Humanistic Education for the Future 'Crime Fighters'1
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Chong – Humanistic Education for the Future ‘Crime Fighters’ Copyright © 20 1 8 International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences (IJCJS) – Official Journal of the South Asian Society of Criminology and Victimology (SASCV) - Publisher & Editor - in - Chief – K. Jaishankar ISSN: 0973 - 5089 January – June 201 8 . Vol. 1 3 ( 1 ): 10 – 28 . DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1403375 / IJCJS is a Diamond Open Access (Authors / Readers No Pay Journal). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionHTU - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International ( CC - BY - NC - SA 4.0) License ,UTH whichT permits unrestricted non - commercial use ,T distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. LECTURE Humanistic Education for the Future ‘ Crime Fighters ’ 1 Mark David Chong 2 Ja mes Cook University, Queensland, Australia. Abstract Aspiring to a life of crime fighting is a challenging but noble calling, and consequently, the educating of our future police, correctional, probation, parole, child protection, crime prevention, and yo uth justice officers, to name just a few, is an absolutely critical task if we want to live in a community that is not only safe but also one that allows for its members to flourish and grow. Given this imperative, the process of moulding our next generati on of crime fighters in North Queensland must strive not only to impart knowledge and know - how – it should also endeavor to bring to the surface their nobler selves, the best of what it means to be human. It has to go beyond merely educating the mind, and must likewise invigorate their body and inspire their spirit. Employing a humanistic teaching philosophy that is primarily student - cent e red in nature, and premised on genuinely caring for their well - being and progress, allows for a more effective transmis sion of not only facts and figures, but also of values, attitudes, and an appropriate ethos necessary for their future careers in the criminal justice system. ________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: Humanistic Peda gogy, Student - Cent e red Teaching, Crime Fighting, North Queensland, Australia . Introduction Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian [Gordon], Professor Nola [Alloway], honoured guests, a very good afternoon to all of you. Thank you so much for being here tod ay. The invitation to present this Last Lecture for 2015 has come as a complete surprise to me. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever picture myself before all of you in this context. In fact, when the Vice Chancellor ’ s [VC] personal assistant, Ms Debbi Ta ylor, contacted me early last month to ask whether I would be available to have a 30 - minute 1 Revised version of the 2015 Last Lecture titled "Celebrati ng the end of the academic year: A humanistic approach to educating our next generation of ‘crime fighters’ , Presented by Dr Mark David Chong at James Cook University, Queensland University, Australia. 2 Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice , James Cook University, 1 James Cook Dr, Douglas QLD 4814, Australia. Email: [email protected] 10 © 20 1 8 International Jou rnal of Criminal Justice Sciences . Under a C reative C ommons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY - NC - SA 4.0) International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences Vol 1 3 Issue 1 January – June 201 8 meeting with the VC in the following week to discuss, horrors upon horrors, a matter which she was unable to disclose – I immediately went to see my Head of Social Sciences, Professor Rosita Henry, and asked her in a hushed tone “ Professor Rosita, do you know if I did something wrong? ” . She looked at me quizzically, hesitated for a long pregnant second, and then in an equally soft whisper, said “ I don ’ t think so? ” . H oley Moley! That really did not help calm my nerves at all. So as you can imagine, it was with considerable trepidation that I walked into Professor Sandra Harding ’ s office the next week, fully prepared to be told of some grave felony that I had committed in the course of my time here at the university. But to my utter astonishment, what greeted me at the door was a wonderfully cheerful smile on the face of our VC, warmly inviting me into her office. “ Wait ” , I thought. “ This can ’ t be so bad! Surely … surely, I ’ m not going to be sacked? ” I suppose that question however will remain unanswered until after I deliver THIS lecture BUT to cut a long story short, the VC then explained that the JCU [James Cook University] Student Association annually conducts a poll asking its members to nominate an academic to deliver each year ’ s Last Lecture, and that MY name had somehow risen to the top of that list. It is really a special moment when a teacher is publically acknowledged by his or her students in such an edifying w ay. Consequently, in response to this great honour bestowed upon me by my criminology students, I hope that you will not mind me departing from the usual convention of talking about a range of interesting research projects that I am conducting with wonderf ul academics like Dr Surin Maisrikrod, Mr Jamie Fellows and Associate Professor Hayden Lesbirel, or that hopefully brilliant book that God willing, I am just about to publish with Dr Abraham Francis. Instead, what I would like to share with you is a few t houghts of why I think I am here speaking to you in the first place – and that is, my teaching philosophy and why this resonates so well with many of our criminology students here at James Cook University. As the title to this lecture foreshadows, I will b e speaking about how a humanistic approach to educating the next generation of ‘ crime fighters ’ will increase the likelihood of them developing greater mental and physical fortitude, emotional resilience, a quick intellect for problem - solving, a sound grou nding in criminological theories, high moral standards, and the ability to empathise with victims of crime, as well as with some offenders who may themselves be victims, in one unfortunate way or another. In this regard, ‘ crime fighters ’ refer to our fut ure police, correctional, probation, parole, child protection, crime prevention, youth justice, and research as well as public policy officers. Now - the need to provide our criminology students with additional scaffolding at this stage of their education is not unreasonable by any measure. The justification for implementing a more supportive pedagogical framework for them is actually fairly obvious. We should never forget that our graduating criminology students will be entering into a world that many of t hem are going to find very challenging, to say the least. For example, in a recent 2015 ABC News interview with the Victorian Police Association, its secretary, Mr Ron Iddles, said that “ 220 police officers had taken sick leave for psychological problems l ike depression, anxiety and post - traumatic stress in the last year ” , and that 8 percent of a total of 3,500 members surveyed “ had been diagnosed with post - traumatic stress disorder over the past three years ” (Victorian police officer's suicide, 2015). Eve n prison officers are not exempt from this discouraging trend, and both an Australian Safety and Compensation Council Report for 2004 - 2005 (ASCC, 2007, p. 74), and a 11 © 20 18 International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences . Under a C reative C ommons Attribution - NonCommercia l - ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY - NC - SA 4.0) Chong – Humanistic Education for the Future ‘Crime Fighters’ 2010 Commonwealth Government Productivity Commission Report (Productivity Commission, 2010 , p. 407) noted that correctional officers “ were amongst those male employment classifications with the highest frequency rate of workers ’ compensation mental stress claims ” (Inspector of Custodial Services, 2014, p. 16). In 2008, the then Child Safety M inister, the Honourable Margaret Keech, acknowledged that the Queensland Department of Child Safety (now called the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disabilities) found it very difficult to stem high turnover rates among its child safety officer s (Child Safety Department, 2009). According to the Minister, adverse or challenging work conditions were the key reasons why these officers decided to leave, including for example, heavy caseloads, relatively low pay, working in rural and remote communiti es, and a high cost of living (Child Safety Department, 2009). These experiences are by no means restricted to Australia. In a 2013 study in America, Lewis, Lewis and Garby discovered that probation officers “ who reported violent recidivism or sexual recid ivism on their caseloads, offender suicide, and threats and/or assaults in the line of duty scored significantly higher on measures of traumatic stress and burnout than officers who did not experience these caseload events ” (p.67). And speaking of threats and/or physical assaults suffered in the line of duty – most, if not all, jurisdictions in Australia, have laws that specifically punish more severely assaults against police and prison officers. Even more recently in Western Australia, such laws were exte nded to assault and grievous bodily harm offences committed against youth custodial officers through the passing of the Criminal Code Amendment Bill (No. 2) in 2013. 3 These pieces of legislation are responses to the fact that our frontline criminal justice practitioners are at a higher risk of being physically assaulted in the course of their work. Given these dismal conditions, why would anyone want to seek employment in our criminal justice system? Who would want to put themselves in such vulnerable and d angerous situations? And for what? The salary is certainly not going to compensate for the increased risk of harm to themselves.