Law, and DevianceNEWSLElTER

SUMMER 2000Crime, Law, and Deviance I FROM THE SECTION CHAIR. attend all or many of these1999-2000 SEcrlONOFFICERS ' ..,~,.. ~-~..~,. ~.~.., .events

CHAIR

K~nH"-, Greetings! One oflhe items on the

U""=i"of!~"' ag enda of the Business MeetingII karen-I~Q\no",oJu

Plans are beIng finalIzed for will be the presentation of theFORM£RCHAIR "' the Crime, Law and Deviance CLD Section's Student Paper

N;"",Rnft" Section's activities at the Award The selectionN-,=urn,~" upcoming Annual Meetings of committee this

year was ..."":'! "J~'~OO"the ASA In WashIngton, DC chaired by Brad WrIght and

SECRETARY TREASURER Our section's sessions, business included Simon Singer, Jay

c K~n~hnin meeting, and reception all will be Meehan, Sara Steen, and RossU""~"ofMn.-~. held on Tuesday, August 15'h MacMillan-00"","""""cuom~u

COUNCIL MEMBERS Because our membership The winner of the

C.I Albon..i-O-' exceeded 600 last year, we are STUDENT PAPER

,,~:=:~,~~=oou able to sponsor three panel competition is Christine W.sessions and one roundtable Bond of the University of

I.J:'.::,;':::~~;:. sessioQ The session listings are Washington, for her paperorotcWi("io",OOu included in this newsletter, for titled, "Does Gender Still

I[)"WdGn..be", 01 your interest Matter? Quantitative and

-Y"" urn,""", Narrative Analyses of Gender

,-,irocl'I"."m~OOu C I b "C Iurrent y, our nslness DIfferences In rlmlna

J"""Ho!!,d~- ,,! meeting is scheduled from 1:30 Involvement and Pre-Trialu,m~"ofw,~,io-MiI",ukre 2 10 " h M "lt H " II fi d b f Ihuk"0..riic..~'moJ" to: p.m.mt e Ion ere Release YOUWI In a fIe

-" : you can learn about the section's description of this paper later in ~IO"~J,~ll- /10 urn,~I, ofC"ifun,i,-"'m. act"",,les durIng the past year, the newsletter CongratulatIons

J"",,,""~COOU and help to decIde on actIvItIes to ChrIstIne!

IK,n~/h un.1 '!I} for the coming yearDuk.Uo"~"" We also will discuss

-'"",,'ukcOOo Our reception is scheduled to possibilities for some new

.dl'", be held at 6:30 on Tnesday in section activities at the

v,~;;,~;;;;:::~" the Marriott Wardman Park Business Meeting One is aj"","".c",~""""",,;ltOOu Motet We are holding our proposal tor a new CLD

As,islanl Edito, reception jointly with other Section award for bestWjl/- P".J,.m~", sections, as we have in some past scholarly paper Another is the

SlINYAII.m, years, in an effort to further opportunity to suggest themes"l'316"'=",.."'m,oJo

h dstrengthen tIes to ot er sectIons or authors for feature revIewsand keep costs manageable lor invited symposia to the newhope that you will be able to

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SUMMER 20004 Crime, Law, and Deviance

UnderiIaduate Pro~amteaching. Admission is highlyselective, with only about sixstudents entering the programeach year .All students receivefinancial aid; a number arefunded by research assistantshipsand fellowships while othersserves as teaching assistants.

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To insure that our studentsbecome conversant in anotherdiscipline, we require that they

develop a four-courseconcentration in a coherent areaof inquiry that can be applied toresearch on criminology andcriminal justice topics. This

outside work is usuallycompleted after a standard set of

theory and methods courses,several substantive seminars, anda candidacy exam have beenpassed and a master's thesisapproved. Ph.D. students mustalso pass a comprehensive examand complete and defend a

dissertation.

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As might be expected basedon national trends, ourundergraduate program isthriving. Each year we offerapproximately 50 coursesections with a total enrollmentof over 2,600. Most of thisenrollment is accounted for by550-600 majors, an increasingnumber of whom are minoringin sociology .CLJ students wintheir fair share of college and

IIuniversity awards, and someaccept invitations to join

honorary societies, includingAlpha Phi Sigma and Phi BetaKappa. Eligibility formembership in the latterreflects the liberal arts nicheoccupied by our programwithin the Penn State system.(Other Penn State campusesprovide more vocationallyoriented training. ) Withguidance from a professionaladvising staff, CLJ B.A. andB.S. candidates developsubstantive breadth (in courseson criminology, law and

society, courts, juvenile justice,and policing) while acquiringcomputing and statistical skillsand satisfying diversity andwriting requirements. The B.S.students take courses indisciplines ranging fromphilosophy to chemistry inorder to complete a formalconcentration in areas such aslegal studies, social scienceresearch, or pre-forensics.

Our graduate program is builton the philosophy that leaders inresearch on crime and justicemust not only be rigorouslytrained in that field but must havesubstantive knowledge of one ormore standing disciplines. Fromour perspective, doctoral trainingin sociology departments fallsshort by having too few facultymembers to provide sufficientdepth in the study of crime andjustice. In contrast, we seecriminal justice doctoralprograms as prone to insularity ,

.I failing to promote the growth

engendered by cross- fertilizationwith other fields. Our program iswell situated to overcome thisdilemma, comprising anintegrated curriculum and asizeable number of crime andjustice specialists within a strongsociology department. PennState also has a tradition ofinterdisciplinary collaboration in

.I the social sciences, and we enjoy

good working relationships withPsychology, Geography, andHuman Development and Family

II Studies. Indeed, the affiliatefaculty members of our programinclude renowned scholars ofcrime and justice such as JimEisenstein in Political Scienceand Philip Jenkins in History .

Though the currentincarnation of the CLJ graduateprogram is young, having justconcluded its fourth year, wehave already met withconsiderable success. We areattracting students with excellentcredentials, about half of whomhave backgrounds in sociologyand half in related fields. PennState's Department of Sociologyattracts talented students in allareas, and the CLJ students havemore than held their own in tennsof ORE scores, undergraduategrades, and perfonnance ingraduate courses after arriving.Our students are also doing wellon the job market. Recentgraduates have taken positions at

SUNY Albany, Clemson,Bowling Green, Arkansas State,the National Institute of Justice,and the U.S. Bureau ofPrisons.

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5 Crime, Law, and Deviance SUMMER 2000

the graduate program, (2) JohnKramer (jhk@psu.edu), whodirects the undergraduateprogram, or (3) Barry Ruback(rbr3@psu.edu), who directs theCenter for Research on Crimeand Justice. Department-levelinquiries can be sent to the headof Sociology, Barrett Lee

(baI6@psu.edu).

Department of Sociology isexceptional in its quality and itshistorical commitment tocrime/deviance studies. Whilein Pullman, I was able to editCriminolo~ for six years,direct a number of graduatestudents, and keep my ownscholarly work on track,including the production of twobooks. The most profitableaspect ofmy time at WSO anda source of continuousamazement to me, however,has been the close work with .

Jim Short. He has taught,counselled, stimulated, and, onoccasion, provoked me; Icannot imagine a bettersituation for a sociologistinterested in crime anddeviance.

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An especially attractivefeature of our program is its

II extensive menu of out-of-

classroom enrichment

opportunities. Academic-yearsemesters can be spent abroad,and a summer course in The

II Netherlands (taught by affiliatefaculty member Alan Block)provides cross-national insightson crime and justice. Consistentwith the heavy research emphasisof the faculty , undergraduatemajors are encouraged to gainexperience as RAs or byconducting their own projects.Qualified students may completea thesis as part of the honors

II option. Through structuredinternships--approximately 100

II are arranged annually--our.I majors learn about the operation

of the criminal justice system andalso about future careerpossibilities. Our in-houseCareer Development Center, aFall semester job fair, andfrequent contacts with alumni(via class presentations, panelsessions, and one-on-onementoring) further prepare CLJstudents for life after Penn State.For many, that life iucludes astint in graduate or professionalschool.

As Editor of the CLDnewletter, I asked that Chuck saya few words about his move andhis years at Washington State.

Despite all of that, theopportunity at North CarolinaState ( GoodnightlG laxo-Wellcome Endowed Chair ofSocial Science ), was just toogood to refuse. The freedomand funding that this newposition offers should enableme to bring to fruition anumber of ideas and pieces of--~work that have been on the -~

back burner for a long time. Iam especially excited to beginworking with a fine group ofscholars, many ofwhom areinterested in crime anddeviance. My new colleagueshave already energized me toundertake some things that Imight not have considered inPullman. The concentration ofinterests should make NC Stateregionally dominant in

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More Infonnation

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"Changing jobs at this point inmy career is a major move thatoccasions much reflection. I amextremely grateful for theexperience ofhaving served onthe faculty at Washington StateUniversity for twelve years and Iam particularly glad for theassociation with Jim Short.Washington State University is awonderful school and the

A good starting point to find outmore about Crime, Law andJustice at Penn State is thewebsite listed at the beginning ofthis article. Specific questionscan be routed, as appropriate, to

(I) Wayne Osgood(wosgood@psu.edu), who directs