It’s Personal: The Impact of Victimization on Motivations and Career Interests Among Criminal Justice Majors at Diverse Urban Colleges

Abstract

This article extends a small but significant body of work on the motivations of criminal justice students to enter the major and to pursue a criminal justice career (Krimmel & Tartaro 1999 Krimmel, J. T., and Tartaro, C. (1999). Career choices and characteristics of criminal justice undergraduates. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 10(2), 277–289. doi:10.1080/10511259900084591[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Gabbidon et al 2003 Gabbidon, S. L., Penn, E. B., and Richards, W. A. (2003). Career choices and characteristics of African-American undergraduates majoring in criminal justice at historically black colleges and universities. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 14(2), 229–244. doi:10.1080/10511250300085771[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Courtright & Mackey 2004 Courtright, K. E., and Mackey, D. A. (2004). Job desirability among criminal justice majors: Exploring relationships between personal characteristics and occupational attractiveness. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 15(2), 311–326. doi:10.1080/10511250400086001[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). The authors examine the influence of a variable previously ignored: that of victimization. A survey consisting of quantitative and qualitative questions was administered, and descriptive and inferential statistics used to compare victimized students' responses to that of non-victimized students on a range of questions related to motivation and career aspiration using a sample (N = 371) of criminal justice majors drawn from two large, urban, majority-minority colleges in the Northeast. Students who were victimized were more likely to view the criminal justice system as unfair and think that justice is infrequently served, were more likely to see the major as relevant, and to want a job where they could make a difference. Students reported victimization of self and those close to them as a significant influence on their motivation to enter the major.

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