Whether it's the millions of new cases moving through the courts each year, or the explosion of interest in television shows like C.S.I and Law and Order, the size and popularity of the justice field are exploding.

Universities around the country are adding more undergraduate and graduate degree programs, which cover topics like forensic psychology and philosophy and are designed to train professionals to enter this growing field.

The University of New Hampshire joined the ranks this year approving two new degree programs in its justice studies department to satisfy a regional need for such training.

"We started this because there is not a justice studies program anywhere in New England," said Ellen Cohn, coordinator of the program and a professor of psychology.

Now at UNH, undergraduates can dual-major in justice studies and another liberal arts topic like political science or history. Also, the university is offering a 12-month program for graduate students in which they can earn a Masters degree in justice studies

After the university board approved the undergraduate program in February, students immediately began to sign up. In fact, 20 students already were able to graduate this past Spring with a degree in justice studies.

Graduate students will have to wait until September for the Masters program to start, however. And, according to Cohn, some students who already graduated from UNH with minors in Justice Studies-the only program offered before this year-have expressed interest in pursuing the new graduate degree.

What Students Will Learn

Undergraduate majors and new graduate students this Fall will find, according to Cohn, a justice studies education that is different from the traditional criminal justice programs at some other schools.

"I think its actually cutting edge," Cohn said. "The Masters program is intended for different groups of people with different goals. It's really a liberal arts program with a strong methodology focus."

Because of the diverse focus of the program, the justice studies faculty is made up of professors from departments all across the campus, including psychology, philosophy, political science, women's studies, history and sociology.

According to Cohn, the Masters program might be most popular for people who want to continue their education and possibly pursue a PhD. And the program is also good training for those who hope to later pursue a law degree, she said.

"Criminal justice programs tend to focus only on the criminal side, and don't have a lot of legal content," said Cohn. "It's more of a blend. Criminal justice is more narrow."

While the program is perfect for students who want to continue their education, it also offers an internship, which provides training to those who want to jump right into the profession, Cohn said.

Either way, the courses reflect a broad dedication to justice issues. In fact, in his class required for beginning graduate students next semester, professor Drew Christie said his "overarching goal is to introduce people to a variety of different approaches: criminology, history, social psychology, philosophy."

"It's going to be a look at what's available on campus, and the resources," he said.

While he does not have his syllabus written yet, Christie revealed several ideas for the first day of class. Since the class is a discussion-based seminar and the students might not know each other well on the first day, he said he might show a couple of videos.

One of them is called "Three Strikes and You're Out," which is a look at California's three-strike sentencing law and a U.S. Supreme Court case that challenged it, Ewing v. California.

Christie's course will have a special focus on recent Supreme Court decisions, something he has a great interest in. He also wants his students to think critically, as he does, about the idea of rehabilitation in the justice system and about prison overpopulation.

"The country is in a very punitive mood. We just have too many people in jail. And it's terrible that the system is racially biased as to who is being sent to jail. I follow with great interest people who want to reverse these trends," he said.

John T. Kirkpatrick, UNH's associate dean of the college of liberal arts, taught the inaugural Introduction to Justice Studies class last Fall. He said the class, with about 150 freshmen and sophomores, addressed "the various ways in which academics approach the justice profession." He said it was designed as a survey course to give students a small taste of the issues.

"It was a lot of fun to do. And I think the students enjoyed it," Kirkpatrick said.

The Expanding Justice Profession

Kirkpatrick said UNH's focus on justice studies reflects a national trend in growth away from the traditional criminal justice education. "We're trying to link this focus on criminals to this larger sense of justice," he said.

He said the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 showed us how small our world is today, and how interconnected the global issues of homeland security and justice are now.

He said, "we have to prepare students now in the 21st century for how to deal with this world."

Also, according to Christie, UNH's program serves a growing need in the U.S. for criminal justice professionals. "We were up to 90,000,000 [court] cases filed last year, or the year before. Now that is one for every two or three people in the country. That just keeps growing and growing," he said. "At the university level, that means more and more people need training to work in corrections, parole, lawyers, administrators."

Christie said he had a conversation recently with a colleague about the awesome growth of the justice industry due to issues like homeland security and terrorism.

He said, "both of us are well aware that the increased interest is fueled by trends that we are not very happy with. We wish the system wasn't growing so fast."

While the need for justice professionals is growing, so too is students' desire to enter the field, according to Cohn. "I think this is kind of fed by things like CSI, Court TV and Law and Order," she said. "I think this has piqued students' interest."