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STEP
The Right
By Michael J. Soloway
Last year,
Lycoming alumni
and Kennesaw
State University
Criminal Justice
Assistant
Professor James
McCafferty,
Ph.D. ’03, found himself in Ghana. He had
been invited to teach at the Kofi Annan
International Peacekeeping Training
Centre (KAIPTC). McCafferty said the
centre has a longstanding relationship
with Kennesaw State and sought to
create a weeklong Criminal Justice
Executive Training program with both
American and West African criminal
justice experts. “They wanted somebody
at the Centre with expertise in evidence-
based correctional programming, and
that’s what I’ve focused my education and
research on.”
KAIPTC is unique and has received
international funding from various countries,
including Germany, Canada, France, Italy, the
Netherlands, Norway, the U.K., and the United
States. “The team consisted of myself, another
colleague who focuses on law enforcement
training, and a judge and attorney from
Ghana,” said McCafferty “For a week we taught
thirty-five individuals, seven to eight hours a
day. I met with judges, police officers, prison
officials, and attorneys … a handful having
trained in the U.S.”
Ghana’s goal is to rely on more evidence-
based practices for policing and punishment.
“They really want to learn to do a much better
job and to be efficient and fair,” said McCafferty.
“I’d never been to Africa before, but it was really
one of the highlights of my career to meet and
work with these folks.”
In hindsight,
the steps
seem simple,
the progression
so logical.
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LYCOMING COLLEGE 2015 SUMMER MAGAZINE
F E AT U R E S