Corrections_Today_March_April_2019

Membership & Customer Service

Dual Chapter Spotlight

The Indiana Criminal Justice Association: A detailed history

By Eric Hoch

T he Indiana Criminal Justice Association (ICJA) was founded in 1933, making it the the oldest state of Indiana association related to corrections and criminal justice. ICJA has been a dual chapter of ACA since 1971. ICJA is a vibrant profes- sional member association with the mission of enhancing the continuum of criminal justice in Indiana by focusing on the enrichment of the criminal justice professional and the criminal justice system as a whole.

ACA. Alfred Bennett and Cloid Shuler are two of those ACA/ ICJA members who continue consultant work in the correc- tions field. Jack Harlow, retired parole officer, is also a 54-year member of ICJA. But ICJA has an elder statesman who out- shines those by six years. David Metzger, ICJA past president 1966, retired professor, is a 60-year member of ICJA. Mem- bership includes another 450 individual ACA/ICJA members and several organizational mem- bers totaling near 600. ICJA was honored to be awarded the 2018 Blanche L. La Du Chapter Achievement Award for the highest percentage increase in membership from June 2017 to June 2018. Mark Murphy, ICJA president, and Eric Hoch, ICJA president-elect, accepted the award at the 2018 Summer ACA Conference in Minneapolis. Mem- bership retention and recruitment is an ongoing process for all state and association chapters; in fact, since June 2018, ICJA has already recruit- ed 40 new members. ICJA includes all principles of corrections to make the membership grow in numbers. Photo courtesy Eric Hoch

From left: Jack Harlow, Alfred Bennett, Cloid Shuler.

to provide training and educational opportunities for criminal justice professionals statewide. Our membership includes repre- sentation from many sectors, such as corrections, legal services, probation and parole, prisons, military, commu- nity corrections, private providers, law enforcement, courts, faith-based institutions, private individuals and community-based resource cen- ters, just to name a few. ICJA’s life membership (20 years or more) has a roster of 125 people and includes some prestigious members who have 54 years of dual membership with

ICJA has been a dual chapter of ACA since 1971.

Our core objectives are to pro- mote awareness of the criminal justice system, to promote a spirit of cooperation among the many disci- plines of the criminal justice field, to raise the standards of professional practices in the delivery of treat- ment and rehabilitative services, and

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