K-School to Establish Chairs For Center of Criminal Justice

Kennedy School of Government officials plan to release soon the names of candidates for two newly-created professorships, including one which is the first part of a plan to establish a criminal justice center at the school.

The Corporation, which must give final approval to all appointments, is currently considering the names of the candidates, Ira A. Jackson '70, associate dean of the K-School, said yesterday.

Jackson said that a chair in criminal justice in the first concrete component of a proposed research center to study policing, courts, corrections and legal issues.

The other chair, in empirical analysis, will be filled by someone who will use analytical techniques to interpret data for more accurate market predictions, Jackson said.

Funding for the new chairs comes from $16 million the K-School raised as part of a $25 million fund drive.

The proposed criminal justice center will cooperate with the Law School on many issues as "the hub of a University-wide program in public policy management," Jackson said, adding that the K-School will provide links to the public sector.

But Mark H. Moore, associate professor of Public Policy, said yesterday the program does not have to be a separate center, but could be a program related to the Law School's 10-year-old criminal justice program.

Moore said the criminal justice professor will have a year to develop plans for the program. The budget and size of the proposed center have not yet been determined.

Even if a center is established, the criminal justice program at the Law School will continue its current projects, but may take on others jointly with the K-School center, James Vorenberg, professor of Law, said yesterday.