by Sheshe Giddens
As Texas works to come to grips with the ongoing issues that plague its criminal justice system, UHCL's new undergraduate and graduate criminology degree programs will prepare a future generation of problem solvers to help deal with the issues relating to crime.
Recent news reports have brought national attention to a wide array of crimes and law enforcement concerns such as corporate corruption, racial profiling, serial murder and capital punishment. Some of these stories have raised public concerns about crime and punishmentbeyond the scope of policing and corrections to examination ofthe nature of specific crimes and its prevalence in society.
Although the study of criminology and criminal justice overlap, criminology focuses on the sociological aspects of crime such as its origin and prevention through the use of scientific methods to study criminals and criminal activity and behavior. Criminal justice degree programs may include the study of criminology but will primarily concentrate on methods to control crime through policing, corrections and legislation.
UHCL's programs, unlike any in the Houston area, will equip students with the tools to examine crime from this distinct perspective according to Associate Professor of Sociology/Criminology Stephen Rosoff.
"Although there are many fine criminal justice degree programs in Texas, criminology is a separate, more academically focused discipline," says Rosoff. "There are currently only two undergraduate criminology degree programs in Texas, neither is in the Houston area, and, there are no master's degree programs in criminology in the entire state. So the new UHCL criminology programs are largely unique."
The university's criminology programs began as a subplan of the sociol-ogy degree program. Pending approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the program is poised to begin admitting students beginning fall 2003.
The degree will appeal to UHCL's nontraditional student population, many of whom are working adults seeking to change or enhance their current careers.
"Many of the students in our current criminology track work in the criminal justice system, law enforcement or corrections. Other students are preparing for careers in law enforcement," says Rosoff, who once worked as an instructor for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at the Ramsey Prison in Rosharon, Texas.
"A number of our graduate students have done internships with state and federal agencies, such as probation/parole offices, U.S. Customs and U.S. Marshals. Several interns subsequently received job offers."
Students will benefit from faculty experts like Rosoff whose research largely centers on white-collar crime, which serves as the subject for his recently published book, "Looting America: Greed, Corruption, Villains, and Victims." Other criminology faculty members include Assistant Professor of Criminology Becky Tatum whose areas of expertise include race and crime, juvenile crime and violence, women and crime, and issues relating to criminal justice education; and Associate Professor of Criminology Steven Egger, an expert on serial murder.
Egger's work in serial murder began when he was assigned as a homicide investigator from the Ann Arbor Police Department to investigate a string of murders known as the "Michigan Murders" in the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area.
This experience would later fuel his interests in serial murder and how it is investigated and would become his dissertation topic in the criminal justice doctoral program at Sam Houston State University. Egger's dissertation on "Serial Murder and the Law Enforcement Response" was the first dissertation to focus on serial murder.
When a sniper began a reign of terror in the Washington D.C. area in 2002, the story captured the nation's attention. Law enforcement and the general public demanded answers and the reports led the evening news while cable news channels provided around-the-clock coverage. In the midst of the frenzy, the media sought different angles to the story to maintain public interest. National media outlets such as CNBC News and USA Today sought insight from criminologists like Egger.
Egger's book, "The Killers Among Us: An Examination of Serial Murder and Its Investigation," explores the issues such as serial murder investigation, the mythology surrounding serial murder and the dehumanization of victims.
Egger is quick to point out to his students that murder falls under local jurisdiction and not routinely investigated by the FBI, which is a common misperception because of television programs such as "The X Files" or movies like "Silence of the Lambs."
"The biggest myth that I try to dispel about serial murder is that the FBI has jurisdiction over all serial murder investigations. They don't. Homicide is a local problem. The only time that they get involved is when someone is fleeing from a federal warrant and that means that the person has already been identified," says Egger. "The FBI may get involved when they are called in to assist with a psychological profile, but that is it."
Egger sees "linkage blindness," a phrase he coined, as one of the biggest stumbling blocks in investigations because serial murderers tend to commit crimes across several jurisdictions and police fail to recognize the links between the crimes.
Egger has had access to convicted serial killers such as Henry Lee Lucas who he interviewed in 1985 and 2000. Currently, he and his wife, Kim Egger, are working on an encyclopedia of serial killers.
As the saying goes in the news business - "If it bleeds, it leads." Until the recent Enron and other corporate corruption scandals, stories about violent crime usually receive more news coverage because people feel more threatened by violent crime and they believe that this type of crime, more than any other, has a greater impact on their lives. But this is not true according to Rosoff, who the media has tapped as well for his expertise on white-collar crime.
"Enron did for white-collar crime research what the microwave did for popcorn. For the first time, white-collar crime dominated the news over a sustained period of time. Even the savings and loans collapse and insider trading scandals of the 1980s never had that kind of hold on the public," says Rosoff.
Students studying criminology will have the opportunity to tackle real-world issues. They, like so many people, will attempt to crack the secret code to find the answers to age-old questions about the nature of crime and how it can be prevented.
As Egger says, "The media and students want one single reason why people do what they do, and it is not that simple."
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