Irreconcilable Differences? Examining Divergences in the Orientations of Criminology and Criminal Justice Scholarship, 1951–2008

This investigation addresses the question of whether the establishment of intellectual boundaries between criminology and criminal justice are the result of substantive methodological and theoretical differences. To provide an outline of the contours of criminal justice and criminology, we performed a descriptive content analysis of 1,877 peer reviewed articles published in the field’s top journals over the period of 1951–2008. Three primary results emerged. First, criminology and criminal justice articles are appearing in separate journals. Second, criminology articles were significantly more likely to utilize theory, although criminal justice articles are closing the gap as of recent. Third, criminology and criminal justice articles showed few significant methodological differences until 1981. Since then, relative to criminal justice, criminology articles are more quantitative, more multivariate, more analytical, and more micro-level focused. Implications for the convergence and divergence of theories and methodologies are discussed.