Thirty years ago, Justice Robert Jackson persuaded the American Bar Foundation to conduct, and the Ford Foundation to finance, a major empirical study of criminal justice administration. That research demonstrated the importance and complexity of criminal justice and the inadequacy of then current university programs to address this subject. As the field of criminal justice has developed over the past three decades, it has demonstrated both strengths and significant weaknesses. University contribution to the field of law enforcement is cause for satisfaction and optimism. The same cannot be said for university contribution to the fields of prosecution, adjudication, individual sentencing, and correctional treatment. This article covers five stages in the development of criminal justice: the decades before the American Bar Foundation (ABF) research, the ABF research itself, the contributions made by the ABF research, where we are today, and a final word as we look to the future. 23 references. (Author abstract modified)