Criminology and Criminal Justice Doctoral Programs in 2012-2013: Transformation of a Male-Dominated Arena

This study provides a cross-sectional portrait of female scholars working as tenure-track faculty members at institutions offering doctoral degrees in criminology and/or criminal justice. Relying primarily upon departmental websites as an initial source of information, it was determined that the 35 programs were comprised of 198 (35.9%) female and 353 (64.1%) male tenure-track faculty members. Despite the historical male domination of criminal justice professions as well as higher education instructional roles, this study finds that females represent an increasingly visible and instrumental component of doctoral education within the discipline. Females comprised at least 50% of faculty members within seven doctoral programs, and seven programs had female administrators. Most importantly, a majority of the hires over the previous 12 years were female. Assuming this trend continues, a once male-dominated academic discipline will soon find itself in the midst of unprecedented change.