Criminal justice degree program

Since 1999, Prairie View A&M University has offered juvenile justice degree programs through the school of juvenile justice and psychology. While the school was initially launched with master's and bachelor's programs, a doctoral program in juvenile justice got under way last spring, according to school officials. Dr. H. Elaine Rodney is the founding dean of the school.

The doctoral program, which expects to increase the number of minorities with doctorates in the criminal justice field, is the only one of its kind in the nation. Currently, there are less than 100 Blacks with doctorates in criminology and criminal justice, according to Penn.

"Our minority graduates will add an important voice to academic faculties and government agencies," says Dr. Everette Penn, an assistant professor and the master's degree coordinator at the school, noting that the program has 14 doctoral students and has graduated seven master's students. The school has 17 faculty members.

Penn adds that the master's programs offer the master of science in juvenile forensic psychology and the master of science in juvenile justice. Ninety-one master's students are enrolled in the school.

The school initially grew out of the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center, which was established at Prairie View A&M in 1997. The research center was launched to assist in the reduction of juvenile crime and delinquency in Texas, according to officials.

"I see this school of juvenile justice and psychology as a place for developing policy gurus who, in turn, support the state's legislators on improving juvenile justice. There is a tremendous need for the school," says Texas State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas.

While establishment of the juvenile justice school has marked one of the highlights of Dr. Charles Hines' tenure as president of Prairie View, Rodney filed a grievance with the board of regents this past fall accusing Hines of meddling in school affairs. Hines has told the Houston Chronicle that it would have been a "dereliction of duty" for him not to closely monitor the school's first doctoral program.

Texas is not the first state most people would associate with innovative programs in criminal justice. In recent years, the Lone Star state has gained considerable notoriety over being the nation's leading state for meting out the death penalty. That reputation was greatly enlarged during President George W. Bush's six-year tenure as governor. Bush oversaw more executions than any U.S. governor since the 1970s.

Nonetheless, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed into law last year a sweeping overhaul of the state's system of providing lawyers for poor defendants and a bill to ban racial profiling by police. "Texans want their state to be tough on crime, but they also want a system of justice that is fair," Perry told news reporters.