JUSTICE WITHOUT BORDERS

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