The Engaged School – Fulfilling the Land Grant Mission through Public Policy/Applied Research
As the nation’s founding Land Grant University, MSU has long been committed to both generating new knowledge and applying that knowledge to address fundamental problems facing communities, nations, and the world. This is a fundamental and distinctive aspect of the School of Criminal Justice. It is apparent in the many programs that are part of our Outreach Unit. It is apparent in the collaboration between our faculty and students and forensic crime labs throughout the U.S. and beyond. It is also apparent in the research conducted by our faculty. The School is home to the Michigan Justice Statistics Analysis Center and the Michigan Victim’s Assistance Academy. It is home to major national programs on juvenile detention, law enforcement intelligence, and gun violence and international programs on transnational and comparative criminal justice. As you review faculty research interests, including topics as diverse as corporate security; delinquency and youth development; drug courts; environmental crime; forensic evidence; gangs, gender and justice; homicide; inmate re-entry; judicial administration; law and policymaking; police deviance; police use of force; race, ethnicity and justice; restorative justice; staff burnout; risk assessment; terrorism; victimization; and much more, it becomes apparent that the School is engaged with the most pressing crime and justice issues of the day.
The School’s engagement is also evident in the partnerships established with professional associations, public and private agencies, and universities within the U.S. and abroad. For example, the Judicial Administration Program has established formal partnerships with the leading professional associations of judicial managers as well as with many state and federal judicial organizations and court systems in Australia and Egypt. The School collaborates with the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, the Michigan State Police, numerous Michigan and U.S. local law enforcement agencies, federal agencies (e.g., DEA, DHS, EPA, FBI, Fish and Wildlife, FLETC, NIJ, National Park Service), Interpol, the Korean National Police, the Turkish National Police, the Thai Royal Police and a number of constabularies in the United Kingdom. A prime example of such collaboration is our relationship with the University of Michigan whereby our faculty direct the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data and the newly established Archive on Terrorism. Similarly, we work with the University of Minnesota on food security, Rutgers University on risk assessment, Babes-Bolyai University in Romania on community policing and universities in Australia, India, Korea, Philippines, Ukraine, and United Kingdom and beyond. Additionally, the School works with leading corporations including Ford, General Motors, IBM, and Target, to address security-related issues in a global marketplace. These partnerships enrich the School by generating research questions and providing research opportunities, grounding our educational programs in real world experience, and linking our students to professional opportunities.