Where is Criminology?

• Author: Elizabeth Monk Turner,Ruth Ann Triplett
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016809348589
• Published date: 01 March 2010
• Date: 01 March 2010
• Subject Matter: Articles

Articles

Where is Criminology?

The Institutional Placement of

Criminology Within Sociology and

Criminal Justice

Ruth Ann Triplett

1

and Elizabeth Monk Turner

1

Abstract

This article examines the institutional placement of graduate programs in criminology. Using

Peterson’s Guide to Graduate Programs in the Humanities and Social Sciences for 2004, 1994, and

1984, a sampling frame of programs that had ‘‘criminology’’ in the department/program or degree

title was constructed. Data show that criminology was most commonly located in combined

criminal justice/criminology departments, not in departments of sociology. Between 1984 and

2004, there was an increase in the number of criminology programs. An examination of seven

departments, for which detailed information was available, offers insight into the decisions that

shaped the institutional placement of the program as well as what the program or degree would

be called.

Keywords

criminology, criminal justice, sociology

The purpose of this article is to examine where criminology, as an academic discipline, is housed on

university and college campuses. This is an interesting question to explore for three reasons. First,

today, criminology is described by many as an interdisciplinary field of study and there are many

indications that this is true. Theories and research from the disciplines of economics, biology, psy-

chology, anthropology, political science, law, medicine, and philosophy inform criminological

inquiry. In addition, the disciplines’ leading journal is titled Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Jour-

nal. However, a number of scholars have argued that, rather than being interdisciplinary, criminol-

ogy is a specialization of sociology (see Buikhuisen, 1979). A glance at most criminology texts

reveals both this disciplinary division and the emphasis on sociological theories of crime and crim-

inality. The current dominance of sociological thought in U.S. criminological theory comes, at least

in part, from the strong interest in crime in the work of Chicago School theorists such as Park and

Burgess (1925/1967) and Shaw and McKay (1942), as well as the historical tie of criminology as an

academic discipline to sociology departments.

1

Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Corresponding Author:

Ruth Ann Triplett, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529.

Email: rtriplet@odu.edu

Criminal Justice Review

35(1) 5-31

ª2010 Georgia State University

Reprints and permission:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/0734016809348589

http://cjr.sagepub.com

5

The second factor that makes the institutional placement of criminology at colleges and univer-

sities interesting is the historically strong relationship between criminology and sociology. This is

a relationship that has changed over time. For example, the 1970s brought discussion of a growing

break between criminology and sociology as well as a concern about the break’s effect (see Cres-

sey, 1978; Morn, 1980). Discussion of this break and its effects waned duringthe 1980s; but by the

late 1990s, the conversation was once again a very serious one. For example, Dantzker (1998)

argued that criminology was a subdiscipline of sociology in the past but that an identifiable break

began in the 1950s. He suggested this break is positive arguing that ‘‘Criminologyhas had to shake

the shadow of sociology’’ (1998, p. 110). Others, seeing the same break, have voiced their

concern over the effect it may have. For example, in a memo dated April 17, 2000, Karen Heimer,

Robert J. Sampson, and Joachim J. Savelsberg wrote that criminology ‘‘ ...has increasingly iso-

lated itself from sociology’’ (2000, p. 1). They also argued that sociology and criminology should

remain integrated and that a continued split would come at a great cost. They contended that crim-

inology cannot be a distinct discipline as ‘‘... it does not have an intellectual core’’ (2000, p. 2).

They further noted that while other specialty areas in sociology have their own journals, none

claim to be a separate discipline. They also noted that in an effort to validate this new discipline,

departments aim to hire their own (namely PhDs with degrees in criminology or criminal justice),

which limits the intellectual integration within the field. In addition, they argued that concern

with disciplinary credentials should ‘‘be replaced by a renewed focus on intellectual ideas’’

(2000, p. 2). These ideas are best linked to multidisciplina ry frameworks including sociology,

philosophy, economics, and anthropology (for others concerned about the split, see Clear,

2001, Szabo, 1971).

Finally, in addition to questions regarding the relationship of criminology as an academic disci-

pline to sociology are those of criminology’s relationship to criminal justice. Along with the split

from sociology, the 1970s brought discussion of the field of criminal justice and the increasing con-

nection with criminology (Morn, 1980). Discussion included the central concerns of what each field

included and the relationship of one to the other. Some argued that criminal justice and criminology

were terms for the same thing or that criminal justice was subsumed under criminology. In an intro-

duction to the Criminal Justice/Criminology section of the Peterson’s Guide to Graduate Programs

in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 1984, Czajkoski (then Dean of the School of Criminology at

Florida State University) argued that ‘‘all would agree that there is considerable overlap in meaning,

and that the terms are often used interchangeably’’ (1984, p. 555). Others argued that they are two

very distinct fields of study (see for example, Dantzker, 1998; Newman, 1993). It was this discussion

that helped shape the development of the first graduate school in criminal justice, the School of

Criminal Justice at SUNY Albany, established in 1966 (see Newman, 1993). As with the discussion

of the split from sociology, discussion of the relationship between criminology and criminal justice

waned in the 1980s and 1990s, as both fields now had their own national organizations and journals,

and disciplinary identities emerged.

Where is criminology now? It has been approximately 30 years since the discussions and debates

of the 1970s. Has the split of criminology from sociology continued? Has the tie of criminology to

criminal justice continued? This article examines these questions about the institutional placement

of criminology in relation to sociology and criminal justice through an examination of graduate edu-

cation in the United States from the 1980s onward.

The Institutional Placement of Criminology as an Academic

Discipline: A Very Brief Discussion

In the second half of the 19th century, sociology gradually developed as an academic discipline in

U.S. colleges and universities. From its inception, the study of crime was an important component

6Criminal Justice Review 35(1)

6