Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences

The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) is an international association established in 1963 to foster professional and scholarly activities in the field of criminal justice. ACJS promotes criminal justice education, research, and policy analysis within the discipline of criminal justice for both educators and practitioners.

Providing a forum for disseminating ideas related to issues in research, policy, education, and practice within the field, ACJS attributes its success in creating this dynamic professional association to the composition of its membership. As change expands the existing boundaries of the criminal justice field, ACJS is comprised of members from a variety of diversified backgrounds including:

• Scholars who are international in scope and multidisciplinary in orientation,

• Professionals from all sectors of the criminal justice system, and

• Students seeking to explore the criminal justice field as future scholars or practitioners

Through the vital interchange of ideas among these groups, ACJS members develop and share knowledge about critical issues regarding crime and criminal and social justice. ACJS is comprised of an amalgam of scholars (international in scope and multidisciplinary in orientation), professionals (from all segments of the justice system), and students. Our success in creating this dynamic professional association is due to the variety of interest represented in its membership.

 

ACJS Membership - ACJS Membership Page

ACJS has approximately 2,800 members, representing every state in the United States, many countries, and virtually every institution of higher learning with a criminal justice/criminology program. Members may also choose to join any of the following ACJS Sections:

Community College: The Community College Section seeks to further the interests of community colleges, junior colleges, vocational/technical schools, two-year programs, and law enforcement and correctional academies.

Corrections: The Corrections Section encourages research and theory development relating to community and institutional corrections, as well as the development of relationships between practitioners, scholars and researchers.

Critical Criminal Justice:  The Critical Criminal Justice Section promotes empirical and theoretical work on the ways in which ethnic/racial, class, and gender inequality contribute to crime and social control.

International: The International Section promotes international information exchange, criminal justice research, curriculum development, and general international networking.

Juvenile Justice: The Juvenile Justice Section promotes communication between academics and practitioners as well as research and theory in the area.

Law and Public Policy: The Law and Public Policy Section seeks to raise the awareness of ACJS members to law and policy concerns relevant to criminal justice issues.  The objective of the section is to support members of ACJS with research, curriculum development, and networking.  Members are encouraged to offer their academic findings to all levels of governments for law and policy development.

Minorities and Women: The Minorities and Women Section is the section for people who are interested in issues within criminal justice that are pertinent to underrepresented minorities and women.  The goal is to further the development of research, theory and teaching practices on issues relevant to minorities and women in criminal justice. The Minorities and Women Section is one of the vehicles for bringing life to the Academy's policy of diversity and inclusion.

Police: The Police Section strives to build networks among police practitioners, researchers, and educators.

Restorative and Community Justice: The mission of the section is to: provide a professional arena for academics, educators, justice agency practitioners, and victim advocates interested in developing restorative and community justice theory; conduct policy-relevant research on restorative and community justice practices; and educate individuals, organizations, institutions, and governmental entities about restorative and community justice principles and practices.

Security and Crime Prevention: The primary mission of the Security and Crime Prevention Section is to promote the professional growth and development of its members through service and education to the academic and practical field of security.  By providing the necessary resources, organizational programs, workshops and activities, the section strives to ensure that its members remain on the cutting edge of technology, their discipline, and pedagogical advances.

Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship: The purpose of this section is to bring together Academy members to serve as a multifaceted resource to assist faculty, practitioners, students, administrators, and concerned citizens in their integration of innovative and effective teaching and learning techniques, and the scholarship of teaching within the field of criminal justice education and training.

Victimology: The mission of the Victimology Section is to facilitate and encourage research and theory development related to victimology; encourage appropriate and effective teaching techniques and practices for victimology-related courses; encourage organization of and participation in conference sessions related to victimology; and serve as a resource network for and encourage interaction among academic, research, practitioner, and policy-making sectors in order to further knowledge of victimology.

ACJS Journals and Newsletters

ACJS provides online access from volume 1 of its two official journals, Justice Quarterly and the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, as a membership benefit.  Institutional subscribers also receive online access from volume 1 of both journals.  The online subscription for ACJS members also provides access to articles that are in line for publication through iFirst and a mechanism whereby members can obtain electronic notification as new articles and issues are published to the online system.  

Justice Quarterly (ISSN 0741-8825) is an ISI ranked refereed, multi-disciplinary journal featuring articles that address issues of crime and criminal justice.  JQ provides articles using a range of qualitative and quantitative research.  JQ is a premier journal and it continues to be a major forum for crime-related scholarship, making it an essential part of any library's holdings.  JQ is abstracted or indexed in Social Sciences Citation Index, ISI Alerting Services, Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences, Abstracts in Criminology and Penology, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Criminal Justice Periodical Index, NCJRS, Uncover, Violence and Abuse Abstracts, Sage Public Administration Abstracts, Social Planning/Policy & Development Abstracts, and Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts.

The Journal of Criminal Justice Education (ISSN1051-1253) is a premier journal providing a forum for the examination, discussion, and debate of a broad range of issues concerning post-secondary education in criminal justice, criminology and related areas. The aim of this journal is to enhance the quality of higher education in criminal justice and criminology.

ACJS Today is the official online newsletter of the Academy, and it contains articles and book reviews applicable to the fields of criminal justice, criminology, sociology, and other related fields.

ACJS NOW was published twice a year and highlighted current activities of ACJS.  This newsletter was discontinued at the end of 2011.

ACJS utilizes its website, www.acjs.org, and direct email communication to provide its membership with timely information concerning a range of organizational activities and issues.  The ACJS website includes information on worldwide criminal justice/criminology organizations, meetings, and journals; the ACJS program of Academic Certification for criminal justice/criminology degree programs; and information regarding assessment of academic programs.

 

ACJS Employment Bulletin – ACJS Employment Bulletin Page

The ACJS Employment Bulletin is an electronic publication on the ACJS website only and is designed to efficiently advertise employment positions to a large constituency base of academics, researchers, and practitioners.   Ads are posted and removed every Tuesday and Thursday and usually are posted within one week of submission.

 

National Office
P.O. Box 960
Greenbelt, MD 20768-0960

Telephone:
1 301 446 6300 (direct calls from within the US or calls from outside the US)
1 800 757 2257 (1 800 757 ACJS)  (toll-free calls from within the US) http://www.acjs.org

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