Jeffrey Golden, M.S., J.D.

“The criminal justice system, the legal system, and behavioral sciences are integrally related and interdependent. Students who understand those relationships are in an excellent position to improve the lives of everyone they touch within those systems,” says Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Law & Behavioral Science Jeff Golden.

Watching students learn how to help people in the criminal justice and legal systems is what motivates Golden. “Those formal systems serve a purpose, but in many cases an informal and more humanely focused approach to law and justice are more effective prevention and intervention mechanisms to resolve problems,” he says.

Trained as a mediator while serving as a prosecutor, he saw the power of human relationships facilitate changes that seldom occurred within the formal criminal justice or legal systems. Golden brings a wealth of experience to his students and colleagues as a former federal law clerk, prosecutor, division chief of a state law enforcement agency, chief of policy for a state juvenile justice agency, and law enforcement, corrections, probation, and parole academy instructor.

“Developing respectful and trusting relationships is the key to real and lasting change which is supported by robust behavioral science. The ‘command and control’ or ‘win or lose’ mentality applied to conflicts in the criminal justice and legal systems results in a failure to ‘communicate and collaborate’ to resolve conflict. No one wants to be commanded or controlled. Everyone prefers respectful communication and collaboration,” says Professor Golden. “In every class, I want to show students the connections between behavioral science, the issues they will face within the criminal justice and legal systems, and how to help people.”

He helped establish Sage’s new M.S. in Criminal Justice & Community Corrections. “With the continuing shift away from more costly jail and prison sentencing, community corrections will see significant growth in coming years and professionals with an advanced degree focused on community corrections will be in a favorable position to earn leadership positions in the field. This focused master’s degree will provide in-depth understanding and insight found nowhere else.”