criminal justice graduates to lead in a demonstrably smaller and more dangerous world? The universities and colleges of America have always been at the forefront of any major societal change as they were in the revolutions in industry, agriculture, and information technology. There is every reason to believe that the institutions of higher learning will play no less of a role in understanding international crime and justice issues that no longer can be ignored.
Engaging in relevant research that promotes an understanding of international justice issues and global interdependency is, of course, critical. But the mission and purpose of a many university curricula in criminal justice should also mandate that the problems and issues of international criminal justice be covered in the studies of criminal justice students, particularly in the curriculum of masters and doctoral programs where the new and current leaders of the field are being prepared.
Literature Review
The globalization of crime has long since resulted in courses in comparative justice system studies and international crime and justice, but they have not become standard fare in the majority of criminal justice curricula in the United States regardless of the calls for a more global approach to criminal justice and criminological research (Adler 1996). Terrell (1983) reported discouraging results of his study of comparative criminal justice courses in colleges as far back as 1983, finding that less than one-third of baccalaureate institutions offered a comparative criminal justice or related course while none of the community colleges did. Several years later a study showed that a little more than half of 128 criminal justice programs offered courses in comparative criminal justice (Esbensen and Blankenship 1989). This comes after the fall of the Berlin wall and the unleashing of freedom in Eastern European nations.
More than a decade later (Cordner, Dammar, and Horvath 2000) discovered equally dispiriting results when they found that only 58 (34%) of 169 criminal justice programs surveyed had some version of comparative or international justice courses in their curricula. This is remarkable in light of an increasingly global economy and the proliferation of international criminal justice issues. Now we live in a post September 11, 2001 world and the need for preparing criminal justice leaders and operations level agents, particularly at the graduate level, to fully understand international justice issues and practice is paramount.
On the other hand, we can be encouraged that the 40th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences has delineated ” The Globalization of Crime and Justice” as its theme for the March 2003 gathering in Boston. An examination of the panel and roundtable presentation agendas contains scores of topics that relate to internationalism and global perspectives on crime and justice. Certainly the university faculty who prepared these papers for presentation in Boston will teach some of this content to their students in the classroom by means of lectures and seminar discussions.
METHODOLOGY
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent internationalism and related content were included in the graduate curricula of criminal justice programs in the United States and other select nations. The specific objectives of our study are below:
l. Review the criminal justice literature concerning the presence of internationalism in the raduate curricula of criminal justice majors.
2. Conduct a content analysis of criminal justice graduate curricula to determine the extent of the presence of internationalism and other program components that provide students with learning content and experiences that teach international justice issues and concepts.
3. Discuss the implications of our findings on the preparation of current and future leaders of criminal justice agencies and university programs awarding graduate degrees in criminal justice.
For the purposes of this study the presence of internationalism in a graduate curriculum would include any course title, curriculum content, or other learning activity that would allow students to transcend national boundaries and learn about the criminal justice agencies, personnel, and procedures of nations beyond the students’ home nation.
Selection of Criminal Justice Graduate Programs
From gradschools.com (a website that lists and describes nearly 54,000 graduate degree programs), the authors identified the curricula of 183 colleges and universities that offered a master's degree in criminal justice as declared in these four different degree nomenclatures:
1. Master of Criminal Justice - MCJ
2. Master of Science in Criminal Justice - M.S. in C. J.
3. Master of Arts in Criminal Justice - M.A. in C.J.
4. Other degrees that clearly focused on the graduate preparation of criminal justice agency professionals and teachers such as a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration.
We did not include in our study any master's degrees in Criminology since the specific focus of those degree programs is seldom, if at all, on the preparation of criminal justice leaders other than providing them with a general theoretical background for the most part.
The 183 colleges and universities with the graduate programs in criminal justice in the United States are divided into 8 regions of the nation. Those regions are listed below with their corresponding number of universities offering a graduate program in criminal justice.
Northeast (23)
South Central (21)
Middlestates (30)
Western Plains (20)
Midwestern (24)
Pacific (19)
Midsouth (27)
Southeast (19)
Two other separate categories of universities offering a graduate degree program in criminal justice are identified as Outside the United States (44 universities) and Distance Learning (19 universities). A number of the universities listed in one of the 8 regions of the United States also offer Distance Learning programs that award a graduate degree in criminal justice.
From the list of 183 graduate degree programs in criminal justice found on the website gradschools.com we selected the curricula of 56 graduate degree programs in criminal justice from each of the eight regions of the United States. We also selected 2 curricula from criminal justice graduate degree programs in Romania, the University of Bucharest and University of West in Timisoara because Tiffin University has worked under a USAID grant for the past four years to assist Romania in democratizing its criminal justice system and has been influential in the establishment, implementation, and instruction in graduate degree programs in criminal justice at the University of Bucharest and the University of West in Romania. The Master of Community Justice Administration degree program at the University of Bucharest degree has already graduated four classes of criminal justice leaders and while the graduates receive a degree from the University of Bucharest, they also receive a certificate from Tiffin University. One of the graduates in the first class was one of Romania’s nine Supreme Court Justices.
In total, 58 graduate curricula in criminal justice were selected for analysis to determine the presence of internationalism. In each of the 8 regions in the United States we tried to select curricula from a mix of public, private, large, and small universities.
For several reasons we did not include per se the curricula in doctoral programs in criminal justice. Certainly fewer criminal justice leaders would be in doctoral programs than master’s programs based on the relative paucity of PhD study opportunities and the likelihood that most criminal justice executives would choose a master’s degree program over doctoral study to enhance their management career. Moreover, master’s level courses are often taken by first year doctoral students anyway, and the higher level doctoral courses tend to be more theoretical, interdisciplinary, and research methods-based, indicating there is less opportunity to find courses or content on international issues and comparative criminal justice.
The Criminal Justice Master's Degree Internationalism Inventory
The authors created the Criminal Justice Master's Degree Internationalism Inventory (CJMDII) instrument in order to collect and analyze the data available in the list of curricula and other descriptive information found on the website of each of the universities and colleges offering a master's degree in criminal justice in one of the 4 degree nomenclatures mentioned above. The CJMDII instrument was then applied in a pretest examination of several of the master's degree programs in criminal justice in order to revise and refine variables and measurements found on the instrument. The CJMDII can be found in Appendix A.
RESULTS
Degree Programs in the United States
Table 1 below identifies the public and private colleges and universities by region whose master's degree programs in criminal justice were examined to determine the presence of internationalism in their curricula.
Table 1. CJ Master's Degree Institutions by Region - Eastern U.S.
____________________________________________________________
Institution MSCJ MACJ MCJA PUBLIC PRIVATE
____________________________________________________________
Northeast
Boston University X X
John Jay College X X
U. Mass. Lowell X X
Central Conn.State X X
Northeastern Univ. X X
SUNY Albany X X
Mid Atlantic
West Chester Univ. X X
Temple Univ. X X
Villanova Univ. X X
Mercyhurst X X
Virginia Com X X
St. Joseph's Univ. X X
Southeast
Univ. N. Florida X X
Univ. Cent. Florida X X
Florida State Univ. X X
Florida State (Online) X X
Univ. S. Carolina X X
Valdosta State Univ. X X
Lynn Univ. X X
Midwest
N. Mich. Univ. X X
Michigan State X X
Loyola U. Chicago X X
Univ. Wisc. Milw. X X
Tiffin Univ. X X
Univ. Cincinnati X X
Mid-South
Troy State Univ. X X
Middle Tenn St X X
Drury Univ X X
East Tenn St X X
E. Kentucky Univ. X X
Jacksonville St. X X
Mississippi Col X X
U. Alabama Birm X X
U. Ark Little Rock X X
Univ. of Memphis X X
South Central
Sul Ross State X X
SW Tex State X X
Univ N. Texas X X
U. Texas Tyler X X
Sam Houston State X X
Loyola New Orl X X
Okla City Univ X X
Plains
Washburn Univ X X
Wichita State U X X
St. Cloud State X X
N. Arizona State X X
New Mex State X X
Minot State U X X
Bosie State X X
Ariz State West X X
Pacific
Cal St LA X X
U Alaska Fairb X X
Wash State X X
Portland State X X
Chapman U X X
San Jose St X X
__________________________________________________________
TOTAL 56 (8) (30) (13) (5) 41 15
A total of 56 criminal justice master's degree curricula in the United States were examined for the presence of internationalism content. Forty-one (73.2%) of the universities in the study were public institutions; 15 (26.8%) were private universities or colleges. Eight (14.2%) of the universities in the study offered a Master of Criminal Justice degree (MCJ); 30 (53.6%) offered a Master of Science in Criminal Justice degree (MSCJ); 13 (23.2%) awarded a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice degree (MACJ); and 5 (9%) offered a Master of Criminal Justice Administration degree (MCJA) or a degree with the word "administration" in its title.
Table 2 describes a regional account of the frequency of 6 specific courses focusing on internationalism.
Table 2. Regional Listing of Specific Courses
Focusing on Internationalism
_____________________________________________________________
Course NE MATL SE MIDW MIDSO SOCEN PLN PAC N
_____________________________________________________________
Comp CJ 2 3 3 2 1 3 14
Int. Justice 1 2 2 5
Human Rights 1 1
Nation Specific Terrorism 2 3 3 2 10
Hist. & Phil. CJ 2 2 2 2 1 1 10
_____________________________________________________________
TOTAL 6 6 6 3 5 4 6 4 40
The Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and the Plains sections of the United States have criminal justice graduate programs with the most specific courses focusing on internationalism out of the 56 criminal justice master's programs in the United States included in this program. A total of 6 such courses were found in the each of the four sections. The Midwestern section of the United States contained the least number of specific courses focusing on internationalism with 3.
Table 3 below is a frequency distribution of the total number of specific courses focusing on internationalism identified in this study.
Table 3. Specific Courses Focusing on Internationalism
_____________________________________________________________
Course N
_____________________________________________________________
Comparative Criminal Justice 14
History and Philosophy of Criminal Justice 10
Terrorism 10
International Justice 5
Human Rights 1
Nation Specific 0
_____________________________________________________________
TOTAL 40
A total of 40 courses were found among the curricula of the 56 graduate programs in criminal justice in this study that had an internationalism focus. The most frequently occurring courses are Comparative Criminal Justice (14), History and Philosophy of Criminal Justice (10), and Terrorism (10). Unusual as it may seem, no Nation Specific courses, such as the British Criminal Justice System or the Police of Japan, were found in our study.
Table 4. Other Curriculum Entries Focusing on Internationalism
_____________________________________________________________
NE MATL SE MIDW MIDSO SOCEN PLN PAC N
_____________________________________________________________
Special Topics
Seminar 3 3 3 3 9 7 5 4 37
Independent/
Directed Study 1 5 3 2 8 6 6 6 37
_____________________________________________________________
TOTAL 4 8 6 5 17 13 11 10 64
The potential for students to enroll in Special Topics Seminars and Independent/Directed Studies that could expose them to internationalism content is widely available in nearly all of the 56 United States colleges and universities in this study. This is not to say that this exposure actually happens but given the common practice of faculty and students determining the area of readings and study in this kind of academic opportunity, internationalism in some fashion could be explored.
Table 5. Other Evidence of Internationalism Content
_____________________________________________________________
NE MATL SE MIDW MIDSO SOCEN PLN PAC N
_____________________________________________________________
International
Practicum or
Internship 1 2 4 2 3 1 5 3 21
Independent/
Directed Study 1 1 1 3
Overseas
Consulting and
Teaching 1 1 1 3
_____________________________________________________________
TOTAL 1 2 6 4 5 1 5 3 27
As Table 5 indicates, twenty-one (21) of the 56 master's degree programs in criminal justice in this study have opportunity for a practicum or internship experience that would allow students to study abroad. Only one of the institutions, however, Lynn University, specifically mentions the overseas internship opportunity and we can assume that most students in the other schools do not take a practicum or internship course that sends them abroad. Other evidences of internationalism content were only minimally available to master's students in criminal justice.
Table 6. Universities with Specific Courses on Terrorism
_____________________________________________________________
Northeast
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Northeastern University
Mid Atlantic
Villanova University
Mercyhurst College
St. Joseph's University
Mid South
Jacksonville State University
Mississippi College
University of Memphis
Plains
Wichita State University
Northern Arizona State University
_____________________________________________________________
In a post 9-11 world only (10) of the 56 United States universities in the study had specific courses in Terrorism. The Southeast, the Midwestern, the South Central, and the specific regions had no specific courses on Terrorism.
Degree Programs Abroad
The master's programs in the area of criminal justice in Romania were included in this study for a number of reasons. First, the master's programs at the University of Bucharest (UB) and the University of West (UW) in Timisoara are the first of their kind in Romania and in the former communist nations of Eastern Europe. The older of the two is the Master of Community Justice Administration (MCJA) degree program at the University of Bucharest, beginning in 1999. The Master of Social Reinsertion and Supervision Services (MSRSS) at the University of West in Timisoara focuses on juvenile and community corrections, but was modeled after the University of Bucharest program. It has a strong probation services emphasis.
Table 7 below identifies the courses in each of the two graduate programs in Romania.
Table 7. Curricula of Romanian Master's in
Community Justice Programs
_____________________________________________________________
University of Bucharest (12) University of West (9)
_____________________________________________________________
Issues and Trends in Community Social Policy
Justice Administration Alternatives to Custodial
Social Policy: Crime Prevention Sentences
And Control Issues and Trends in
Criminology: Forms and Trends in Community Justice
Victim Protection Administration
Alternatives to Prison: The Probation Victims Protection
System Management of Community
Legal and Moral Aspects in Crime Actions
Control: Preservation of Human Rights Scientific Research Methods
Management of Community Justice Current Social Problems
Administration Agencies Restorative Justice Principles
Data Sources and Statistics in Practicum
Criminal Justice
Applied Social Psychology
Research Methods in Criminology
Social Problems and Community
Development
Proseminar
Master Paper
_____________________________________________________________
Beginning in 1999, The University of Bucharest's MCJA degree is the older of the two criminal justice programs in Romania and it has graduated four classes of students (84 students) who received a Master of Community Justice Administration degree. The master's program at the University of West in Timisoara began in the fall of 2002 and has not had any graduates yet. The MCJA program at the University of Bucharest has 12 required courses in the curriculum while the program in Timisoara has 9.
While course titles may vary somewhat, the two universities have six near identical courses: Issues and Trends in Community Justice Administration; Social Policy; Alternatives to Prison; Management of Community Justice Administrative Agencies; Research Methods; Social Problems. The faculty at the University of Bucharest and Tiffin University consulted with the University of West in the development of its master's program. The master's programs at both universities are in similar academic units: the MCJA program at the University of Bucharest is in the School of Sociology and Social Work. The MSRSS program at the University of West is in the School of Social Work.
The University of Bucharest. The University of Bucharest's graduate program in criminal justice clearly has an international focus. First, it was developed in close cooperation with several of the faculty at Tiffin University and with criminal justice executives in the state of Ohio.
One of the courses that is taught in the program is a five-day course on the American Criminal Justice System, and more recently the Glencoe/McGraw-Hill book Introduction to Criminal Justice. 3rd. edition by
Robert Bohm's and Keith Haley's book has been translated into Romanian by one of the co-authors of this paper, Professor Theodora Ene from the University of Bucharest, and published under the title of Justicia Penala; O Viziune Asupra Modelului American, 2002, by the publisher Editura Expert. This book will be used in the Proseminar requirement and other courses in the master's program at UB. This requirement clearly demonstrates the commitment of the UB faculty to a program that indeed has an international focus. While we would classify this course as a Nation Specific entry on the Criminal Justice Master's Degree Internationalism Inventory, the Tiffin University faculty know from experience that other nations' justice systems are also discussed in the program, particularly since Romania is on schedule to enter NATO soon and the European Union in 2007.
By means of the Proseminar credit and the Master Paper students from the UB master's program have also come to the United States and completed internships in Chicago, Denver, Columbus, Cleveland, and other cities. This experience has allowed them to gain first-hand knowledge of the American criminal justice system. UB faculty have also come to Ohio to join in teaching classes, develop curriculum, and tour criminal and juvenile justice agencies.
University of West. The MSRSS program in Timisoara is in its first year of operation. The opportunity to study internationalism content appears to be less than what is available at the University of Bucharest. The University of West is both a newer and smaller university, so it has fewer resources to devote to any academic program. The faculty there also have a strong interest in juvenile justice and probation services in their particular region of the nation and have actually joined with a private NGO, St. Peter's and Paul's Humanitarian Society, and Tiffin University to open the first private juvenile probation center in Romania. Probation in general has only been widely available over the last several years in Romania. Some of the faculty at the University of the West have also visited Ohio, attended classes, and toured many of the state and local justice agencies. Naturally, much of that knowledge of the American criminal justice system will be passed on to their students in the MSRSS program.
Finally, Romania has been free of a dictatorial political regime and repressive police system for a little more than a decade. She is to be commended for the commitment and actions the nation has taken to demilitarize and democratize her criminal justice system. But as President George Bush alluded to in his speech in Revolutionary Square in Bucharest in 2002, on the occasion of Romania being invited into NATO, the Romanians no best the value of freedom, having recently overthrown her repressive political system. Without question we know that Romania will continue to study the justice systems of other nations and combine the good ideas and practices there with the many commendable features of its own current approach to controlling crime in a free society. Criminal justice education will continue to be a popular and relevant area of study in the nation's graduate programs.
Interesting and Unique Features of U.S. CJ Master's Degree Programs
The authors discovered a number of interesting features of the master's programs in criminal justice included in this study. Table 8 below identifies some of our findings.
Table 8. Interesting and Unique Features of CJ Master's Programs
_____________________________________________________________
Feature University
_____________________________________________________________
Comparative Police Administration course John Jay College
Two Terrorism courses: Hate Crime and
and Domestic Terrorism ; Terrorism U Mass. Lowell
Two Terrorism courses: Domestic Terrorism
And Security; International Terrorism
Environmental Crime: mentions "international
Issues are discussed" Villanova
Political Crime and Terrorism course Mercyhurst
Six different concentrations in the M.S.
In CJ degree: Police Executive; Federal
Law Enforcement; Law Enforcement
Intelligence and Crime Analysis; Behavior
Management and Justice; Probation, Parole,
And Corrections; Criminology St. Joseph's
Has Moscow Police College U of S. Carolina
International Crime and Its Control course Florida State (Online)
Has Justice Training Center that trains foreign
Justice officials Eastern Kentucky
International Criminality and National
Security course Jacksonville State
Contemporary Terrorism course Mississippi College
Terrorism: Social and Legal Perspectives U of Memphis
Advanced Comparative Criminal Justice course Valdosta State
Global Perspectives course and school mentions
"study abroad is available to all graduate
students" Lynn University
Mentions Practicum can be done in domestic
and foreign criminal justice systems Michigan State
Has Proseminar where Romanian justice
Officials have spoken; Tiffin University
gives certificate to University of Bucharest
MCJA graduates Tiffin University
Border Search and Seizure course Sul Ross State
Faculty teach and consult in Turkey U of N. Texas
Study abroad opportunity in British
Justice System Oklahoma City U
World Indigenous Peoples and Justice course N. Arizona State U
Governor teaches Legislative Policy
Seminar each seminar Boise State
Political and Economic Perspectives of
Criminal Justice course Portland State
_____________________________________________________________
We found, for example, that not only were there courses in terrorism at 10 of the 56 universities but also that some of the courses have a particular emphasis such as the Domestic Terrorism and National Security course at Villanova. Other unique courses were found such as the World Indigenous Peoples and Justice course at Northern Arizona State University. At Boise State University the Governor of Idaho comes each semester and teaches a seminar on Legislative Policy.
St. Joseph's University has 6 different content tracks in its M.S. in Criminal Justice degree program: Police Executive; Federal Law Enforcement; Law Enforcement Intelligence and Crime Analysis; Behavior Management and Justice; Probation, Parole, and Corrections; and Criminology. The University of South Carolina trains Russian police. Eastern Kentucky University's Justice Training Center has students from other nations. Finally, Tiffin University helps prepare Romania's justice officials for their careers in a degree program at the University of Bucharest.
DISCUSSION
Our study examined 56 master's degree programs in criminal justice in the United States and two master's programs in Romania. This number represents a little more than one third of the master's degrees in the area of criminal justice found on gradschools.com. While our selection process was not entirely random, we did look at programs from all 8 regions of the United States, including both public and private universities. We might add that some of the universities websites made it very difficult if not nearly impossible to find the master's degree curricula we wanted to analyze. Our findings demonstrate that internationalism is found in the curricula and other program activities of the universities in the study, but it is not widely available and it is not substantial in most cases.
The Presence and Absence of Internationalism
It is incredible in a post 9-11 period to see that only 10 (18%) of the 56 universities and colleges in the study offer specific course titles including the term terrorism. We are now engaged in a world-wide effort to root out and eliminate terrorist threats to the United States and other nations and we have created an enormous new government agency to protect our homeland from terrorism. Our graduate programs in criminal justice have not responded in kind by having their graduate students study terrorism or comparative criminal justice to any large degree.
Only 14 (25%) of the programs in our study offered a comparative criminal justice course at the graduate level. While 10 (18%) of the graduate programs in criminal justice had a History and Philosophy of Criminal Justice course in their curriculum, it is not clear as to how many of these courses would contain specific content addressing international justice issues. Special topics seminars, directed studies and readings were far less available than other opportunities to study internationalism. A practicum experience was found in 10 (18%) of the master's programs. Still there is no clear indication that an opportunity exists for a practicum or internship experience abroad in all but a few of the master's programs in criminal justice.
The Politics and Practice of Curriculum Development
Courses often arrive in any curriculum by a circuitous route. To be sure there are essential standard courses that have to be offered such as a research methods or statistics, for example. Curriculum integrity and professional practice demand an understanding in such content areas as these. But much of what becomes a course entry in a curriculum is a product of the interests and anomalies of the faculty. This phenomenon has resulted in some of the most interesting and forward-looking curricula possible at any level of education. On the other hand, only creative and bold faculty are able to work against the grain of standard and often near extinct course titles. Curriculum means courses, courses mean staffing, staffing means faculty, and faculty cost money. If courses are considered outside the mainstream relative to the core values and concepts of any degree program, the faculty who advocate them will have to fight to have them included in a required curriculum. Obviously many of the interesting and avant-garde entries we found in our study were courses that creative and persistent faculty promoted to have included in the required master's of criminal justice curriculum. Acknowledging that most master's degree programs are completed in approximately one year, there is not much room for elective courses and it is likely that internationalism content would come up short in competition for a slot in a one-year degree program. But indeed it would seem that the vast majority of criminal justice graduate faculty have not grasped the need to address internationalism in their master's degree programs.
What are some of the reasons why faculty have not taken up this cause to teach internationalism content? We can only surmise. Criminal justice problems at home are concern enough in a one or two-year master's degree program. There simply may not be enough "vacant" space in a curriculum to study internationalism when all of the content from other competing areas is considered. Faculty often teach courses in content areas where they are experts as a result of their research interests. To be expert in the criminal justice issues of one or more nations abroad, for example, is difficult. It involves regular trips abroad and often a second language capability. That may be more than most faculty are willing or able to do given their particular circumstances. That is what our study's results would seem to indicate. The interest in internationalism as it relates to criminal justice is not widespread.
The Private School's Prerogative
While it seems that the concern for internationalism is neglected in all of the criminal justice master's degree programs in our study, private universities and colleges paid more attention to internationalism than their public counterparts. Private college and universities, as a rule, have less state governing board oversight. They are usually granted more freedom to offer curricula and degree programs of their choice and avoid successive rings of review ending at the level of the state controlling board. St. Joseph's, Villanova, Lynn, Mercyhurst, and Northeastern all have curriculum and other learning experiences with more concern for internationalism content than what is generally found in public colleges and universities. Standardized or limited curriculum content at the baccalaureate and master's degree levels is much more prevalent in public universities than in private institutions. Moreover, private universities not only have more latitude in offering courses they choose, but in many respects they believe that their academic programs and curricula have to be more attractive, convenient, and competitive in order to draw in students at the higher tuition rates.
Classic Provincialism
The United States is the only super power in the world today after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980's. In the minds of many, the nation remains the beacon of liberty for the rest of the world and despite the current state of the economy, the standard of living is still one of the highest on the planet. All of this is to say that it is easy to consider the rest of the world as less important to study than the problems and issues that call out for solution at home. Our study indicates that concerns over the management and operations of local criminal justice dominate the learning content of master's degree programs in criminal justice with relatively little room left in the curriculum to study internationalism.
But this has been a criticism of the American university education for decades. In contrast, universities in other parts of the world offer degree programs and curriculum offerings that are much more international in their scope. The MCJA program at the University of Bucharest is a case in point with its Proseminar in the American justice system, the opportunity for an internship in the United States, and the university's desire to translate American criminal justice literature into Romanian.
Recommendations
We recommend that more internationalism content be included in master's degree programs in criminal justice. In large universities with extensive course offerings, criminal justice faculty could use the elective option to steer students to courses in other departments and colleges that would expose them to internationalism content.
A second option would be to require a minimum second language capability that would enroll students in language and culture courses of another nation. Even if this requirement would extend students' studies for an extra semester, the feature may attract additional students.
An internship abroad of one month or longer would be a very attractive addition to a master's degree program in criminal justice. This could be done in the summer and even for students already working in criminal justice the requirement could be accomplished through the use of vacation time. Students who have completed internships abroad often consider them to be a highlight of their academic career.
Government funding agencies and universities should make more resources available for criminal justice faculty to study abroad. If realized, then faculty would naturally develop stronger interest in international justice issues. Moreover, they would also establish contacts and friendships with faculty abroad and out of this process many edifying educational experiences are likely to develop where students and faculty are the beneficiaries.
Finally, a standardized course in International Issues in Criminal Justice, complete with instructional materials, ought to be developed by a team of criminal justice faculty from across the nation and from other countries that are cognizant of and experienced in international criminal justice issues. At this point in time, the standard Comparative Criminal Justice course is no longer sufficient in breadth to prepare graduate students who are or will soon be leaders of criminal justice agencies.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
International criminal justice issues are now common items of discussion in criminal justice practice. Illegal immigration, foreign terrorists on U.S soil, extradition of transnational criminals, and the deployment of large numbers of American justice agents abroad are some of the more prominent issues. When any set of economic, political, and social problems approach criticality, the colleges and universities of America have taken a leadership role in helping to resolve them. We should expect no less from our higher education institutions in understanding and resolving international justice issues.
The results of this study show, however, that master's degree programs in criminal justice throughout the nation do not include in their curriculum content or other sponsored learning experiences a lot of opportunities to study internationalism and its ramifications in controlling crime and preserving liberty. In fact, aside from a paucity of courses on Comparative Criminal Justice, History and Philosophy of Criminal Justice, and some courses on Terrorism, the public and private universities in every region of the United States provide far too few chances for master's degree graduates to prepare for a leadership role in criminal justice where international justice issues pervade the pubic agenda. But that should be changing in a post 9-11 world. The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences theme of "The Globalization of Crime and Justice" for its 2003 annual meeting is indeed a stark recognition of the need to see the world of criminal justice as one that transcends national borders.
The master's programs in the area of criminal justice in Romania are including courses and experiences that allow their students and faculty to study internationalism.
The authors of this study recommend several means to increase the amount of internationalism in master's degree programs in criminal justice. Those recommendations include selective use of the elective option to expose students to internationalism content; requiring a minimum amount of foreign language study; internships and practicum experiences abroad; increased funding for criminal justice faculty who wish to study abroad; and the development by faculty and practitioner experts of a standardized course on International Issues in Criminal Justice.
We would be remiss if we did also not call for a closer examination of the criminal justice curricula at all levels of education in order to determine the need and deficiencies as they relate to the study of internationalism in criminal justice degree programs. We suspect there is much to learn by more research in this area.
One more tragic event of the magnitude of the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the murder of thousands of innocent people would catapult the issue of internationalism to the top of the public agenda in America's universities and colleges. Let's hope and pray that criminal justice faculty and practitioners of America will not need that kind of motivation to stimulate an increased interest in internationalism that has heretofore been only peripheral.
Appendix A
CRIMINAL JUSTICE MASTER'S DEGREE
INTERNATIONALISM INVENTORY
UNIVERSITY ___________________ PUBLIC ___ PRIVATE ___
REGION ______ STATE _____ NATION ______ DATE ______
DEGREE MCJ ____ MSCJ ____ MACJ ____ MCJA _____
I. SPECIFIC COURSES FOCUSING ON INTERNATIONALISM
COMPARATIVE CJ ___ INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE ___
HUMAN RIGHTS ___ NATION SPECIFIC ___ TERRORISM ___
HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ___
II. OTHER CURRICULUM ENTRIES RE INTERNATIONALISM
SPECIAL TOPICS SEMINAR ___
INDEPENDENT/DIRECTED STUDY ___
III. OTHER EVIDENCE OF INTERNATIONALISM CONTENT
INTERNATIONAL PRACTICUM OR INTERNSHIP ___
OVERSEAS SPONSORED DEGREE OR TRAIING PROGRAM ___
OVERSEAS FACULTY CONSULTING/TEACHING ___
IV. SPECIAL FEATURES AND NOTES
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
THE BUCHAREST-TIFFIN PARTNERSHIP FOR PREPARING CRIMINAL JUSTICE LEADERS IN ROMANIA
THE BUCHAREST-TIFFIN PARTNERSHIP FOR PREPARING CRIMINAL JUSTICE LEADERS IN ROMANIA
Keith N. Haley
Dean and Associate Vice President
School of Off-Campus Learning
Tiffin University
Tiffin, Ohio
John D. Collins
Dean
School of Criminal Justice
Tiffin University
Tiffin, Ohio
C. Joe Saunders
Chair, Department of Law Enforcement and Corrections
School of Criminal Justice
Tiffin University
Tiffin, Ohio
The article is copyrighted. All rights pertain.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Freedom Unleashed
In little more than a decade Romania has emerged from being one of the most oppressed nations under communist rule in the world to a country that is awash in freedom, democracy, and potential. Dozens of political parties exist with more than ten that actually have influence in the nation's legislative and presidential politics. Freedom has been unleashed in Romania. Even the Romanian Orthodox Church is adjusting to democracy (Stan, 2000). The church, however, has adjusted to other kinds of regimes in its history, so this one should be easy. While stray dogs still populate the streets of Bucharest, the pulse of the city is vibrant. The dogs, you see, are also victims of Nicolae Ceausescu's totalitarian rule. Bucharest, a city of 2.3 million, is again the city of boulevards, parks, and gardens. While few refer to it now by its former name, “Little Paris,” popular between the world wars, the city is alive and grand. Romania is poised for another one of its great leaps forward, a characteristic feature in its history. Augustin Buzara, an acclaimed novelist who heads the Romanian Cultural Foundation, is optimistic that Romania will make another leap (Binder, 2001). Romania has done it once in the 19th Century and twice in the 20th Century. Why not again?
You can feel the energy in Bucharest about everywhere you go.
The shops are full, the streets are crowded and cleaner than even last year.
Cell phones are everywhere. We know people who carry two of them. But do not be mistaken, everyone is not able to purchase the goods that stock the shelves (Gruber, 1999). Times are still tough for many. Forty percent live below the poverty level. But a nova elite has emerged and a middle class is building. This is a city where going to a restaurant (even if it is McDonalds where it is possible to have a beer for breakfast and the WC's are clean) is a delight (Davies, 1998). The largest McDonalds downtown plays a great 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s soundtrack, but you can go down the street to the underground subway McDonald’s and hear the Romanian track, including frequent cuts of the Gypsy Kings. Courteous, well-dressed servers in restaurants will attend to your every need, although someone coming over and repositioning your coffee cup to the center of the saucer every few minutes can be annoying until you realize that they really do want to make you comfortable. Perhaps most appreciated is the fact that they don't hustle tips.
People in Bucharest enjoy doing the ordinary things like walking in the park and reading a book outdoors. Adding to a somewhat surreal impression of the city, people may be hungry, but they will stand in line to buy a book (Firan, 2000). Bookstores and kiosks abound. The national opera, the theater, and great music (classical and otherwise) are within reach of almost any citizen. In U.S. dollars, $2.10 will get you the best seat in the house at the opera. And, yes, police officers do the ordinary also. They sit in their cruisers and drink coffee in the morning as they wait to get off duty, albeit in a Dachia that is not the most spacious of vehicles. Even in a nation of 23 million residents where the average monthly income is less than $100 per month, street crime is not a major concern. Almost 50,000 inmates are in the nation's prisons. The deterrent value is apparent.
The real Romania breaks several of the popular stereotypes. Dachia, the largest piece of land comprising original Romanian civilization, was conquered and settled by Romans, thus the name Romania. Romania is a Latin nation in a Slavic enclave. Its Latin nature may attribute to its attention paid to fashion, the frequent smiles of the people, and the pizzas that dominates Romanian media and entertainment. This is also a nation where you can still see a man kiss the hand of a woman when they meet. If you speak Latin, French, Spanish, or Italian, Romanian won't be easy to learn, but you can manage its stringent grammar. Its melodic trill is pleasing to hear.
Romania has taken an independent course during many periods in its long history, even under communism. Glenny (1993) says Romania was a weird mutant asteroid weaving its own unpredictable path while never quite leaving the Soviet star system.
A nation's values are at its core. Perhaps the two most prevalent values in Romanian society are generosity and humility. Romanians believe that God has blessed them with a breathtakingly beautiful land and it is their duty to give back to its visitors. Moreover, people with high positions and credentials, although formal in social situations, will never be boastful. Humility in fact may start with owning and driving a Dachia automobile, small but adequate, costing only about $3,000 new. They are everywhere. Bucharest is devoid of motor scooters and bicycles, a tribute to the Dachia and a fine public transportation system that includes an inexpensive subway (metro), trolleys, buses, and cabs. But all is not so rosy.
The Downside and the Challenge
The dogs and the citizens of Bucharest are equal victims of Nicolae Ceausescu, their communist dictator. Ceausescu starved his own people while be exported the produce of this prosperous land to the rest of the world. Unlike the other former Soviet dominated nations in Eastern Europe, Romania was debt-free when its revolution occurred in 1989, and it even had retained MFN trade status with the United States for years. When Ceausescu razed thousands of individual homes in Bucharest to make room for the construction of his palace (second in size in the world to only the Pentagon), he put the displaced people in massive block apartments along with peasants whom he brought in from the countryside. The idea of the apartments and the orphanages was to build the model Marxist man, easier done in state-run institutions than in individual homes. When the people went to the apartments, the dogs went to the streets and just kept breeding until today more than 300,000 stray dogs roam Bucharest resulting in 23,000 dog bites alone last year (Finn, 2001). None have been found to be rabid. Nevertheless, people who can ill-afford it may spend 5-10 % of their income to feed these dogs.
Thirteen years after the revolution Romania is last in the line of about a dozen nations to join the European Union. But Romania adheres almost religiously to the dictates of the EU in order to gain entry as soon as it can. The “2000 Regular Report from the Commission on Romania’s Progress towards Accession to the EU" does point out the strengths of a well-educated citizenry, the rise in exports, and improvements in the law on companies and competition (Lovatt, 2000). The rest of the report lists many problems to overcome in the next several years before accession to the EU will be possible. Romania plans to join NATO in a year or two and has increased its military spending under President Ion Iliescu to help make its case for NATO membership (Leonard). Just this year the Romanian legislature passed a property restitution law which was years overdue that guides the return to private ownership of most of the property that was seized under communist rule. The nation has a deadline of 5 years to resolve this matter. This act should speed foreign investment.
Romania must move faster in its reforms and most now realize that the legacy of Ceausescu cannot continue to be an excuse for intransigence in reform (Gallagher, 1999). The economy is supposed to grow 4% within the next year. This projected growth may help stave off the brain drain that has seen Romania lose nearly a million citizens, 18-25 years old, in the last decade. Romanian young people are very well educated and none other than Bill Gates himself raids the pool of talented computer programmers in Romania each year and takes scores of them to Silicon Valley. But to many, the needed reforms lag far behind what has taken place in some of the other former communist states (Wood, 1998).
The State of Justice and Injustice in Romania
Most of us in the free Western world cannot envision the lock that communism puts on a society. Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa (Pacepa, 1987), a defector to the United States and former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service said, “With the passage of time, however, I have come to understand that the nature and purpose of devious communist influence operations are incomprehensible to the Western mentality." Overthrowing the vestiges of a militarized and dictatorial justice system is not easy even if a nation is keen on doing so. Old habits are hard to break. “Democracy has to not only exist in a nation’s constitution, but it has to also live in the hearts of its police, court, corrections, and juvenile justice officials at the executive and street levels "(Haley, 2001). Romania now has a constitution that contains many of the same civil liberties that Americans enjoy. Perhaps as much as one-third of the current police system, however, are former members of the infamous Securitate, some of whom have indeed made the transition to justice in a free society, in their minds at least. Practice still requires a lot of improvement, but the Romanians are more than willing to learn. During the month of March 2001, Romanians were allowed for the first time to view secret files compiled about them by the Securitate. This network of police employed 400,000 - 700,000 informants and each one of them gave information on two or three people (Agence France Presse, 2001).
The immensity of the task of making a change over to democratic practices of criminal justice is noted in the comments of a British citizen who is a faculty member and juvenile justice advocate at the University of Bucharest. Professor Giles (2000) comments that "transforming militarized police and penitentiary systems from an ethic of punish and destroy to one of social inclusion is not easy."
The Power of Education in Social Justice Reform
Romania has always placed great faith in the power of education to transform its society. Educated leaders are the standard in government and public service. The last President of Romania, 1996-2000, Emile Constantinescu, was first a professor of geology at the University of Bucharest and has returned to that position after choosing not to run for reelection. He is enjoying the academic life and says his computer at the university is better than the one he had in his presidential office (Monitorul, 2001). The current Prime Minister, Adrian Nastase is a graduate of the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member. Now Romania has turned to education to reform its criminal justice system and prepare its current and future agency leaders to prevent and control crime in a free society.
Tiffin University’s Grant to Establish a School of Criminal Justice at the University of Bucharest, Romania
Tiffin University’s School of Criminal Justice competed with more than 850 American colleges and universities to be awarded a grant for innovative international development. The Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) sponsored the competition in 1999. Tiffin University was one of 14 who received three-year funding from the United States Agency for International Development.
Tiffin University (TU) was to establish a School of Criminal Justice at
The University of Bucharest (UB) to prepare future police, corrections, juvenile justice, and government research agency practitioners to prevent and control crime in a free, democratic society. TU is the lead institution on the School of Criminal Justice grant project that is integrating the resources of criminal justice agencies, colleges and universities, and social service and research organizations in both Romania and the United States. TU’s co-equal project partner in Romania is the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest.
The School of Criminal Justice project was divided into the following stages:
1. Phase I: The Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST) traveled to Romania to conduct a needs assessment, gain support of influential government and academic leaders; understand academic structure and current curricula; and begin work on curriculum for a graduate degree.
2. Phase II: Romanian faculty and justice officials visited the U.S. to observe and teach classes; gather criminal justice resource materials; visit criminal and juvenile justice agencies; visit government offices; and conduct a video conference.
3. Phase III: A second team of junior Romanian faculty visited Tiffin to observe criminal justice graduate classes; help prepare instructional units; translate a criminal justice text, and to work with TU professors on the TURST team to prepare for teaching.
4. Phase IV: TURST went to the University of Bucharest to teach a graduate seminar on the American Criminal Justice System.
5. Phase V: The TURST team and the faculty of the new Master of Community Justice Administration degree program in Bucharest will offer a world conference on "The Power of Education in Social Justice Reform" at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bucharest, Romania for educators, justice officials, government leaders, and students.
Summary of Progress to Date
A Master’s degree in Community Justice Administration has been established at the University of Bucharest under Tiffin University’s and the University of Bucharest's leadership. Beyond our most reasonable expectations, now three different classes of Master’s students, numbering more than 40, are in school, with the first group scheduled to graduate in May of 2001. The Rector of the University of Bucharest and the Dean of the School of Sociology and Social Work, along with the assistance of Tiffin University, are set on a course to accomplish these additional objectives: begin a Ph.D. program in Community Justice Administration at UB; take the Master’s program to five other large universities in Romania; start a Master’s program for law school graduates where they will take approximately half of the Community Justice Administration degree curriculum and get a graduate degree; and fully fund an undergraduate degree program for 40 students majoring in probation service. Plans have also been developed to train Romanian faculty to teach, conduct research, and publish in the criminal justice discipline.
METHOD AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PAPER
The overall goal of this paper is to report on the progress of the Tiffin University-University of Bucharest Project to Establish a School of Criminal Justice in Romania. The authors were original members of the TURST team and continue to serve as participant observers in one of the most edifying experiences they have had in higher education. The specific objectives of the paper are to:
1. Describe the partnership relationship between the University of Bucharest and Tiffin University as they established and launched a Master’s of Community Justice Administration degree program in Romania.
2. Discuss the various phases of the School of Criminal Justice in Romania project and its impact on the preparation of justice leaders.
3. Report on the instructional experiences of Tiffin University faculty and Ohio criminal justice officials as a result of their work at the University of Bucharest.
4. Describe the critical internship and faculty exchange programs that are part of the TU-UB partnership.
5. Describe the lasting relationships that have resulted from the cooperation between the two universities.
PHASE ONE: A VISIT TO BUCHAREST
Goals for Phase I
During the period between November 10, 1999, and November 20, 1999, a delegation of 10 Tiffin University faculty, staff, criminal justice practitioners, an Ohio businessman and honorary Romanian diplomat, and an international service agency director visited Romania under the auspices of a grant creating a partnership between Tiffin University and the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development. The purpose of this $198,000 grant was to have Tiffin University lead, along with the assistance of other agencies and schools, in the development of a School of Criminal Justice at the University of Bucharest in Romania. This new academic program would prepare current and prospective Romanian criminal justice officials to better serve the nation's people as they respond to the challenges of crime and corruption in a free society. Phase I of the project had two significant goals, both of which were accomplished during the visit of the Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST). One of the Tiffin University faculty was designated as the Director of the TURST team.
Table 1 below identifies the members of the Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST) that participated in trips to Romania to study, consult, and teach during the fall semesters of 1999 and 2000.
Table 1. Members and Organizational Affiliation of the Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST)
___________________________________________________________
Member Affiliation
___________________________________________________________
1. John Collins Dean, School of Criminal Justice, TU
2. Joe Saunders Chair, Law Enforcement and Corrections
Department, TU
3. Keith Haley Dean and Associate Vice President, School
of Off-Campus Learning, TU, Director of
TURST Team
4. Laura Mays Professor of Business and Grant Projects
5. George Dobrea Ohio Honorary Consul for Romania
6. Eugene Hunyadi Deputy Administrator, Ohio Bureau of
Community Sanctions
7. Tom Steyer Sheriff, Seneca County, Ohio and former
Chief of Police, Tiffin, Ohio
8. Dorothy Faller Secretary General, Council of International
Programs USA
9. Carol Rapp-Zimmermann Assistant Director, Ohio Department of
Services
10. George Kidd President, Tiffin University
11. Diane Kidd Tiffin University
___________________________________________________________
First, both the University of Bucharest and Tiffin University's project teams knew that it would be necessary to meet and gain the strong support of the influential government and academic decision-makers in Romanian society. TURST, along with their Romanian counterparts, met separately with many government and academic leaders, including: Romania's President; the Minister of Justice; the Minister of the Interior; the Chancellor of the Nation's Police Academy; the Rector of Bucharest University; Head of the Department of Social Work; Director of the Research Institute for Quality of Life; the General formally in charge of the nation's police and now a Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior; the U.S. Ambassador to Romania and his key staff,; and numerous other second-tier leaders in the Romanian government and the nation's higher education system. All of these officials strongly endorsed the project and offered their support. The endorsement and support of these key leaders in Romania will substantially increase the likelihood of success in all subsequent phases of the grant project. Our accomplishments relative to the goal of establishing connections with the power wielders in government and education far exceeded our initial expectations.
Our second goal was to learn all we could about the professional training and education needs of criminal justice officials, the university structure and its academic leaders, existing curricula at the University of Bucharest, and the nature of prospective students in order that we could begin the process of constructing a curriculum. We visited law enforcement, corrections, and training facilities and engaged in dialogue with their leaders and staff. Two of our team were guest lecturers in graduate classes in Social Policy on the first visit. We were also able to have substantive discussions with the Social Work and Sociology faculties at the University of Bucharest in which social justice issues and content are currently addressed. Once again our initial expectations were exceeded.
Development of a Curriculum
At the conclusion of a long session that included a working lunch, the University of Bucharest Sociology and Social Work delegation and TURST arrived at a model for a Master of Community Justice Administration (MCJA) degree that would require 11 courses. The students would complete the degree in one and one-half academic years. It should be noted that the term "community justice." fits the Romanian syntax better than "criminal justice," which has a connotation more closely related to the idea of the law and the penal code. Table 2 below identifies the courses in the Master of Community Justice Administration program at the University of Bucharest.
Table 2. Courses in the Master of Community Justice Degree Program at the University of Bucharest
_____________________________________________________________
1. Issues and Trends in Community Justice Administration
2. Social Policy: Crime Prevention and Control
3. Criminology: Types and Trends in Victims' Protection
4. Alternatives to Prison: Probation Service
5. Legal and Moral Aspects in Crime Control: Abiding to Human Rights
6. Management of Community Justice Administration Agencies
7. Data Sources and Statistics in Criminal Justice
8. Applied Social Psychology
9. Research Methods in Criminology10. Social Problems and Community Development11. Proseminar
_____________________________________________________________
Romanian students generally do not have the money to pay for their own tuition, so it is customary for the government to finance a student's education at all levels. At the graduate level, there is substantially more flexibility for degree program and curriculum innovation and those graduate degree programs which seem to be useful to government agencies will be well attended by students, with their tuition bills paid by their employers. A recent Master's of Health Administration program has attracted approximately 100 students because it has been identified as valuable to Romanian health organizations. This graduate Health Administration degree turned out to be an excellent precedent for the MCJA, since so many of the nation's leaders have voiced their support for both programs.
Some of America's basic, cost-effective programs, such as probation as we know it and community-based corrections, are virtually nonexistent in Romania. The graduate level curriculum would be the ideal place to introduce current and future leaders to some of the best American programs that would fit into the Romanian justice system. Even more basic and absent is the mode of thought that criminal justice is a system, each segment affecting what goes on in the other segments. We are able to assist in developing this perspective also by reaching current and future leaders in their graduate degree program.
The specific courses which comprise the 11-course MCJA program are almost a direct transplant of some of TU's Master's of Criminal Justice: Justice Administration courses on to a slate of 10 courses already in existence at the University of Bucharest. The University of Bucharest faculty were so optimistic about this array of courses, that they actually started the MCJA in February 2000 (the Romanian spring semester), well ahead of the original start date of the Fall of 2000. The Romanian government and justice system leaders were so delighted with the new graduate program that they immediately enrolled 11 mangers and other practitioners from the police, corrections, research, and higher education fields. Final curriculum details were determined during a visit of the Romanian delegation to Tiffin University in February of 2000.
A comment should be made about beginning a graduate degree program before the existence of an undergraduate degree. There are many precedents for this approach. Rutgers, for example, began its master’s degree program more than a decade ago and only recently started a very popular undergraduate program. The Romanian undergraduate education is both classical and traditional, rooted in 20 years or more of the desires of Ceausescu, his academic leadership appointees, and the communist regime. Education changes are difficult to accomplish in Romania and must ordinarily go through many steps in the approval process of the national Ministry of Higher Education. Romania has a very high literacy rate (97%), so some aspects of the communist regime and the nation's commitment to scholarship have served them well. By creating a Master of Community Justice Administration degree, however, virtually all of those cumbersome steps can be avoided and the degree program will still have stability and high recognition in the university structure.
In Table 3 below you will find a roster of the key Romanian government officials and academics that were leaders in the School of Criminal Justice project or offered substantial assistance in the development and maintenance of the program.
Table 3. Romanian Academic and Government Leaders Associated with the School of Criminal Justice Project
_______________________________________________________________________
Name Affiliation
_______________________________________________________________________
1. Elena Zamfir Dean, School of Sociology and Social Work, UB; Secretary of State, Ministry of
Education
2. Ilie Badescu Chair, Sociology Department, UB
3. Ioan Mihailescu Rector (President) University of
Bucharest
4. Catalin Zamfir Professor of Sociology; Director, Institute
for Social Quality, UB
5. Pavel Abraham Secretary of State, Internal Security,
Ministry of the Interior; Professor, UB
_______________________________________________________________________
Major Discoveries in Phase I
The TURST staff returned with several lasting impressions and discoveries:
1. Kindness and Hospitality of the Romanian People. We were overwhelmed with the kindness and hospitality of the Romanian people. None of us had ever seen people so devoted to personal service in their work capacities and kindness in their interpersonal relations. Most often this kindness and service were shown to us without any concern for personal remuneration. In short, the Romanian people are some of the most kind and happy people on earth. They are also a handsome people that pay close attention to their personal appearances. Moreover, the attention paid to maintaining the arts and preserving the Romanian heritage are exceptional.
2. Absence of a Systems Perspective in Criminal Justice. From various conversations and several
visits, it was apparent that a systems perspective was not present in Romanian criminal justice. Our conversations with officials from one segment of the criminal justice process revealed that they had limited knowledge and concern for other segments of criminal justice. This is unfortunate since what happens, or does not happen, in one subsystem of criminal justice has identifiable impacts on other parts. We got the impression, for example, that many of the people in prison who were routinely classified as innocent and awaiting trial, could be virtually forgotten and then later released by a judge several years later at the trial date because of the time they had already served in confinement. The courts need a closer connection to the prisons, the prosecutor, and the police. The new MCJA degree program will be an excellent location to develop a refined, systems perspective.
3. Minimum of Proven Criminal Justice Services. Common criminal justice procedures and services throughout the world, such as an effective bail system, probation service, and systematic police patrol procedures, were not present. A solid criminal justice foundations course, focusing on the system, such as TU’s Contemporary Criminal Justice Issues and Trends at the graduate level, would be a logical place to introduce some of these programs. A course of this nature is now included in the MCJA curriculum. Moreover, allowing students to hear speakers from all segments of the criminal justice process, similar to TU's Proseminars in Criminal Justice series, would also be effective, particularly if the speakers were from the United States or other nations with progressive systems of criminal justice. A Proseminar course is now in the curriculum.
4. No Established Criminal Justice Profession. Obvious, but worth reiterating, the MCJA is the first of its kind in Romania. A degree program is now established that will prepare criminal justice professionals from all segments of the system. All of these professionals gaining their education in the same focused curriculum will create a whole new cadre of change agents in the Romanian justice system. The establishment of a professional model for preparing criminal justice leaders will go a long way in improving the delivery of justice services in Romania.
5. Minimal Funding for Innovation in Criminal Justice. Romania is struggling to get back on its feet economically. Foreign investment and private ownership of property lag behind developments in other former communist nations in Europe. But the establishment of the MCJA degree program at the University of Bucharest is not a major cost in the whole stream of projects that the Romanian government is planning for the immediate future. A number of the courses and qualified staff were already in place. It is a well-established fact that higher education will pay dividends in both the short-run and far into the future of a nation. Romania has a tradition of supporting its education system, a precedent that will be a strong catalyst for effecting changes in criminal justice and other important sectors of their service and business economies.
PHASE II: UB TEAM VISITS TIFFIN UNIVERSITY
In February 2000, seven professors from the University of Bucharest traveled to Tiffin University to observe criminal justice classes, gather instructional materials, visit law enforcement, corrections, and training agencies, and meet Ohio government officials.
The visiting team included the Elena Zamfir, Dean of the School of Sociology and Social Work; Catalin Zamfir (former first Labor Minister after the Revolution), the Director of the Institute for Social Quality; General Pavel Abraham, at that time Head of Internal Security and Analysis in the Ministry of the Interior; one Romanian Orthodox priest; and several professors and spouses.
During the Romanian team's visit to the United States, they visited the Madison Correctional Institution for adults; Scioto Village Juvenile Correctional Center; Marysville Reformatory for Women; the Oho Peace Officer Training Academy and Commission; the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification; and the Lucas County Jail. They also met with the Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction; the Executive Director of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission; the Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services; and the Governor's Assistant for Multi-Cultural Affairs.
A highlight of the visit in February was a teleconference hosted by Tiffin University where the Romanian team broadcast to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, a high school in Northern Ohio, and an International Politics class at Ohio University.
The Romanian team also was present during an incident at the Lucas County Jail when an inmate severed the finger of a corrections officer during an altercation. The emergency response team came to quell the disturbance. Most of the Romanians agreed that this incident was a little more real than what they needed to experience in order to get a feel for corrections in the United States.
PHASE III: UB'S VISITING FACULTY AND INTERNS
During Phase III in June of 2000 until December, four junior professors and interns visited Tiffin University in order to study the American Criminal Justice System, prepare instructional materials, and visit and lecture in graduate criminal justice classes. They also worked in a probation and parole department, participated in state jail standards training, observed a local jail inspection conducted by the Bureau of Adult Detention, and visited local courts and law enforcement departments.
An arduous project for one of the Romanian professors while she was here was to translate into Romanian Robert Bohm's and Keith Haley's Introduction to Criminal Justice textbook published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. That translation is being supplemented with commentary by Professor General Pavel Abraham for a text to be used in the MCJA program at the University of Bucharest. This will undoubtedly be the first of a number of American criminal justice works that will be used in community justice administration classes in Romania.
During the summer and fall of 2000, the schedule was a bit more relaxed in this phase than in previous ones, so TU and UB faculty were able to have many informal discussions where ideas from each other's cultures were exchanged.
PHASE IV: TURST TEAM TEACHES GRADUATE SEMINAR
ON THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
On the front of a brochure distributed at the Romanian Embassy in Washington DC are the words, “Romania, more than you expect.” The Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST) has recently completed its second trip to Romania where the members taught a 30-hour graduate seminar on the “American Criminal Justice System” to 36 law enforcement, corrections, court, and juvenile justice administrators. The weeklong course was held at the University of Bucharest. All of the students are enrolled in the Master of Community Justice Administration degree program that was jointly designed by the TURST team and the faculty of the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest.
The TURST team held the 30-hour seminar in Bucharest from October 2-6, 2000, concluding with an examination that was successfully completed by all seminar participants. The curriculum for this seminar and the other courses in the master’s degree program were designed by the University of Bucharest faculty, justice officials, and the TURST team during its visit to Romania in November of 1999. The members of the TURST team that went to Romania in October 2000, are TU faculty Dr. Joe Saunders, Dr. Jack Collins, Dr. Laura Mays, and Professor Keith Haley, and agency leaders Carol Rapp-Zimmermann, Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, Eugene Hunyadi, Deputy Administrator, Bureau of Community Sanctions, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, George Dobrea, Honorary Romanian Consul for Ohio, Tom Steyer, Chief of Police of Tiffin, Ohio, and Dorothy Faller, Secretary General, Council of International Programs. Professor Haley, Director of the TURST team, also lectured at the Romanian Intelligence Service and at the opening of the University of Bucharest Law School.
During this last visit to Bucharest, Professor Doctor Ioan Mihailescu, President of the University of Bucharest, unveiled plans to expand the Community Administration of Justice master’s program to other Romanian universities in Iasi, Cluj, Timisoara, Oradea, Craiova, and Arad, as well as the University of Chisinau in the Republic of Moldova. Other plans include the training of 3 University of Bucharest faculty members to be criminal justice faculty. The Romanians will do that preparation at Tiffin University. Even more remarkable is the plan to begin a doctoral program in the Community Administration of Justice at the University of Bucharest in the fall of 2001. Indeed, Romania was “more than we expected." The experience has been like 30 years of progress in criminal justice education compressed into a year and a half. There are plans now to introduce some community administration of justice education into Romanian high schools. All of these steps are an indication of Romania’s commitment to insure that its criminal justice system is based on democratic and humane principles. In contrast to a lot of other international projects involving multiple partners, Tiffin University, the University of Bucharest, and the Romanian government are ahead of the schedule in terms of achievement and results.
Two major remaining project events are scheduled for 2001, the year the project will conclude. The first class of Master of Community Justice Administration students at the University of Bucharest will graduate in May of 2001. Moreover, a three-day international conference will be held in Bucharest during the fall of 2001 in order to present the results of the Tiffin University – University of Bucharest project on criminal justice to other nations in Europe and the world. The title and theme of the conference is "The Power of Education in Social Justice Reform."
Faculty Impressions of the Teaching Experience in Bucharest
The Tiffin University School of Criminal Justice faculty who participated in this grant project share the belief that teaching the graduate students in Bucharest has been one of the highlights of their academic career. The comments of Professor Joe Saunders, a leading member of the TURST team, capture the sentiments of all of us.
The opportunity of teaching in Bucharest was unique. The students embraced the opportunity to receive our lectures, demonstrating an eagerness born out of the insidious deprivation which they as students had experienced under the socialist regime. They reflected a genuine interest in what professors had to say, although there was some initial reluctance to question and comment.
This, too, is understandable in light of their history and culture. Unlike the experience of the professorship in the U.S., our expertise was universally valued.
The concept that students representing several branches of Romanian government could sit together in a sharing atmosphere was indeed unique. This type of opportunity does not often present to them. I sensed that the uniqueness was of great benefit. It is not one’s custom in Romania to inquire or comment on the internal workings of the bureaucracy.
The thirst of the students for more information regarding our system and the contributions our knowledge might make to their system seemed unquenchable. They would pursue us during breaks and before and after class with questions and comments. Their sincerity was unquestioned. They really are seeking answers to the many problems they are encountering in attempting to establish a democratic way of governance. Personally, I came away with the feeling that people who possess the expertise which we deem common in the U.S. would be held in considerable esteem by the Romanian population. Given the support which we received from highly influential persons, there are many niches where one could substantially influence the development of their democracy.
Our faculty and justice official team members in Ohio continue to relish our teaching experiences in Bucharest. Few of us have encountered students with a higher level of motivation, certainly none of us have ever seen such zeal for learning in one academic program. The students occupy some of the most important positions in the Romanian justice system and they are looking for anything that will improve their contribution to complete establishment of a democratic system of criminal justice.
PHASE V: AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN BUCHAREST
On September 28, 29, and 30, 2001, the intensive three-day international conference on "The Power of Education in Social Justice Reform" will be sponsored by the University of Bucharest and Tiffin University in order to demonstrate how partnerships between educational institutions and community justice agencies can be successful in preparing leaders and preventing and controlling crime in a free society. Attendees will be government leaders, community justice practitioners, students, and university and public school faculty. The conference is also supported by the grant from USAID.
Topics presented by scholars, community justice practitioners, and government leaders from Eastern and Central Europe and the United States will include:
· University Partnerships for Justice Reform
· Government and Community Support Systems in Crime and Delinquency Prevention and Control
· Crime and Intelligence Analysis
· Domestic Violence Interventions
· Role of Schools in Delinquency Prevention
· Restorative Justice Models
· Community Policing
· Computer Crime and Investigation
· Faith-Based Rehabilitation Programs
· Juvenile Justice Issues
· New Ideas in Probation Services
· Curriculum Design and Development for Justice Education
· Organized and Trans-National Crime
· Faculty Preparation for Community Justice Teaching
· Jail and Prison Standards
Pre-conference workshops on crime analysis, computer crime investigation, memory skills for justice workers, teaching on the web, and other subjects will also be available. Tours of local justice agencies, cultural sites, and entertainment venues are also being arranged. A conference fee of $150 for those not currently associated with the School of Criminal Justice project includes breakfast, lunch, cocktail parties, and attendance at all sessions. The site of the conference is the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bucharest, Romania. We are planning on 150 conference attendees.
While the conference in Bucharest, Romania in the fall of 2001 is the last formal stage of the Tiffin University - University of Bucharest USAID grant project, ancillary and continuing team activities between the two universities will continue. We envision a number of cooperative ventures such as faculty exchanges, joint research and writing ventures, and shared continuing education experiences.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Romania is awash in freedom and, aside from all of the vestiges of communist rule it has to overcome, the nation has a well-educated population and an energetic workforce. The prevention and control of crime under democratic principles is still new to the agents of justice in Romania, but their zeal to learn is perhaps unparalleled among justice agents of the former communist states of Central Europe. Romanians have great faith in the ability of education to direct the course of their society. The Tiffin University grant from USAID to assist the nation in democratizing its criminal justice system by preparing criminal justice leaders at the graduate level is a big step in helping Romania advance to a state of prominence among nations, comparable to its position in earlier times. The graduate program in Community Justice Administration was established, a curriculum was designed, and students from the Romanian justice system were admitted in less than one year's time from the inception of the grant.
The Tiffin University Romania Study Team, along with the unwavering support and leadership of our Romanian colleagues, have accomplished and exceeded the original objectives in virtually every phase of the grant project. TURST has been a major influence in seeing that the University of Bucharest became the first criminal justice program of its kind in Romania, i.e. the “Michigan State” for preparing law enforcement and corrections leaders. Now the plan is to extend this education to other large universities in Romania's major cities.
We also learned much about how the Romanian justice system works, both from a public relations and practitioner perspective. To become more adept in our work, we have also tried to accumulate all that we can acquire of the Romanian justice system literature that exists in English.
Our exchange visits, internships, lectures, and teaching experiences have taught us a number of things about the Romanian people and their system of justice: the Romanian people are some of the most kind and hospitable in the world; there is a lack of a systems perspective in criminal justice at this point in time; some common criminal justice services such as bail and probation are lacking in most areas; criminal justice is not an established discipline until now; and there is a dearth of money available at the moment to fund expensive criminal justice innovations. Romania has a lot on its national agenda at the moment as it anticipates entry into NATO and the EU. But the continuous improvement of the criminal justice system also occupies a prominent place on its agenda as evidenced by the support and funding of more than three dozen students in the Master's of Community Justice Administration program. Moreover, exporting this program to other major universities and the start of a doctoral program in Community Justice Administration in the fall of 2001 are clear proof of commitment. The power of education in criminal justice reform is now obvious in Romania and the international conference in Bucharest during the fall of 2001 is an opportunity to show Europe and the world what is possible when you are committed and willing to act.
Some Personal Tribute
It is out of the ordinary in an academic paper to pay tribute to contributors on a grant project. But the Tiffin University - University of Bucharest project is an extraordinary undertaking and the results have indeed exceeded our original optimistic expectations. We feel obligated to acknowledge the service and support rendered by some people on this project. Many others unmentioned have helped also.
Our deepest and sincere gratitude go to Elena Zamfir, Dean of the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest and all of the faculty and staff (we mean all of them) she has gathered to make the MCJA program a success. She and her staff did everything humanly possible to make our grant project and teaching experiences the best ever.
Rector Ioan Mihailescu used every resource possible at the University of Bucharest to make our stay comfortable and inexpensive. His excellent staff at the Hotel Academica attended to our every need. Professor Mihailescu saw that all of our transportation needs were met at no cost, as was the case with our hotel accommodations. Without his direction, assistance, and plain advice on our grant project, we would have accomplished far less.
The School of Criminal Justice faculty, full time and adjunct, led by Dean Jack Collins, have performed at the highest possible level of professionalism. Our Romanian colleagues in the university and the government have frequently commented on the dedication and superior on-the-ground performance of the School of Criminal Justice faculty.
We are indeed immensely thankful for the leadership and work that Dr. Laura Mays contributed on this project. Without her persistent attention to the details of this venture, not to mention writing the grant, there would have been no project. Likewise, we are indebted to George Dobrea, Honorary Consul for Romania in Ohio, for his foresight and help to engineer this grant and make our stay in Romania one of the most memorable academic and social experiences we have ever had. Our thanks also go out to Dorothy Faller for her assistance in acclimating the team to Romanian society and its leaders and in arranging excellent internships for our Romanian students in cities all across America
Finally, President George Kidd and Diane Kidd set aside time in their incredibly busy schedules and joined us in Bucharest to exercise leadership and to demonstrate commitment to this project. Their arrival and presence in Romania inspired us and we so much enjoyed their company. We sincerely thank both of them.
Those who read this paper may very well gather the impression that the authors are more than simply reporting Tiffin University's experience in assisting Romania to democratize its system of criminal justice. In fact, we may be accused of being outright boosters for the University of Bucharest and the nation of Romania. You are correct. When you go to Romania, and you should since it has some of the most beautiful landscape and hospitable people in the world, you will never doubt the sincerity of the Romanians when they say, "Bine ati venit!" You are "welcome."
REFERENCES
Agence France Presse. 2001. "Romanian Securitate Files Finally Reveal Secrets." Romania Today, March 29.
Binder, D. 2001. "In Romania, Is the Apocalypse Near?" MSNBC.COM, February 9.
Davies, A. 1998. "The Secret of Fast Food in Romania." Contemporary Review, October v273 n1593 p203(2).
Finn, P. 2001. "In Bucharest, a Dogfight Over Strays." The Washington Post, February 18, 2001.
Firan, C. 2000. "Survival through Culture in a Surreal Romania." East European Quarterly, Summer v34 i2 p255.
Gallagher, T. 1999. "Ceausescu's Legacy," The National Interest, Summer i56 p107(5).
Gallagher, T. 1997. "To be or not to be Balkan: Romania's Quest for Self-Definition." Daedalus, Summer v126 i3 p63(2).
Giles, G. 2000. "A Partnership for Justice." Relational Justice Bulletin, Issue 6 April 2000.
Glenny, M. 1993. The Rebirth of History: Eastern Europe in the Age of Democracy. New York: Penguin Books.
Gruber, R. 1999. "Romania's New Darkness." The New Leader, November 1 v82 i13 p11.
Haley, K. 2001. "Tiffin University Again Finds Romania Beyond Expectations." B.A.D. News, February v55.
Leonard, T. 1999. "NATO Expansion: Romania and Bulgaria within the Larger Context." East European Quarterly, Winter v33 i4 p517.
Lovatt, C. 2000. "EC 2000 Progress Report on Romania." Romania Today, December 28.
Monitorul. 2001. "Constantinescu Started Writing." Romania Today, March 30.
Pacepa, I. 1987. Red Horizons: The True Story of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescus' Crimes, Lifestyle, and Corruption. Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway.
Stan, L. 2000. "The Romanian Orthodox Church and Post Communist Democratisation." Europe-Asia Studies, v52 i8 p1467.
Wood, B. 1998. "Romania: Reform Hasn't Gone as Planned." Europe, May n376 p23(2).
Keith N. Haley
Dean and Associate Vice President
School of Off-Campus Learning
Tiffin University
Tiffin, Ohio
John D. Collins
Dean
School of Criminal Justice
Tiffin University
Tiffin, Ohio
C. Joe Saunders
Chair, Department of Law Enforcement and Corrections
School of Criminal Justice
Tiffin University
Tiffin, Ohio
The article is copyrighted. All rights pertain.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Freedom Unleashed
In little more than a decade Romania has emerged from being one of the most oppressed nations under communist rule in the world to a country that is awash in freedom, democracy, and potential. Dozens of political parties exist with more than ten that actually have influence in the nation's legislative and presidential politics. Freedom has been unleashed in Romania. Even the Romanian Orthodox Church is adjusting to democracy (Stan, 2000). The church, however, has adjusted to other kinds of regimes in its history, so this one should be easy. While stray dogs still populate the streets of Bucharest, the pulse of the city is vibrant. The dogs, you see, are also victims of Nicolae Ceausescu's totalitarian rule. Bucharest, a city of 2.3 million, is again the city of boulevards, parks, and gardens. While few refer to it now by its former name, “Little Paris,” popular between the world wars, the city is alive and grand. Romania is poised for another one of its great leaps forward, a characteristic feature in its history. Augustin Buzara, an acclaimed novelist who heads the Romanian Cultural Foundation, is optimistic that Romania will make another leap (Binder, 2001). Romania has done it once in the 19th Century and twice in the 20th Century. Why not again?
You can feel the energy in Bucharest about everywhere you go.
The shops are full, the streets are crowded and cleaner than even last year.
Cell phones are everywhere. We know people who carry two of them. But do not be mistaken, everyone is not able to purchase the goods that stock the shelves (Gruber, 1999). Times are still tough for many. Forty percent live below the poverty level. But a nova elite has emerged and a middle class is building. This is a city where going to a restaurant (even if it is McDonalds where it is possible to have a beer for breakfast and the WC's are clean) is a delight (Davies, 1998). The largest McDonalds downtown plays a great 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s soundtrack, but you can go down the street to the underground subway McDonald’s and hear the Romanian track, including frequent cuts of the Gypsy Kings. Courteous, well-dressed servers in restaurants will attend to your every need, although someone coming over and repositioning your coffee cup to the center of the saucer every few minutes can be annoying until you realize that they really do want to make you comfortable. Perhaps most appreciated is the fact that they don't hustle tips.
People in Bucharest enjoy doing the ordinary things like walking in the park and reading a book outdoors. Adding to a somewhat surreal impression of the city, people may be hungry, but they will stand in line to buy a book (Firan, 2000). Bookstores and kiosks abound. The national opera, the theater, and great music (classical and otherwise) are within reach of almost any citizen. In U.S. dollars, $2.10 will get you the best seat in the house at the opera. And, yes, police officers do the ordinary also. They sit in their cruisers and drink coffee in the morning as they wait to get off duty, albeit in a Dachia that is not the most spacious of vehicles. Even in a nation of 23 million residents where the average monthly income is less than $100 per month, street crime is not a major concern. Almost 50,000 inmates are in the nation's prisons. The deterrent value is apparent.
The real Romania breaks several of the popular stereotypes. Dachia, the largest piece of land comprising original Romanian civilization, was conquered and settled by Romans, thus the name Romania. Romania is a Latin nation in a Slavic enclave. Its Latin nature may attribute to its attention paid to fashion, the frequent smiles of the people, and the pizzas that dominates Romanian media and entertainment. This is also a nation where you can still see a man kiss the hand of a woman when they meet. If you speak Latin, French, Spanish, or Italian, Romanian won't be easy to learn, but you can manage its stringent grammar. Its melodic trill is pleasing to hear.
Romania has taken an independent course during many periods in its long history, even under communism. Glenny (1993) says Romania was a weird mutant asteroid weaving its own unpredictable path while never quite leaving the Soviet star system.
A nation's values are at its core. Perhaps the two most prevalent values in Romanian society are generosity and humility. Romanians believe that God has blessed them with a breathtakingly beautiful land and it is their duty to give back to its visitors. Moreover, people with high positions and credentials, although formal in social situations, will never be boastful. Humility in fact may start with owning and driving a Dachia automobile, small but adequate, costing only about $3,000 new. They are everywhere. Bucharest is devoid of motor scooters and bicycles, a tribute to the Dachia and a fine public transportation system that includes an inexpensive subway (metro), trolleys, buses, and cabs. But all is not so rosy.
The Downside and the Challenge
The dogs and the citizens of Bucharest are equal victims of Nicolae Ceausescu, their communist dictator. Ceausescu starved his own people while be exported the produce of this prosperous land to the rest of the world. Unlike the other former Soviet dominated nations in Eastern Europe, Romania was debt-free when its revolution occurred in 1989, and it even had retained MFN trade status with the United States for years. When Ceausescu razed thousands of individual homes in Bucharest to make room for the construction of his palace (second in size in the world to only the Pentagon), he put the displaced people in massive block apartments along with peasants whom he brought in from the countryside. The idea of the apartments and the orphanages was to build the model Marxist man, easier done in state-run institutions than in individual homes. When the people went to the apartments, the dogs went to the streets and just kept breeding until today more than 300,000 stray dogs roam Bucharest resulting in 23,000 dog bites alone last year (Finn, 2001). None have been found to be rabid. Nevertheless, people who can ill-afford it may spend 5-10 % of their income to feed these dogs.
Thirteen years after the revolution Romania is last in the line of about a dozen nations to join the European Union. But Romania adheres almost religiously to the dictates of the EU in order to gain entry as soon as it can. The “2000 Regular Report from the Commission on Romania’s Progress towards Accession to the EU" does point out the strengths of a well-educated citizenry, the rise in exports, and improvements in the law on companies and competition (Lovatt, 2000). The rest of the report lists many problems to overcome in the next several years before accession to the EU will be possible. Romania plans to join NATO in a year or two and has increased its military spending under President Ion Iliescu to help make its case for NATO membership (Leonard). Just this year the Romanian legislature passed a property restitution law which was years overdue that guides the return to private ownership of most of the property that was seized under communist rule. The nation has a deadline of 5 years to resolve this matter. This act should speed foreign investment.
Romania must move faster in its reforms and most now realize that the legacy of Ceausescu cannot continue to be an excuse for intransigence in reform (Gallagher, 1999). The economy is supposed to grow 4% within the next year. This projected growth may help stave off the brain drain that has seen Romania lose nearly a million citizens, 18-25 years old, in the last decade. Romanian young people are very well educated and none other than Bill Gates himself raids the pool of talented computer programmers in Romania each year and takes scores of them to Silicon Valley. But to many, the needed reforms lag far behind what has taken place in some of the other former communist states (Wood, 1998).
The State of Justice and Injustice in Romania
Most of us in the free Western world cannot envision the lock that communism puts on a society. Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa (Pacepa, 1987), a defector to the United States and former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service said, “With the passage of time, however, I have come to understand that the nature and purpose of devious communist influence operations are incomprehensible to the Western mentality." Overthrowing the vestiges of a militarized and dictatorial justice system is not easy even if a nation is keen on doing so. Old habits are hard to break. “Democracy has to not only exist in a nation’s constitution, but it has to also live in the hearts of its police, court, corrections, and juvenile justice officials at the executive and street levels "(Haley, 2001). Romania now has a constitution that contains many of the same civil liberties that Americans enjoy. Perhaps as much as one-third of the current police system, however, are former members of the infamous Securitate, some of whom have indeed made the transition to justice in a free society, in their minds at least. Practice still requires a lot of improvement, but the Romanians are more than willing to learn. During the month of March 2001, Romanians were allowed for the first time to view secret files compiled about them by the Securitate. This network of police employed 400,000 - 700,000 informants and each one of them gave information on two or three people (Agence France Presse, 2001).
The immensity of the task of making a change over to democratic practices of criminal justice is noted in the comments of a British citizen who is a faculty member and juvenile justice advocate at the University of Bucharest. Professor Giles (2000) comments that "transforming militarized police and penitentiary systems from an ethic of punish and destroy to one of social inclusion is not easy."
The Power of Education in Social Justice Reform
Romania has always placed great faith in the power of education to transform its society. Educated leaders are the standard in government and public service. The last President of Romania, 1996-2000, Emile Constantinescu, was first a professor of geology at the University of Bucharest and has returned to that position after choosing not to run for reelection. He is enjoying the academic life and says his computer at the university is better than the one he had in his presidential office (Monitorul, 2001). The current Prime Minister, Adrian Nastase is a graduate of the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member. Now Romania has turned to education to reform its criminal justice system and prepare its current and future agency leaders to prevent and control crime in a free society.
Tiffin University’s Grant to Establish a School of Criminal Justice at the University of Bucharest, Romania
Tiffin University’s School of Criminal Justice competed with more than 850 American colleges and universities to be awarded a grant for innovative international development. The Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) sponsored the competition in 1999. Tiffin University was one of 14 who received three-year funding from the United States Agency for International Development.
Tiffin University (TU) was to establish a School of Criminal Justice at
The University of Bucharest (UB) to prepare future police, corrections, juvenile justice, and government research agency practitioners to prevent and control crime in a free, democratic society. TU is the lead institution on the School of Criminal Justice grant project that is integrating the resources of criminal justice agencies, colleges and universities, and social service and research organizations in both Romania and the United States. TU’s co-equal project partner in Romania is the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest.
The School of Criminal Justice project was divided into the following stages:
1. Phase I: The Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST) traveled to Romania to conduct a needs assessment, gain support of influential government and academic leaders; understand academic structure and current curricula; and begin work on curriculum for a graduate degree.
2. Phase II: Romanian faculty and justice officials visited the U.S. to observe and teach classes; gather criminal justice resource materials; visit criminal and juvenile justice agencies; visit government offices; and conduct a video conference.
3. Phase III: A second team of junior Romanian faculty visited Tiffin to observe criminal justice graduate classes; help prepare instructional units; translate a criminal justice text, and to work with TU professors on the TURST team to prepare for teaching.
4. Phase IV: TURST went to the University of Bucharest to teach a graduate seminar on the American Criminal Justice System.
5. Phase V: The TURST team and the faculty of the new Master of Community Justice Administration degree program in Bucharest will offer a world conference on "The Power of Education in Social Justice Reform" at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bucharest, Romania for educators, justice officials, government leaders, and students.
Summary of Progress to Date
A Master’s degree in Community Justice Administration has been established at the University of Bucharest under Tiffin University’s and the University of Bucharest's leadership. Beyond our most reasonable expectations, now three different classes of Master’s students, numbering more than 40, are in school, with the first group scheduled to graduate in May of 2001. The Rector of the University of Bucharest and the Dean of the School of Sociology and Social Work, along with the assistance of Tiffin University, are set on a course to accomplish these additional objectives: begin a Ph.D. program in Community Justice Administration at UB; take the Master’s program to five other large universities in Romania; start a Master’s program for law school graduates where they will take approximately half of the Community Justice Administration degree curriculum and get a graduate degree; and fully fund an undergraduate degree program for 40 students majoring in probation service. Plans have also been developed to train Romanian faculty to teach, conduct research, and publish in the criminal justice discipline.
METHOD AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PAPER
The overall goal of this paper is to report on the progress of the Tiffin University-University of Bucharest Project to Establish a School of Criminal Justice in Romania. The authors were original members of the TURST team and continue to serve as participant observers in one of the most edifying experiences they have had in higher education. The specific objectives of the paper are to:
1. Describe the partnership relationship between the University of Bucharest and Tiffin University as they established and launched a Master’s of Community Justice Administration degree program in Romania.
2. Discuss the various phases of the School of Criminal Justice in Romania project and its impact on the preparation of justice leaders.
3. Report on the instructional experiences of Tiffin University faculty and Ohio criminal justice officials as a result of their work at the University of Bucharest.
4. Describe the critical internship and faculty exchange programs that are part of the TU-UB partnership.
5. Describe the lasting relationships that have resulted from the cooperation between the two universities.
PHASE ONE: A VISIT TO BUCHAREST
Goals for Phase I
During the period between November 10, 1999, and November 20, 1999, a delegation of 10 Tiffin University faculty, staff, criminal justice practitioners, an Ohio businessman and honorary Romanian diplomat, and an international service agency director visited Romania under the auspices of a grant creating a partnership between Tiffin University and the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development. The purpose of this $198,000 grant was to have Tiffin University lead, along with the assistance of other agencies and schools, in the development of a School of Criminal Justice at the University of Bucharest in Romania. This new academic program would prepare current and prospective Romanian criminal justice officials to better serve the nation's people as they respond to the challenges of crime and corruption in a free society. Phase I of the project had two significant goals, both of which were accomplished during the visit of the Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST). One of the Tiffin University faculty was designated as the Director of the TURST team.
Table 1 below identifies the members of the Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST) that participated in trips to Romania to study, consult, and teach during the fall semesters of 1999 and 2000.
Table 1. Members and Organizational Affiliation of the Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST)
___________________________________________________________
Member Affiliation
___________________________________________________________
1. John Collins Dean, School of Criminal Justice, TU
2. Joe Saunders Chair, Law Enforcement and Corrections
Department, TU
3. Keith Haley Dean and Associate Vice President, School
of Off-Campus Learning, TU, Director of
TURST Team
4. Laura Mays Professor of Business and Grant Projects
5. George Dobrea Ohio Honorary Consul for Romania
6. Eugene Hunyadi Deputy Administrator, Ohio Bureau of
Community Sanctions
7. Tom Steyer Sheriff, Seneca County, Ohio and former
Chief of Police, Tiffin, Ohio
8. Dorothy Faller Secretary General, Council of International
Programs USA
9. Carol Rapp-Zimmermann Assistant Director, Ohio Department of
Services
10. George Kidd President, Tiffin University
11. Diane Kidd Tiffin University
___________________________________________________________
First, both the University of Bucharest and Tiffin University's project teams knew that it would be necessary to meet and gain the strong support of the influential government and academic decision-makers in Romanian society. TURST, along with their Romanian counterparts, met separately with many government and academic leaders, including: Romania's President; the Minister of Justice; the Minister of the Interior; the Chancellor of the Nation's Police Academy; the Rector of Bucharest University; Head of the Department of Social Work; Director of the Research Institute for Quality of Life; the General formally in charge of the nation's police and now a Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior; the U.S. Ambassador to Romania and his key staff,; and numerous other second-tier leaders in the Romanian government and the nation's higher education system. All of these officials strongly endorsed the project and offered their support. The endorsement and support of these key leaders in Romania will substantially increase the likelihood of success in all subsequent phases of the grant project. Our accomplishments relative to the goal of establishing connections with the power wielders in government and education far exceeded our initial expectations.
Our second goal was to learn all we could about the professional training and education needs of criminal justice officials, the university structure and its academic leaders, existing curricula at the University of Bucharest, and the nature of prospective students in order that we could begin the process of constructing a curriculum. We visited law enforcement, corrections, and training facilities and engaged in dialogue with their leaders and staff. Two of our team were guest lecturers in graduate classes in Social Policy on the first visit. We were also able to have substantive discussions with the Social Work and Sociology faculties at the University of Bucharest in which social justice issues and content are currently addressed. Once again our initial expectations were exceeded.
Development of a Curriculum
At the conclusion of a long session that included a working lunch, the University of Bucharest Sociology and Social Work delegation and TURST arrived at a model for a Master of Community Justice Administration (MCJA) degree that would require 11 courses. The students would complete the degree in one and one-half academic years. It should be noted that the term "community justice." fits the Romanian syntax better than "criminal justice," which has a connotation more closely related to the idea of the law and the penal code. Table 2 below identifies the courses in the Master of Community Justice Administration program at the University of Bucharest.
Table 2. Courses in the Master of Community Justice Degree Program at the University of Bucharest
_____________________________________________________________
1. Issues and Trends in Community Justice Administration
2. Social Policy: Crime Prevention and Control
3. Criminology: Types and Trends in Victims' Protection
4. Alternatives to Prison: Probation Service
5. Legal and Moral Aspects in Crime Control: Abiding to Human Rights
6. Management of Community Justice Administration Agencies
7. Data Sources and Statistics in Criminal Justice
8. Applied Social Psychology
9. Research Methods in Criminology10. Social Problems and Community Development11. Proseminar
_____________________________________________________________
Romanian students generally do not have the money to pay for their own tuition, so it is customary for the government to finance a student's education at all levels. At the graduate level, there is substantially more flexibility for degree program and curriculum innovation and those graduate degree programs which seem to be useful to government agencies will be well attended by students, with their tuition bills paid by their employers. A recent Master's of Health Administration program has attracted approximately 100 students because it has been identified as valuable to Romanian health organizations. This graduate Health Administration degree turned out to be an excellent precedent for the MCJA, since so many of the nation's leaders have voiced their support for both programs.
Some of America's basic, cost-effective programs, such as probation as we know it and community-based corrections, are virtually nonexistent in Romania. The graduate level curriculum would be the ideal place to introduce current and future leaders to some of the best American programs that would fit into the Romanian justice system. Even more basic and absent is the mode of thought that criminal justice is a system, each segment affecting what goes on in the other segments. We are able to assist in developing this perspective also by reaching current and future leaders in their graduate degree program.
The specific courses which comprise the 11-course MCJA program are almost a direct transplant of some of TU's Master's of Criminal Justice: Justice Administration courses on to a slate of 10 courses already in existence at the University of Bucharest. The University of Bucharest faculty were so optimistic about this array of courses, that they actually started the MCJA in February 2000 (the Romanian spring semester), well ahead of the original start date of the Fall of 2000. The Romanian government and justice system leaders were so delighted with the new graduate program that they immediately enrolled 11 mangers and other practitioners from the police, corrections, research, and higher education fields. Final curriculum details were determined during a visit of the Romanian delegation to Tiffin University in February of 2000.
A comment should be made about beginning a graduate degree program before the existence of an undergraduate degree. There are many precedents for this approach. Rutgers, for example, began its master’s degree program more than a decade ago and only recently started a very popular undergraduate program. The Romanian undergraduate education is both classical and traditional, rooted in 20 years or more of the desires of Ceausescu, his academic leadership appointees, and the communist regime. Education changes are difficult to accomplish in Romania and must ordinarily go through many steps in the approval process of the national Ministry of Higher Education. Romania has a very high literacy rate (97%), so some aspects of the communist regime and the nation's commitment to scholarship have served them well. By creating a Master of Community Justice Administration degree, however, virtually all of those cumbersome steps can be avoided and the degree program will still have stability and high recognition in the university structure.
In Table 3 below you will find a roster of the key Romanian government officials and academics that were leaders in the School of Criminal Justice project or offered substantial assistance in the development and maintenance of the program.
Table 3. Romanian Academic and Government Leaders Associated with the School of Criminal Justice Project
_______________________________________________________________________
Name Affiliation
_______________________________________________________________________
1. Elena Zamfir Dean, School of Sociology and Social Work, UB; Secretary of State, Ministry of
Education
2. Ilie Badescu Chair, Sociology Department, UB
3. Ioan Mihailescu Rector (President) University of
Bucharest
4. Catalin Zamfir Professor of Sociology; Director, Institute
for Social Quality, UB
5. Pavel Abraham Secretary of State, Internal Security,
Ministry of the Interior; Professor, UB
_______________________________________________________________________
Major Discoveries in Phase I
The TURST staff returned with several lasting impressions and discoveries:
1. Kindness and Hospitality of the Romanian People. We were overwhelmed with the kindness and hospitality of the Romanian people. None of us had ever seen people so devoted to personal service in their work capacities and kindness in their interpersonal relations. Most often this kindness and service were shown to us without any concern for personal remuneration. In short, the Romanian people are some of the most kind and happy people on earth. They are also a handsome people that pay close attention to their personal appearances. Moreover, the attention paid to maintaining the arts and preserving the Romanian heritage are exceptional.
2. Absence of a Systems Perspective in Criminal Justice. From various conversations and several
visits, it was apparent that a systems perspective was not present in Romanian criminal justice. Our conversations with officials from one segment of the criminal justice process revealed that they had limited knowledge and concern for other segments of criminal justice. This is unfortunate since what happens, or does not happen, in one subsystem of criminal justice has identifiable impacts on other parts. We got the impression, for example, that many of the people in prison who were routinely classified as innocent and awaiting trial, could be virtually forgotten and then later released by a judge several years later at the trial date because of the time they had already served in confinement. The courts need a closer connection to the prisons, the prosecutor, and the police. The new MCJA degree program will be an excellent location to develop a refined, systems perspective.
3. Minimum of Proven Criminal Justice Services. Common criminal justice procedures and services throughout the world, such as an effective bail system, probation service, and systematic police patrol procedures, were not present. A solid criminal justice foundations course, focusing on the system, such as TU’s Contemporary Criminal Justice Issues and Trends at the graduate level, would be a logical place to introduce some of these programs. A course of this nature is now included in the MCJA curriculum. Moreover, allowing students to hear speakers from all segments of the criminal justice process, similar to TU's Proseminars in Criminal Justice series, would also be effective, particularly if the speakers were from the United States or other nations with progressive systems of criminal justice. A Proseminar course is now in the curriculum.
4. No Established Criminal Justice Profession. Obvious, but worth reiterating, the MCJA is the first of its kind in Romania. A degree program is now established that will prepare criminal justice professionals from all segments of the system. All of these professionals gaining their education in the same focused curriculum will create a whole new cadre of change agents in the Romanian justice system. The establishment of a professional model for preparing criminal justice leaders will go a long way in improving the delivery of justice services in Romania.
5. Minimal Funding for Innovation in Criminal Justice. Romania is struggling to get back on its feet economically. Foreign investment and private ownership of property lag behind developments in other former communist nations in Europe. But the establishment of the MCJA degree program at the University of Bucharest is not a major cost in the whole stream of projects that the Romanian government is planning for the immediate future. A number of the courses and qualified staff were already in place. It is a well-established fact that higher education will pay dividends in both the short-run and far into the future of a nation. Romania has a tradition of supporting its education system, a precedent that will be a strong catalyst for effecting changes in criminal justice and other important sectors of their service and business economies.
PHASE II: UB TEAM VISITS TIFFIN UNIVERSITY
In February 2000, seven professors from the University of Bucharest traveled to Tiffin University to observe criminal justice classes, gather instructional materials, visit law enforcement, corrections, and training agencies, and meet Ohio government officials.
The visiting team included the Elena Zamfir, Dean of the School of Sociology and Social Work; Catalin Zamfir (former first Labor Minister after the Revolution), the Director of the Institute for Social Quality; General Pavel Abraham, at that time Head of Internal Security and Analysis in the Ministry of the Interior; one Romanian Orthodox priest; and several professors and spouses.
During the Romanian team's visit to the United States, they visited the Madison Correctional Institution for adults; Scioto Village Juvenile Correctional Center; Marysville Reformatory for Women; the Oho Peace Officer Training Academy and Commission; the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification; and the Lucas County Jail. They also met with the Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction; the Executive Director of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission; the Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services; and the Governor's Assistant for Multi-Cultural Affairs.
A highlight of the visit in February was a teleconference hosted by Tiffin University where the Romanian team broadcast to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, a high school in Northern Ohio, and an International Politics class at Ohio University.
The Romanian team also was present during an incident at the Lucas County Jail when an inmate severed the finger of a corrections officer during an altercation. The emergency response team came to quell the disturbance. Most of the Romanians agreed that this incident was a little more real than what they needed to experience in order to get a feel for corrections in the United States.
PHASE III: UB'S VISITING FACULTY AND INTERNS
During Phase III in June of 2000 until December, four junior professors and interns visited Tiffin University in order to study the American Criminal Justice System, prepare instructional materials, and visit and lecture in graduate criminal justice classes. They also worked in a probation and parole department, participated in state jail standards training, observed a local jail inspection conducted by the Bureau of Adult Detention, and visited local courts and law enforcement departments.
An arduous project for one of the Romanian professors while she was here was to translate into Romanian Robert Bohm's and Keith Haley's Introduction to Criminal Justice textbook published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. That translation is being supplemented with commentary by Professor General Pavel Abraham for a text to be used in the MCJA program at the University of Bucharest. This will undoubtedly be the first of a number of American criminal justice works that will be used in community justice administration classes in Romania.
During the summer and fall of 2000, the schedule was a bit more relaxed in this phase than in previous ones, so TU and UB faculty were able to have many informal discussions where ideas from each other's cultures were exchanged.
PHASE IV: TURST TEAM TEACHES GRADUATE SEMINAR
ON THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
On the front of a brochure distributed at the Romanian Embassy in Washington DC are the words, “Romania, more than you expect.” The Tiffin University Romania Study Team (TURST) has recently completed its second trip to Romania where the members taught a 30-hour graduate seminar on the “American Criminal Justice System” to 36 law enforcement, corrections, court, and juvenile justice administrators. The weeklong course was held at the University of Bucharest. All of the students are enrolled in the Master of Community Justice Administration degree program that was jointly designed by the TURST team and the faculty of the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest.
The TURST team held the 30-hour seminar in Bucharest from October 2-6, 2000, concluding with an examination that was successfully completed by all seminar participants. The curriculum for this seminar and the other courses in the master’s degree program were designed by the University of Bucharest faculty, justice officials, and the TURST team during its visit to Romania in November of 1999. The members of the TURST team that went to Romania in October 2000, are TU faculty Dr. Joe Saunders, Dr. Jack Collins, Dr. Laura Mays, and Professor Keith Haley, and agency leaders Carol Rapp-Zimmermann, Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, Eugene Hunyadi, Deputy Administrator, Bureau of Community Sanctions, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, George Dobrea, Honorary Romanian Consul for Ohio, Tom Steyer, Chief of Police of Tiffin, Ohio, and Dorothy Faller, Secretary General, Council of International Programs. Professor Haley, Director of the TURST team, also lectured at the Romanian Intelligence Service and at the opening of the University of Bucharest Law School.
During this last visit to Bucharest, Professor Doctor Ioan Mihailescu, President of the University of Bucharest, unveiled plans to expand the Community Administration of Justice master’s program to other Romanian universities in Iasi, Cluj, Timisoara, Oradea, Craiova, and Arad, as well as the University of Chisinau in the Republic of Moldova. Other plans include the training of 3 University of Bucharest faculty members to be criminal justice faculty. The Romanians will do that preparation at Tiffin University. Even more remarkable is the plan to begin a doctoral program in the Community Administration of Justice at the University of Bucharest in the fall of 2001. Indeed, Romania was “more than we expected." The experience has been like 30 years of progress in criminal justice education compressed into a year and a half. There are plans now to introduce some community administration of justice education into Romanian high schools. All of these steps are an indication of Romania’s commitment to insure that its criminal justice system is based on democratic and humane principles. In contrast to a lot of other international projects involving multiple partners, Tiffin University, the University of Bucharest, and the Romanian government are ahead of the schedule in terms of achievement and results.
Two major remaining project events are scheduled for 2001, the year the project will conclude. The first class of Master of Community Justice Administration students at the University of Bucharest will graduate in May of 2001. Moreover, a three-day international conference will be held in Bucharest during the fall of 2001 in order to present the results of the Tiffin University – University of Bucharest project on criminal justice to other nations in Europe and the world. The title and theme of the conference is "The Power of Education in Social Justice Reform."
Faculty Impressions of the Teaching Experience in Bucharest
The Tiffin University School of Criminal Justice faculty who participated in this grant project share the belief that teaching the graduate students in Bucharest has been one of the highlights of their academic career. The comments of Professor Joe Saunders, a leading member of the TURST team, capture the sentiments of all of us.
The opportunity of teaching in Bucharest was unique. The students embraced the opportunity to receive our lectures, demonstrating an eagerness born out of the insidious deprivation which they as students had experienced under the socialist regime. They reflected a genuine interest in what professors had to say, although there was some initial reluctance to question and comment.
This, too, is understandable in light of their history and culture. Unlike the experience of the professorship in the U.S., our expertise was universally valued.
The concept that students representing several branches of Romanian government could sit together in a sharing atmosphere was indeed unique. This type of opportunity does not often present to them. I sensed that the uniqueness was of great benefit. It is not one’s custom in Romania to inquire or comment on the internal workings of the bureaucracy.
The thirst of the students for more information regarding our system and the contributions our knowledge might make to their system seemed unquenchable. They would pursue us during breaks and before and after class with questions and comments. Their sincerity was unquestioned. They really are seeking answers to the many problems they are encountering in attempting to establish a democratic way of governance. Personally, I came away with the feeling that people who possess the expertise which we deem common in the U.S. would be held in considerable esteem by the Romanian population. Given the support which we received from highly influential persons, there are many niches where one could substantially influence the development of their democracy.
Our faculty and justice official team members in Ohio continue to relish our teaching experiences in Bucharest. Few of us have encountered students with a higher level of motivation, certainly none of us have ever seen such zeal for learning in one academic program. The students occupy some of the most important positions in the Romanian justice system and they are looking for anything that will improve their contribution to complete establishment of a democratic system of criminal justice.
PHASE V: AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN BUCHAREST
On September 28, 29, and 30, 2001, the intensive three-day international conference on "The Power of Education in Social Justice Reform" will be sponsored by the University of Bucharest and Tiffin University in order to demonstrate how partnerships between educational institutions and community justice agencies can be successful in preparing leaders and preventing and controlling crime in a free society. Attendees will be government leaders, community justice practitioners, students, and university and public school faculty. The conference is also supported by the grant from USAID.
Topics presented by scholars, community justice practitioners, and government leaders from Eastern and Central Europe and the United States will include:
· University Partnerships for Justice Reform
· Government and Community Support Systems in Crime and Delinquency Prevention and Control
· Crime and Intelligence Analysis
· Domestic Violence Interventions
· Role of Schools in Delinquency Prevention
· Restorative Justice Models
· Community Policing
· Computer Crime and Investigation
· Faith-Based Rehabilitation Programs
· Juvenile Justice Issues
· New Ideas in Probation Services
· Curriculum Design and Development for Justice Education
· Organized and Trans-National Crime
· Faculty Preparation for Community Justice Teaching
· Jail and Prison Standards
Pre-conference workshops on crime analysis, computer crime investigation, memory skills for justice workers, teaching on the web, and other subjects will also be available. Tours of local justice agencies, cultural sites, and entertainment venues are also being arranged. A conference fee of $150 for those not currently associated with the School of Criminal Justice project includes breakfast, lunch, cocktail parties, and attendance at all sessions. The site of the conference is the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bucharest, Romania. We are planning on 150 conference attendees.
While the conference in Bucharest, Romania in the fall of 2001 is the last formal stage of the Tiffin University - University of Bucharest USAID grant project, ancillary and continuing team activities between the two universities will continue. We envision a number of cooperative ventures such as faculty exchanges, joint research and writing ventures, and shared continuing education experiences.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Romania is awash in freedom and, aside from all of the vestiges of communist rule it has to overcome, the nation has a well-educated population and an energetic workforce. The prevention and control of crime under democratic principles is still new to the agents of justice in Romania, but their zeal to learn is perhaps unparalleled among justice agents of the former communist states of Central Europe. Romanians have great faith in the ability of education to direct the course of their society. The Tiffin University grant from USAID to assist the nation in democratizing its criminal justice system by preparing criminal justice leaders at the graduate level is a big step in helping Romania advance to a state of prominence among nations, comparable to its position in earlier times. The graduate program in Community Justice Administration was established, a curriculum was designed, and students from the Romanian justice system were admitted in less than one year's time from the inception of the grant.
The Tiffin University Romania Study Team, along with the unwavering support and leadership of our Romanian colleagues, have accomplished and exceeded the original objectives in virtually every phase of the grant project. TURST has been a major influence in seeing that the University of Bucharest became the first criminal justice program of its kind in Romania, i.e. the “Michigan State” for preparing law enforcement and corrections leaders. Now the plan is to extend this education to other large universities in Romania's major cities.
We also learned much about how the Romanian justice system works, both from a public relations and practitioner perspective. To become more adept in our work, we have also tried to accumulate all that we can acquire of the Romanian justice system literature that exists in English.
Our exchange visits, internships, lectures, and teaching experiences have taught us a number of things about the Romanian people and their system of justice: the Romanian people are some of the most kind and hospitable in the world; there is a lack of a systems perspective in criminal justice at this point in time; some common criminal justice services such as bail and probation are lacking in most areas; criminal justice is not an established discipline until now; and there is a dearth of money available at the moment to fund expensive criminal justice innovations. Romania has a lot on its national agenda at the moment as it anticipates entry into NATO and the EU. But the continuous improvement of the criminal justice system also occupies a prominent place on its agenda as evidenced by the support and funding of more than three dozen students in the Master's of Community Justice Administration program. Moreover, exporting this program to other major universities and the start of a doctoral program in Community Justice Administration in the fall of 2001 are clear proof of commitment. The power of education in criminal justice reform is now obvious in Romania and the international conference in Bucharest during the fall of 2001 is an opportunity to show Europe and the world what is possible when you are committed and willing to act.
Some Personal Tribute
It is out of the ordinary in an academic paper to pay tribute to contributors on a grant project. But the Tiffin University - University of Bucharest project is an extraordinary undertaking and the results have indeed exceeded our original optimistic expectations. We feel obligated to acknowledge the service and support rendered by some people on this project. Many others unmentioned have helped also.
Our deepest and sincere gratitude go to Elena Zamfir, Dean of the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Bucharest and all of the faculty and staff (we mean all of them) she has gathered to make the MCJA program a success. She and her staff did everything humanly possible to make our grant project and teaching experiences the best ever.
Rector Ioan Mihailescu used every resource possible at the University of Bucharest to make our stay comfortable and inexpensive. His excellent staff at the Hotel Academica attended to our every need. Professor Mihailescu saw that all of our transportation needs were met at no cost, as was the case with our hotel accommodations. Without his direction, assistance, and plain advice on our grant project, we would have accomplished far less.
The School of Criminal Justice faculty, full time and adjunct, led by Dean Jack Collins, have performed at the highest possible level of professionalism. Our Romanian colleagues in the university and the government have frequently commented on the dedication and superior on-the-ground performance of the School of Criminal Justice faculty.
We are indeed immensely thankful for the leadership and work that Dr. Laura Mays contributed on this project. Without her persistent attention to the details of this venture, not to mention writing the grant, there would have been no project. Likewise, we are indebted to George Dobrea, Honorary Consul for Romania in Ohio, for his foresight and help to engineer this grant and make our stay in Romania one of the most memorable academic and social experiences we have ever had. Our thanks also go out to Dorothy Faller for her assistance in acclimating the team to Romanian society and its leaders and in arranging excellent internships for our Romanian students in cities all across America
Finally, President George Kidd and Diane Kidd set aside time in their incredibly busy schedules and joined us in Bucharest to exercise leadership and to demonstrate commitment to this project. Their arrival and presence in Romania inspired us and we so much enjoyed their company. We sincerely thank both of them.
Those who read this paper may very well gather the impression that the authors are more than simply reporting Tiffin University's experience in assisting Romania to democratize its system of criminal justice. In fact, we may be accused of being outright boosters for the University of Bucharest and the nation of Romania. You are correct. When you go to Romania, and you should since it has some of the most beautiful landscape and hospitable people in the world, you will never doubt the sincerity of the Romanians when they say, "Bine ati venit!" You are "welcome."
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