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Discussion

The switch to a more academic style conference where attendees can present their

research has been a success for NCCJA. It is positive news that the conference remains popular

and well-attended. However, the size of the conference has not grown over the years, and the

majority of school in the state are not regularly sending people to present research papers or to

deliver talks. Community colleges are the least represented among presenters. Similarly, while

NCCJA has attracted some professional presenters from law enforcement and other criminal

justice agencies, the number of presenters from those agencies is tiny and relatively insignificant

given the size of the “criminal justice system in the state.”

In terms of topics, much of what is found is not surprising. As one example, the large

number of papers about criminal justice education is to be expected by an organization that

regularly has made efforts to focus on our academic discipline (as well as connections with

professional agencies). As another example, there were far more papers on policing than on

courts and corrections. Policing in the US (and the state) receives far more attention and

resources than the other branches of the system, and many if not most of our students seek to go

on to work in law enforcement careers. The very small number of papers on juvenile justice is

quite surprising, however. Currently, that system is plagued by serious problems of

disproportionate minority confinement (DMC), something that is in great need of study by the

state’s criminal justice scholars.

Topic by Topic

To get more specific by topic—starting with papers about crime—the vast majority of

papers presented between 2011 and 2017 dealt with street crimes rather than the far more

common and dangerous acts of white-collar, corporate, and government deviance & crime.

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