A Matter Of Life And Death: Relevance And Rigor In Continuing Professional And Continuing Higher Education In The Pursuit Of Justice

Abstract

In recent years, advances in the “hard sciences” coupled with the increasing incidence of post-conviction exoneration of accused parties have forced a new criminal investigation paradigm on law enforcement practitioners, a paradigm for which they are inadequately prepared by either their formal education or continuing professional education. The increased reliance on tangible, scientific evidence is a contemporary complexity of practice that must be addressed by programs of higher education if we are to meet our obligation, as educators, to provide a sound body of relevant knowledge for the practice of the discipline. This paper explores the need for the reform of curricula in criminal justice programs to make room for this new, inter-disciplinary, investigative paradigm, to protect the rights of the accused, and to better serve society by restoring confidence in the criminal justice system.