Free Critical Thinking About Criminal Justice And Criminology

Originally George John Beto, also known in the Texas criminal justice system as “Walking George” for his common practice of arriving by foot, unannounced at Texas penitentiaries to perform inspections, served as the director of the Texas Department of Corrections (TDOC) from 1962 to 1972. Beto did not originally plan to work in criminal justice, having studied to be priest in college and being ordained as a minister shortly after graduation; he first became familiar with Texas’ correctional system when he was asked to serve on the Texas Prison Board (TPB) in 1953. At that time he was teaching at a religious college in Austin. Beto’s service on the TPB had a tremendous influence on Beto. After leaving Texas to teach in Illinois in 1959, Beto returned to Texas in 1962 when he was offered the position as the director of the TDOC. Beto’s contributions not only to the Texas criminal justice system but to American criminal justice in general was mainly focuses on inmate education, skills-building, and prison self-financing. As early as his time on the TPB, Beto was the driving force in the establishment of a general education program for inmates. The program was the first of its kind in the state and nation, which other prison systems across the nation would eventually adopt. Second, as director of the TDOC, Beto convinced the Texas legislature to establish a special school system in 1969 that was dedicated specifically to educating inmates by building and staffing schools at penitentiaries across the state. This allowed inmates to get their degrees while in custody so that they had better chances of not reoffending when they were released. Lastly, in 1963, Beto similarly convinced the Texas government to require that state departments to buy manufactured goods produced in its prisons. Not only did this provide the TDOC with alternate streams of revenue but also provide the opportunity for inmates to gain job skills as well as earn a little extra pocket cash.
A political scientist by training and interests, James Quinn Wilson, had a profound influence on the development of contemporary criminology, especially as applied to the development of urban crime and the actions that criminal justice actors can take to control and manage urban criminal behavior. Wilson’s criminological theories were informed and influenced by his knowledge and study of politics. Moreover, his political science knowledge and experiences was deepened by the various times that he actually served in the government. Indeed, in the 1960s he served on the White House task Force on Crime. Later in the 1980s, he also served on Attorney General’s Task Force on Violent Crime. Since publishing his first book in 1960, Wilson published over 15 books; most of which were focused on analyzing crime, police, urban criminal behavior and the interaction of all three elements. Consequently, one of Wilson’s primary contribution to criminal justice was the “broken windows” criminological theory. Simply stated, Wilson argued that the rise in urban crime was the result of both the police and the community’s focus on stopping major criminal activity such as murder, assault and rape, almost to the complete exclusion of minor or crimes and the upkeep of areas where crimes happen. As a result, small time crimes get experience in criminal activity until one day they are the predators that the police are focused on. Wilson instead argued that focusing on stopping minor crimes in taken care of the community will cut of the opportunity for potential predators to develop. One of Wilson’s main supporters is New York City Police Department Chief William J. Bratton. He implemented Wilson’s theory in New York and Los Angeles that resulted in never-seen-before reductions in criminal activity.