THE GETTING OF WISDOM - THE IDEOLOGY AND EXPERIENCE OF GRADUATE-EDUCATION AMONG STUDENTS ENROLLED IN ANGLOPHONE CANADIAN CRIMINOLOGY PROGRAMS

Based on survey data, this paper canvasses the sociodemographic and ac ademic profiles of 175 current and former M.A, M.C.A., and Ph.D. stude nts in criminology of Simon Fraser University and the Universities of Ottawa and Toronto, and elicits experiences and opinions concerning th eir graduate education, the content and contributions of academic crim inology, and various criminological issues and controversies pertainin g to criminality, law, order; and social justice, Among our main findi ngs were the following: (1) Graduate respondents exhibited a wide dive rsity of personal attributes, professional interests, ideologies, and activities; (2) Women were consistently more inclined than men to chal lenge traditional criminological ideas and practices; (3) Critical per spectives prevailed over conservative ones, particularly among current enrollees; (4) Participants endorsed criminology as a socially releva nt enterprise, and considered the promotion of social justice and chan ge to outweigh crime prevention as ifs principal mandate; and (5) Stud ents generally assessed their educational experience positively, altho ugh some concern was expressed about lack of graduate-faculty parity, unavailability of research assistantships and exposure to academic exp loitation and harassment. The paper considers these and other survey r esults in the context of contemporary writing on the sociology of acad emic criminology, and offers some possible avenues and priorities for future theory and research.