Reasons and Roadmap for Integrating the Arts and Humanities into Criminal Justice Education

Abstract

In light of the need of building greater trust and improving service delivery on the part of criminal justice professionals, serious thought needs to be put towards promoting and developing empathetic responses of criminal justice students during training and education. The approaches towards training and education of criminal justice professionals must also be adapted with an eye to their future conduct and the complexities of social issues they will encounter. It is argued that in order for future criminal justice professionals trained at university to provide a more empathetic and community-oriented service, the arts and humanities must play a vital supportive role. This paper is an analytical review of current findings in pedagogical research and practical implementation, drawing also from the comparative findings in medical humanities, with a view to supporting the arguments for integrating arts and humanities in the teaching and learning of criminal justice. The recommendations are to develop modules, seminars, assignments, and guidelines for teaching methods into the criminal justice teaching curriculum, and also to provide support for additional academic and extracurricular activities in the arts and humanities as a part of the degree programme’s annual plan. The teaching and activities must be student centred and planned with their participation. Developing creative and reflective practices, including maintenance of reflective portfolios for empathetic and critical thinking in the formation of professional identity, is also recommended.