doi.org/10.15178/va.2021.154.e1221
RESEARCH
REFLEXIONES PROPOSITIVAS PARA LA EDUCACIÓN UNIVERSITARIA EN CRIMINOLOGÍA
PROPOSITIVE REFLECTIONS FOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN CRIMINOLOGY
REFLEXÕES PROPOSITIVAS PARA A EDUCAÇÃO UNIVERSITÁRIA NA CRIMINOLOGÍA
1Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico.
[1] Wael Sarwat Hikal Carreón: Doctorando en Filosofía con Acentuación en Estudios de la Educación por la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México. Correo electrónico: wael.hikalcrr@uanl.edu.mx
ABSTRACT
This article reflects and proposes four aspects that are considered to be improving on the current state of university studies in criminology in Mexico. The reader is introduced to the origins of the Bachelor of Criminology at the university level because of the need to train a professional who would attend to the inherent in criminal, prison, expert, and preventive research, the same needs that gave principle to their professional outings at the beginning of this profession. It also briefly reviews the subjects that make up the curricula, giving insight into the scopes that this profession can have. Given the above, four proposals are made: 1) Changes at the legislative level to "reconsider" job departures; 2) specialize general criminology in branches on specific criminal problems; 3) strengthen knowledge-generating research in criminal matters for criminal analysts and public policy planners, and 4) strengthening pedagogical practices and training content.
KEYWORDS: labour profiles, legal reform, research, specialization, teaching.
RESUMEN
En el presente artículo se reflexionan y propone sobre cuatro aspectos que se consideran pueden mejorar sobre el estado actual de los estudios universitarios en criminología en México. Se introduce al lector en los orígenes de la Licenciatura en Criminología a nivel universitario por la necesidad de formar a un profesional que atendiera lo inherente a la investigación criminal, penitenciaria, pericial y preventiva, mismas necesidades que dieron principio a sus salidas profesionales en los comienzos de esta profesión. También se repasa brevemente las materias que componen los planes de estudio, dando visión de los alcances que puede tener esta profesión. Visto lo anterior, se realizan cuatro propuestas: 1) Cambios a nivel legislativo para “reconsiderar” salidas laborales; 2) especializar a la criminología general en ramas sobre problemas criminales específicos; 3) fortalecer la investigación generadora de conocimientos en materia criminal para los analistas delictivos y planificadores de políticas públicas, y 4) el fortalecimiento a las prácticas pedagógicas y contenidos formativos.
PALABRAS CLAVE: especialización, docencia, investigación, reforma normativa, perfiles laborales.
RESUMO
No presente artigo se reflexiona e se propõe quatro aspectos que se consideram que possam melhorar o estado atual dos estudos universitários na criminologia no México. Se introduz ao leitor nas origens da Licenciatura em Criminologia a nível universitário pela necessidade de formar um profissional que atendesse o inerente a pesquisa criminal, penitenciária, pericial e preventiva, mesmas necessidades que deram começo a suas saídas profissionais nos inícios desta profissão. Também se repassa brevemente as matérias que estão contidas nos planos de estudo, dando visão das possibilidades que pode ter esta profissão. Tendo em conta o anterior, são feitas 4 propostas: 1) Mudanças a nível legislativo para “reconsiderar” saídas laborais; 2) especializar a criminología geral em ramos sobre problemas criminais específicos; 3) fortalecer a pesquisa geradora de conhecimentos em matéria criminal para os analistas de crime e planejadores de políticas públicas, e 4) fortalecer as práticas pedagógicas e conteúdos formativos.
KEYWORDS: labour profiles, legal reform, research, specialization, teaching.
Correspondence:
Wael Sarwat Hikal Carreón. Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico. wael.hikalcrr@uanl.edu.mx
Received: 04/03/2020.
Accepted: 26/05/2020.
Published: 12/03/2021.
How to cite this article:
Hikal Carreón, W. S. (2021). Reflexiones propositivas para la educación universitaria en criminología. Vivat Academia. Revista de Comunicación, 154, 85-100. http://doi.org/10.15178/va.2021.154.e1221
http://www.vivatacademia.net/index.php/vivat/article/view/1221
Translation by Paula González (Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Venezuela).
1. INTRODUCTION
The solution to the global social and crime problems that are currently suffered are partly in the interventions that professionals and public policy planners carry out. This must be based on the measure of their intellectual capacities, commitment, and social responsibility, and their relevance (Bonifacio Barba, 2018). Among the many professions related to intervention in social-order conflicts, criminology is found, as a social science whose ultimate goal is peacemaking (Medina Wahnnatah; Almada Quintero; Duarte Félix and Avalos Wahnnatah, 2018).
The initiators of criminology deposited and trusted in its progress, the work of interventions in the face of crime phenomena (Ordaz Hernández and Figueroa Castellano, 2017) that at this time, globally, increase the consequences of problems that have not been overcome, besides new emerging problems in the evolution of social systems, so there are two schemes: 1) The accentuation of problems not yet completed and that are dragged from a particular historical moment, and, 2) new forms of crime that take advantage of the technologies of communication and transmission of information.
Despite the hope poured into criminology, it has not been possible to see its transformation and social impact (Mampaso Desbrow, Seoane Ruíz; Pérez Fernández and Martín-Moreno Blasco, 2016) as had been expected, and we are still waiting for it. This has caused more problems besides those raised above, the lack of professional and labor recognition of the criminologist educated at the undergraduate level, as well as little research development that allows generating knowledge for students in training, as well as for social policy planners (Rodríguez Jorge; Pérez Gonzáles; Zambrano Intriago, and Palma Caicedo, 2016). The school is responsible for training social leaders, aimed at success, but above all, towards social commitment (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.).
Today, as never before, it is necessary to question and rethink the general objectives of criminology, its teaching processes, and its social relevance (Cantú Mendoza, 2015). It is necessary to configure a map with possible academic and administrative interventions (Giménez-Salinas, 2009), to strengthen criminology as part of the social sciences so that it produces results according to the expectations and urgencies of society (Avendaño, 2019).
The general objective of this paper is to provide a perspective on the academic condition of university studies in criminology in Mexico. It begins by showing the birth of university studies in criminology and the characteristics of its teaching, and its expansion in other regions at the institutional level and educational programs; their professional opportunities and education content. Subsequently, four proposals are put forward that could be implemented to improve internal and external relevance. In this way, four specific proposals are stated on which a map of possibilities to work on can be generated to improve: 1) Legislative reform for criminologists' job profiles; 2) specialization in specific areas on specific phenomena; 3) strengthening of research, and 4) strengthening of teaching.
2. DISCUSSION
In Mexico, higher education in criminology has had a significant increase in recent years, in around 5 to 10 years, educational institutions that teach this career have proliferated abundantly as it is novel (Hikal Carreón, 2020), but its growth has not meant advancing hand in hand with educational quality (Bonifacio Barba, 2018), the experience of new criminal modalities, the use of technology as a means to carry out crime in many different ways (Navasquillo Lorda, 2016), the relevance, and social impact (Cantú Mendoza, 2015). Its growth is mainly due to commercial reasons, there has been a boom for studying this profession, but the amount is not correlational with social results, there was a demand based on the social interest detected (Mampaso Desbrow, Seoane Ruíz; Pérez Fernández, and Martín- Moreno Blasco, 2016). Cruelly: "Crime sells, these degrees are very "sexy ", and their popularity among young students is almost guaranteed" (Medina, 2012, p. 20).
It is worth asking why was it necessary to create a Degree in Criminology? "What are the functions of the criminologist as a professional? What are the subjects that a criminologist should know for his future work activity?" (Navasquillo Lorda, 2016, p. 5). Ríos Patio (2017), could provide a useful answer when contemplating what seems irremediable and irrepressible: “the existence of alarming crime rates in the country, which show growth trends and threatens social order, state governance, and the nation’s unity” (p. 72). With this, the necessary creation of a professional to investigate everything related to the causes of crime in a social, political, economic, individual, historical, mental, physical way, besides adding the functions of forensic investigation, is partly justified (Rodríguez Jorge; Pérez González; Zambrano Intriago, and Palma Caicedo, 2017).
In principle, criminology studies in Mexico arise within other degrees, which in some aspect could deal with criminal study, for example, criminology is reviewed in the subjects of criminal law, criminal sciences, psychology, or others, as well as the study of violence, not properly attributed to criminology (Hikal Carreón, 2020). It could, and is still studied in specialties, masters, or doctorates, "its education was always in a doctrinal limbo that was often difficult to understand" (Navasquillo Lorda, 2016, p. 2) until it was dismembered as an independent degree, but a tendency persists to place it alongside law studies (Ordaz Hernández and Figueroa Castellano, 2017).
Over time, after a wait of 100 years since the birth of criminology with the publication of the Experimental Anthropological Treaty of Lombroso, later, it began to be disseminated through articles, works, and conferences (Hikal, 2019). “This means that although criminology studies have a long tradition in the educational system, their officialization and regulation occur very late” (Mampaso Desbrow, et. al., 2016, p. 77).
In Mexico, exactly 45 years ago, criminology became a bachelor's degree, with a starting duration of 4 years, then one more was added, and it was on par with other degrees such as law, psychology, engineering, and so on. In private schools, the range is 3 years, some schools have done the incredible job of teaching it in a year and a half, others have entered it as a technical high school, and even as online studies. There are two poles, many private schools offer a degree in it, but few public ones do. Perhaps a complete directory would be the Census of schools and educational programs in criminology, penology, victimology, and related careers in Mexico (Hikal Carreón, 2020).
The first Degree in Criminology was born at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. In its conception, the study of crime, the offender, the penalty, crime prevention, prison rehabilitation, and forensic investigation of criminal acts were attributed it (Cámara Arroyo, 2019; Acosta Muñoz, 2017), for which it was established within the old Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, today the Faculty of Law and Criminology (Hikal, 2019), so since its inception, in Mexico, the tradition of placing higher studies in criminology in areas related to the law was bequeathed, which derives in the legal study of crime (Medina Wahnnatah; Almada Quintero; Duarte Félix and Avalos Wahnnatah, 2018).
The creation of the degree was generated within a group of academics who wanted to contribute with solutions from the university field to train professionals specialized in criminal matters (Giménez-Salinas, 2009), surpassing the empirical researchers, to take an aspect with greater professionalization and technical and scientific capacity. The main reason was not improvisation or academic occurrence, it was due to the increasing criminality that was generated in the country, achieving its consolidation in 1974. At the time, it was due to academic, professional, and scientific reasons (Ordaz Hernández and Figueroa Castellano, 2017).
After this event, without having a systematic order of appearance of the schools that later decided to create other degrees in criminology (and penology or forensic sciences), they have been established, since then and to date, in a large number of private schools, exceeding more than 400, on the contrary, few public schools have established them: the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Autonomous University of Tamaulipas, Popular Autonomous University of Veracruz, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Autonomous University of Querétaro, Autonomous University of Puebla, Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, University of Guadalajara, National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Autonomous University of Baja California Sur (Hikal Carreón, 2020). The compulsory entry requirement for these is the high school studies kardex, there are no equivalences, except open studies or express degrees, but of the same high school degree (Giménez-Salinas, 2009).
These previous ones offer a bachelor's degree, other higher degrees are specialties, masters, and doctorates also in criminology, penology, forensic, criminal, penal sciences, or others. There is no quantification of specialty and master degrees, but few schools offer doctorate degrees, starting with public schools: National Institute of Criminal Sciences, Popular Autonomous University of Veracruz, and the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. The private ones are: Zacatecano Institute for University Studies, the Mexican Council of Legal and Health Sciences, Alva Edisión University and World Humani University, and the Center for Advanced Studies of Veracruz (Hikal Carreón, 2020). The requirement to enter these studies is a bachelor's degree, exclusively, or its equivalent from another country.
All these studies are reviewed and authorized by the Ministry of Public Education (2020) at the federal level. Additionally, in their autonomy, the other states that make up the Mexican Republic, through their secretariats of education, can also evaluate and authorize the bachelor's degree, specialty, master's degree, and doctorate, valid throughout the national territory, having two aspects: 1) The school of any region grants the title, while 2) it is the exclusive function of the federal secretariat, the granting of the degree license for its exercise. The financing of these studies corresponds to the student who enters, they can have a subsidy from the public or private school to obtain cheaper fees. The teaching load has varied from 3 hours per day during the week, to six, eight, twelve, or 24 hours on Saturdays and/or Sundays, both for undergraduate and another higher degree (Hikal Carreón, 2020).
To obtain a bachelor's, specialty, master's, or doctorate degree, it is required to prepare a thesis, previously it was mandatory, but a few years ago, this practice was replaced by taking diplomas, subjects, enrolling to study the master's degree at the same institution, or doing the dissertation (which includes a shorter systematization), which has limited the contribution of solving cases in writing through a document that refers to the applicant's ability to investigate, document, systematize, and orally and physically present the result of their investigation, whose goal would also be to contribute with those results to others, by consulting it as a reference.
Although the demand for criminology (and related) studies is high, the labor market is not open to graduates (Cámara Arroyo, 2019) who are placed mainly in two areas: Public or private forensic investigation services, through expert opinions when the individual seeks it and requires it, paying an expense for the expert study carried out to refute the one prepared by the expert at the service of the state and postulate it before a judge, or if it is in the public, through state agencies that require studies in various branches of criminology, which in various schools is studied within the degree of criminology (Hikal Carreón, 2020).
Another area is that of private security (Cámara Arroyo, 2019), where criminologists are used for internal investigations, polygraph application, risk detection, protection of facilities, people, or objects, surveillance, monitoring, vulnerability assessment, establish prevention, containment, and avoidance measures, this can be in the business sphere or for individuals, with which corporate criminology has had a great boom in Mexico, within the few specialized criminology studies.
But it is not only in these two areas where criminologists are most used, but also in the area of the security forces, whether in police fields of action in the field, or in intelligence, monitoring, and preventive or interventional strategies. In Mexico, the prison system depends on the security secretariats, so the criminologist also has job opportunities in prisons, for the integration of the diagnosis of psychological and social risk factors, monitoring of the prison treatment, risk detection, or social and family integration (Acosta Muñoz, 2017).
Many others are engaged in the teaching or school administrative field, in the education of other professionals who study the same areas (Medina, 2012). Very few first-career criminologists are dedicated to scientific research, this is led by second-career criminologists; that is, graduates in law, psychology, medicine, sociology, or others, with subsequent or second-degree studies in criminology. Teaching practices have consisted of the repetition of old techniques that seem novel to new students, while teachers are not based on contemporary theoretical doctrines (Avendaño, 2019).
Curriculum maps at any level are nourished, until now, by the sciences that, before criminology, were addressing crime. Some that were born almost at the same time (Ordaz Hernández and Figueroa Castellano, 2017), or later, are also taken for the nutrition of criminology, for example: anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, politics, sociology, statistics, geography, social work, law, biology, among others. These are framed in the convergent studies of criminology, while for penology, in the case of schools that have both areas in the same degree, it is fed by forensic ramifications: forensic toxicology, psychiatry, psychology, sexology, linguistics, chemistry, medicine, pediatrics, gynecology, anthropology, art, valuation, pedagogy, fingerprint studies, graphoscopy, ballistics, among many more. Here it seems strange that the development of forensic sciences has been promoted more than criminal ones; In other words, more knowledge is generated to intervene after the crime than to anticipate it, but the same does not happen in the prison environment.
3. REFLECTIONS AND PROPOSALS
Past experiences can be seen as learning opportunities for continuous improvement, one also learns from mistakes and they lead to changing practices, seeing where one is strong or weak to do things better. You have to do things differently from the traditional routines, in some, you will fail, in others, you will succeed (Vences Esparza; Juárez Villalobos, and Flores Alanis, 2016). There are four aspects on which the reflections and proposals will focus, which imply the will and desire to do things differently:
These areas have been hampered or underdeveloped, and are, at the same time, the possibilities to promote. Navasquillo Lorda points out: "Criminology as a young Social Science is in the process of change, and needs an academic rigor that to date it has not had" (2016, p. 1). Thus, these four areas of the proposal are raised for change and internal transformation in the academic contents of criminology, as well as the scientific ones, and a further step would be the legislative impact that it would have if it were widely recognized and postulated in various action fields and job opportunities.
3.1. Legislative reform to reorient job profiles
It is necessary to employ criminologists in municipalities, governments, companies. For what? To address those vulnerabilities and risks that stimulate criminal behavior. Appropriately, Ríos Patio (2017) reflects on a certain indifference on the part of governments to seek solutions: “The search for the causes of crime, which constitutes the purpose of criminology, is a truly national problem” (p. 72). He states that there is no connection between the contributions of criminology and the planners and implementers of social policy. This is also supported by the reflection of Zaffaroni (1990), by indicating that this knowledge is necessary for government and private sector agents so that they feed on what they do not know and implement what is appropriate to reduce, control, prevent, and investigate what surrounds crime (Gaete Quezada, 2015).
Continuing with the reflection of Ríos Patio (2017): "said social science is not widespread in its research development or its practice in public policy" (p. 72). This since it seems that there is an immediate urgency of what is visible, quantifiable, objectively measurable, denying what comes in the long term or that the population does not decipher beyond investments of thousands of coins, equipment for persecution, punishment, containment, repression, promoting in the construction of a social reality to pretend to do through public investment in material issues and, above all, punishment, exclusion, isolation from society to anyone who causes an impairment. The drastic end of the reality that accompanies us in a political regime concludes "without the interest of preventing said behaviors to statistically reduce them, but only to sanction some of them" (Ríos Patio, 2017, p. 72).
The legislative change is of relevant importance to give guidelines on what positions the criminologist can exercise beyond the traditional inherited ones, and that allows expanding their activity and interference, that is, "establishing mechanisms that readjust legislative enactments to the needs of the market" (Mampaso Desbrow, Seoane Ruiz; Pérez Fernández, and Martín-Moreno Blasco, 2016, p. 73). In Mexico, there are fields of work where it is optional to have a degree, while for others that have legal repercussions, it is mandatory to be licensed to issue opinions, endorse studies, etcetera; for example, an architect could not value a property without his license to do so. On the other hand, it would be unthinkable for an engineer to be a public prosecutor. For this, it has been legalized that only those who have a higher basic degree of Bachelor of Law, not an engineer with a master's degree in industrial law, nor a doctor with a specialty in legal medicine, but exclusively a Bachelor of Law, can be a prosecutor.
Thus, it is necessary to "promote among public administrations and private institutions the use of criminologists as professionals for the benefit of Society" (Navasquillo Lorda, 2016, p. 1), proposing in legislative chambers the inclusion of criminologists in places where there may be a crime outbreak, some risk situation, or vulnerability in groups. Violence and crime are issues that almost any area of life has not been freed from, in sports stadiums, in political elections, in the administration of the treasury, in cyberlife, in life system of condominiums, in air and land transport, in schools, among so many, for which they are always looking for someone to detect, identify, mediate, control, and prevent those spontaneous or planned acts that affect the group (Cámara Arroyo, 2019).
In Mexico, it is not mandatory that for the work areas where the criminologist has gained a space, he must be a professional with a bachelor’s degree on it, but anyone with a proximal or second (master) or third-degree (doctorate) knowledge can replace him, but the same does not happen the other way around; that is, a Bachelor of Criminology, does not replace a lawyer, psychologist, doctor, or sociologist. Establishing the legal powers and fields of action that a criminologist could have and raising it to legislative rank would be the basis of the labor systems of doing, what to do and where to do it, of the criminologist. This would reverse the trend towards uncertainty and job failure, where only a few vacancies are offered. At present, the laws do not have a professional figure of the criminologist (Avendaño, 2019). Navasquillo Lorda (2016) exposes two issues: "What is the objective of accrediting university studies such as Criminology when the State itself closes the doors to professional development?" (p. 5).
3.2. Specialization on specific phenomena
It is considered that the specialization of criminology will allow having tools for the concrete problems of society. The intellectual development of criminology has become stuck or stagnant. It is those sciences that were mentioned that carry out criminal studies and allow a holistic view of the phenomenon, but not many studies that emanate from within criminology itself are seen (Ordaz Hernández and Figueroa Castellano, 2017). The great usefulness of the contributions made by the sciences or of general criminology is not denied. The knowledge of each area and the theoretical and conceptual bases fill with a broad knowledge seen from different approaches, "but even more, it is to deliver ourselves to the concrete knowledge of those specialties that in the future may give us a professional opportunity" (Navasquillo Lorda, 2016, p. 2).
As general criminology becomes more precise in specific fields, the intellectual capacities and job opportunities of the criminologist will expand. It is not easy to find criminologists in Mexico in the areas that they assume are where they should be, and that have also been transmitted to them in the classrooms. Job opportunities are limited (Cámara Arroyo, 2019), since the tradition of other professions and their technical utility have consolidated them in specific jobs, of which criminology has not managed to take over (Medina Wahnnatah; Almada Quintero; Duarte Félix, and Avalos Wahnnatah, 2018). It is easy to predict from vulgar knowledge or people in the street, what a lawyer, a doctor, a psychologist does, but there is vagueness about what a criminologist can do, which even in recruitment departments limits the opportunities in the face of ignorance.
Navasquillo Lorda affirms "in no case can we forget aspects as important as the scientific ones, criminological research, globalization, new technologies, innovative fields of study, and the specialization of knowledge" (2016, p. 3). The criminologist must update his theoretical framework on contemporary trends in crime, and this will be achieved through research. Be prepared to receive educational advances that allow you to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes, and adapt to the complex change of the world (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.).
In this way, the reward of specializing has two functions: 1) Better knowledge available to social policy planners, 2) and more varied job opportunities (Cámara Arroyo, 2019), not limiting or stigmatizing exclusively police, forensic, and detective sectors (Avendaño, 2019). It is about, very precisely, proposing specific criminology studies to special phenomena, developed initially with small monographs, university or extra-university theses, giving them a title that fits into a specific field, and breaking it down with a subtitle. “The publication of these works would be of great help as it is an important tool for the contribution of scientific knowledge (Navasquillo Lorda, 2016, p. 4).
What is heard about trans-discipline must be sought, integrating the knowledge of other sciences and transforming, directing, specializing them to the criminal area and all the edges that are derived, causal factors, origin of the behavior in the individual, in society, variants, treatment, prevention (Rodríguez Jorge; Pérez González; Zambrano Intriago, and Palma Caicedo, 2016). Then it will be possible to replace, but without abandoning, giving way from criminal sociology to sociological criminology, from psychology of abnormal development, to psychological criminology, from private security to labor criminology, creating new nomenclatures, opening spaces, knowledge tanks, job opportunities, professional practice (Rodríguez J. 2016).
3.3. Strengthening research
The tradition of research for the degree through thesis or dissertation has been diluted with other options for leaving the school and obtaining the degree. Perhaps the failure to guide students towards the fact that their results could be systematized and publicly exposed through books, articles, or book chapters, even exhibitions or teaching, has caused a detriment since the student fervently wishes to graduate to be inserted in the work field without returning contributions to the school that formed him or to other generations (Acosta Muñoz, 2017).
It is important to maintain instruction in method, techniques, organization of information, and presentation. By not having the knowledge generated in the practical field back in the classrooms, it happens “that Criminology is being taught as a social science far from the practical reality of its contents” (Navasquillo Lorda, 2016, p. 3), and at the same time, its scientific character is doubtful and indefensible. How can science be done without scientists or generators of knowledge? Without checking results? Without epistemological or philosophical approaches? (Di Claudo, 2013). We are in the presence of slow criminology, without immediate results in the face of new criminal manifestations, which must wait until the other sciences can investigate. Navasquillo Lorda stipulates: "in no case can we forget aspects as important as the scientific ones, criminological research, globalization, new technologies, innovative fields of study, and the specialization of knowledge" (2016, p. 3).
Research is the way to achieve specialization and legislative changes. For a lawyer to occupy the position of a prosecutor, what did he require before? Solid, specialized knowledge and legal support, where it is established that only a lawyer, of the entire universe of professions, is the one who can hold the position of a prosecutor. For the exercise of pediatric medicine, what is required? A solid doctrine that establishes the bases of operation of the functions of the doctor in the area with minors, a series of techniques, studies, understandings, cases, examples (Rodríguez J. 2016). It could not be attributed that a criminologist could occupy a public prosecutor charge without having sufficient criminal argumentation, nor that he can carry out an intervention for minors if he does not know what areas he should attend to. On the other hand, an abundant argumentation will have the basis to defend his work and to point out how necessary the profession is, in such a way that it impacts the legislatures. "In this sense, the research work is justified because the general welfare and comprehensive security are the essential purposes of the state" (Ríos Patio, 2017, p. 72).
Meanwhile, the criminologist cannot extend his influence in other fields in which he is not legally, nor theoretically and practically, empowered (Acosta Muñoz, 2017). Some may not be convinced of specialized development; it will be enough to see the results generated by scientific development regarding the progress of society. Schools may find it difficult to commit to research activities due to a lack of knowledge about how to do it, or because of resources, but when comparing the effects of research with the evidence of results, resistance can change. Educational centers must be open to exploring the challenges and opportunities that the changing society causes, the globalization of changes as well (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.).
3.4. Strengthening of teaching
Teaching is considered an annex topic. As mentioned, the contents of criminology are varied, with sections of the fields that have had the same study interest, but with different points of view. A teacher with sufficient theoretical and pragmatic support will be able to provide students in training with knowledge contrasted with different cultural realities (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.). It sometimes happens that subjects are improvised without sufficient support to fill the necessary contents to be seen. There are study plans with basic manuals that are no longer published, are not available, or come from other countries, without minimizing this, since it offers the global perspective that comparative criminology contributes, but for local problems, local solutions (Gaete Quezada, 2015).
Teaching should be strengthened with practices that involve students, teachers, even parents, and the commercial sectors, what the labor and social markets require (team learning), to create common needs and opportunities, know how to work as a team, organized, with rules and values. A team committed to identifying relevant issues and priorities to make the most of the opportunities that are detected. Teachers must be prepared and guide practices and teachings in the face of the abrupt changes of the current 21st century (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.). Criminology studies could be structured in:
4. CONCLUSIONS
The origins of university studies in criminology in Mexico were shown due to the need to educate professionals trained in the phenomena of crime from causal, prison, public safety, and expert aspects, among others. From the beginning of the first institution that created the degree, over the years other educational centers proliferated that created educational programs on the subject, this also brought areas of opportunity to observe in a process of permanent improvement regarding internal and external relevance. The present work was focused on reflecting and proposing on four topics, the first, professional opportunities, from an aspect that addresses reforms to rethink and reorient the functions and applications of criminology and its professionals, the second area, was the stimulus to the research of specific and modern problems of contemporary crime, which led to the third, to increase the theoretical corpus available to understand and address the phenomena, the last topic, the fourth, focused on strengthening teaching, concretizing in the bibliography, pedagogical practices, inter-discipline, specialization, linking, ethics, praxis, among others. It is the school that has a total role in the training of future criminology professionals. The degrees in criminology already exist, but their quality should not be compromised due to the great demand that exists in the market by those interested in entering this profession. Relevant questions must be addressed, a solid and integrated framework that basifies schools and their higher education, curricula updated to social realities, well-argued content, an abundance of reference manuals, well-prepared teachers in theory and practice, without one being replaced by the other, research areas that provide answers to emerging phenomena of society, that instruct and involve students in the systematization and construction of knowledge activities.
5. REFERENCES
AUTHOR:
Wael Sarwat Hikal Carreón
Doctorando en Filosofía con Acentuación en Estudios de la Educación por la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (becario CONACYT) de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.
wael.hikalcrr@uanl.edu.mx
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1278-567X
Google Scholar: https://bit.ly/3nTm2Ew
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wael-Sarwat-Hikal-Carreon