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."



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