Internship
Manual
Criminal
Justice Internships
2005
Purpose
Internship experiences in the field of criminal
justice serve multiple purposes. The
criminal justice intern will develop self-directed learning skills, will gain a
better understanding and appreciation of knowledge gained in the classroom, and
will be exposed to and better understand the complexities of the criminal
justice system (McBride, 1990).[1] Toward that goal, the following is a list of
goals and objectives of the criminal justice internship:
A. To provide the criminal justice intern
with insight into the day-to-day activities of criminal justice agencies and to
provide a realistic perspective of the complex nature of such agencies.
B. To provide the intern a greater
appreciation of knowledge gained in the classroom and a realization of the
importance of that knowledge as it applies to the administration of criminal
justice.
C. To provide the interning student with a
sense of career orientation by creating a heightened sense of desire for their
chosen field.
D. To enable the student to assess his/her
skills and abilities against tasks of real-work situations.
Interning in criminal justice agencies may also
serve to provide the student with connections for future employment
opportunities, or simply help the intern decide on a specific area of
interest. CRJU internships are not paid positions.
Who Is Eligible?
To be eligible for a criminal justice internship,
a student must be of junior or senior standing and should have a
cumulative GPA of 2.5. Students with less than a 2.5 GPA, but at
least a 2.3 GPA (overall), may still be considered for an internship. Students with less than a 2.5 GPA may apply
for a waiver of this requirement under the following circumstances: 1) they have a strong letter from a
CRJU faculty member (other than the internship coordinator), 2) there is not a
very high demand from students for internships during the semester for which
the waiver is sought, and 3) the internship coordinator approves the
request. A student desiring such a
waiver must request the letter from the faculty member in writing. The letter requesting the recommendation must
provide the faculty member with enough information about the student’s
situation and accomplishments to justify such a waiver. The fact that the student wants to do an
internship or believes that the internship is needed in order to satisfy career
goals will not be sufficient justification for waiver of the academic
standards. Internships are reserved for
our better students, and while exceptions may be made occasionally to the
academic requirements, there must be strong justifications for doing so. CRJU 100 or CRJU 150 is a prerequisite to the criminal justice
internship and students must have completed 21 semester hours in the criminal justice major to be eligible for
a criminal justice internship. It is our
experience that some students find it difficult to return to the academic life
at the University following a stimulating internship. For that reason, it is often desirable to
take the internship during the student’s last semester prior to graduation.
Students from majors other than CRJU may also be eligible
for internships in criminal justice agencies with the permission of the
internship coordinator, a 2.5 GPA, and junior or senior status. However, preference is given to criminal
justice majors. If the demand for
internships is very high for a particular semester, non-criminal justice majors
may not be permitted to do the internship.
Many agencies do not accept interns who have been
convicted of criminal offenses, therefore, students with criminal records should discuss this with the faculty coordinator
prior to applying for an internship position.
In addition, many criminal justice agencies require background
investigations, which entail considerable pre-planning.
How To Get An Internship
A student’s first step in getting an internship is
to consider personal career
aspirations. After making a general
decision about the student’s field of interest (i.e. corrections, courts, or
law enforcement), a more specific decision must be made about the type of agency in which the student
wishes to work. This decision can often
be complex and the student may not be fully aware of the possibilities
available to him/her. If this occurs,
the student should seek advice from either the internship coordinator or the
student’s academic advisor.
The second decision to be made in getting an
internship is where the student
would like to do the internship. Some
students may choose to remain at school while interning while others may decide
to seek an internship near home or some other location.
Thirdly, after a student has made the decisions on
the type and location of agency in which to do the internship, the student
should make an appointment to meet with
the internship coordinator to discuss the student’s intentions. The internship coordinator must approve
potential site agencies before any
contact is made with that agency.
(Historically, CRJU students have tended to
believe that they may easily acquire Federal internships and consequently,
Federal jobs. Students should be aware
that few Federal internship positions actually exist, and these are filled on a
very competitive basis.)
The fourth step in acquiring an internship is to
make contact with the agency of
interest. Occasionally, the internship
coordinator will initiate this contact, but in most instances this is the
responsibility of the student. This
initial contact should answer the following questions:
1. Does
the agency provide internship opportunities?
2. If not, would the agency consider an
internship program?
3. Are there any special conditions
associated with the agency's internship program?
4. Would the agency be willing to
interview the student for an internship position? If so, an appointment for an interview should
be set up.
The internship position interview is crucially important, and the student should be
prepared to ask questions and to show genuine interest in the agency. The student should wear appropriate
professional attire for the interview.
After receiving a response from these preliminary
contacts, the student should discuss these findings with the internship
coordinator who will, in turn, contact the agency to make final arrangements
and commitments.
After both the agency and the student have made
initial commitments, a CRJU internship application
form must be filled out by the student and approved by the coordinator (H:\teaching\CRJU
484\Internship Application (for Registrar).doc). The coordinator keeps one copy of the signed internship application and the
student keeps the other, which he/she will
need to register for internship hours.
The student will be billed in accordance with university tuition rates.
In addition, the student must fill out three forms
that can be found at www.radford.edu/~celcd. (Click on “Students and Alumni,” then on
“Internships,” and then on “Internship Agreement Forms”). After filling out the forms, the student
should have the appropriate person at the agency sign the forms (usually the
student’s site supervisor) and take the forms to the internship supervisor to
be signed.
When to Begin the Process
Ordinarily,
students should begin the process of acquiring an internship one full semester
before the desired time of placement.
Students interested in Federal internship placements may need to begin
the process as early as two semesters before placement. CRJU internships may be scheduled any
semester.
How Many Credits is an Internship?
Internships vary from 6 - 15 credit hours, depending on the needs of the student and the
agency. All internships are graded on a pass/fail basis. (It is possible to take three hours of credit
of the internship for an A-F grade.
Consult the course description for CRJU 483 in the University catalog
for guidance).
|
Credits |
Hours
of Direct Agency Contact |
|
6 |
240 |
|
9 |
360 |
|
12 |
480 |
|
15 |
600 |
These hours of agency contact are minimum requirements
to earn the desired credits and can be scheduled in any manner suitable to both
the agency and the student. It is
recommended, however, that students should not work less than 4 hour blocks of
time, and ideally will be working 8 hour days.
For example, a student doing a 15 credit internship should work 8 hours
per day, 5 days per week, for 15 weeks to fulfill the 600 our
requirements. A student doing a 6 credit
internship will ideally work 8 hours per day, 2 days per week, for 15 weeks to
fulfill the 240 hour requirement.
Although these schedules would be ideal, the
student can arrange any combination of hours and days and agency to fulfill the
minimum number of required hours (within reason).
Types of Agencies
The types of agencies with which a student can do
a CRJU internship are extensive and are decided to a large extent by the
student. Typically, however, CRJU
internships are done in the areas of courts, law enforcement, or corrections. Historically, students have done internships
in the following agencies.
Law
Enforcement
·
Municipal police department
·
U. S. Marshals – in certain areas in
VA
·
U. S. Customs
·
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,
and Explosives
Courts
·
Commonwealth Attorney's offices
·
Public defenders' offices
·
Private attorneys' offices
·
Women's resource centers; victim
witness programs, domestic assault centers
Corrections
·
Correctional facilities; juvenile and
adult
·
State probation/parole offices; some
Federal offices
·
Department of Corrections in
Personal/Professional
Responsibilities of CRJU Interns
Agencies that host criminal justice internships
place great emphasis on the need for confidentiality, privacy, and personal
integrity. Therefore, for a student to
successfully complete an internship with a criminal justice agency, the student
must be able to demonstrate high levels of maturity and integrity. Additionally, CRJU interns must possess the
emotional stability necessary to deal with the kind of unpleasant situations
that are occasionally encountered in the criminal justice system.
To facilitate good rapport with the chosen agency,
interns must also have good listening and interpersonal skills.
In addition to possessing these personality
traits, all CRJU interns must abide by the following rules:
1. Always dress appropriately.
2. Do not use profanity, regardless of
what others are doing.
3. Always be on time and do not leave
early.
4. Do NOT allow yourself to be put into
dangerous situations.
5. Do not become involved in gossip.
6. Ask questions and show enthusiasm.
7. Do not discuss sensitive information
with non-agency people.
8. Do not become argumentative or
disrespectful.
9.
Be honest and forthright about any
unusual situations.
10.
NEVER, EVER, AT ANY TIME CARRY A
PERSONAL FIREARM ON YOUR INTERNSHIP SITE.
Mutual Responsibilities
The primary responsibility of the internship
agency is to permit the student to observe the central functions of the
agency. Other responsibilities of the
internship agency are to schedule student's work; to mentor and direct the
student's work; to evaluate the intern's work; and to ensure that the intern's
experience is productive.
It is the responsibility of the student to
immediately contact the internship coordinator if the student believes that the
agency is not fulfilling major programmatic responsibilities or if other issues
arise that are deemed to be serious by the student. While no simple solutions exist for these
types of problems, the internship coordinator will work with the student to
remedy the situation.
Conversely, should a student fail to fulfill
his/her responsibilities, the internship
may be terminated. Examples of
infractions which may require action are:
the student not showing up for assignments; the student engaging in
behavior deemed inappropriate by the agency; engaging in illegal or immoral
behavior, as determined by the agency; or not performing duties as requested by
the agency.
Experiences
While interning, a student should experience (or
at least observe) a variety of activities.
The following is a brief list of some of the experiences an intern can
expect to have while working with the various agencies.
Police
·
Observe/participate in routine patrol
·
Observe Dispatch/Communication
centers
·
Observe/participate in CID (criminal
investigative division)
·
Observe/participate in crime
prevention (DARE)
·
Observe Records/Administrative
functions
·
Assist agency administration in
preparing reports and other administrative duties/projects as requested
Probation/Parole
·
Observe case supervision
·
Observe/participate in records check
·
Observe/participate in pre-sentence
and post-sentence reports
·
Observe court
·
Observe intensive probation
supervision
·
Assist agency administration in
preparing reports and other administrative duties/projects as requested
Institutional
Corrections
·
Observe/participate in work of
corrections counselor
·
Observe correctional officers
·
Observe administrative functions
·
Observe parole hearings/grievance
hearings/other processes that are integral to the functioning of the
institution
·
Assist agency administration in
preparing reports and other administrative duties/projects as requested
Commonwealth
Attorney, Public Defender, Private Attorney
·
Observe activities of supervising
attorney
·
Observe client/attorney meetings
·
Observe police/attorney meetings
·
Observe intradepartmental staff
meetings
·
Perform legal research to extent
requested
·
Observe court proceedings
·
Assist in special legal projects as
requested by agency
Federal
Agencies
·
Will be worked out on individual
basis with individual agency
U.S.
Marshal
·
Observe activities of Deputy U.S.
Marshal
·
Observe/participate in field work
with U.S. Marshal
·
Participate in Federal prisoner
transports
·
Observe Federal courtroom security
·
Observe/participate to extent
possible in special projects or work being performed by the regional office of
the U.S. Marshal's
Women's
Resource Centers
·
Participate/interact on regular basis
with agency clients
·
Observe court
·
Assist/observe professional
caseworkers to extent possible
·
Assist agency administration in
preparing reports and other administrative duties/projects as requested
·
Assist/observe with agency hotlines
and emergency lines
In criminal justice, all agencies are different
and, therefore, it is impossible to delineate in great detail the
responsibilities and the role an intern will play in a respective agency. In general, students should observe the
professional work of an agency and to the extent possible, participate in that
agency's work. While it is realized that
from time to time an intern will be asked to answer phones, and perhaps provide
the agency with some other secretarial assistance, it is important for the
agency to understand that these types of tasks should be the exception rather
than the rule, and should not occur on a frequent basis.
Assignments and Evaluations
In addition to working the required number of
hours, student interns must fulfill several other requirements.
1. Journal: Kept daily – at least one page per
day; relating to the activities of the day (when on the internship site). The journal is a formal reflection on your
internship experience, not a diary!
Entries should demonstrate thought about the particular experiences of
that day. It may reflect on encounters
with other criminal justice professionals, offenders, or issues within the
agency where you are working. The
journal provides an opportunity to openly express opinions about internship
experiences. The journal should not
be shared with the site supervisor, unless specifically required by the
agency. The journal is the student’s
independent, confidential record of internship experiences. For this reason, it may be desirable to work
on the journal somewhere other than the internship site. The journal will be submitted at mid-semester
and at the conclusion of the semester.
2. Interact: Interact with the internship
coordinator every 2-3 weeks; make note of meeting time/date in
journal. This coordination can be
accomplished by an office visit, by telephone, or by e-mail. However, it must be done on a regular
basis! Leaving a message on an
answering machine is not sufficient; it is the student’s responsibility to
persist until the contact is made and acknowledged.
3. Textbook: Student interns must purchase a textbook
that includes questions that the student must answer in writing. Some of these answers will be submitted at
mid-semester; the remaining answers will be submitted at the conclusion of the
semester. (The student will be provided
a course syllabus at the beginning of the semester that will specify the
textbook, the pages to be read in the textbook and the questions to be
answered).
4. Evaluation: At mid-term and at the conclusion of the
internship, the agency site supervisor will fill out an evaluation form on the
student. It is the student’s
responsibility to see that the evaluation is completed and submitted by the
time designated in the course syllabus (or by the deadline established in
consultation with the internship coordinator – see the note below). There is a link to the evaluation form here (H:\teaching\CRJU
484\Evaluation of Intern Form (best).doc) and on the internship website.
5. Notebook: At end of internship, the journal and the answers to the questions
in the internship textbook are to be placed into a three-ring notebook and
submitted to the internship coordinator.
The journal entries and textbook question answers submitted at mid-term
should be included.
(NOTE: If the student’s work schedule is such that
the student will not have worked about half of the student’s total hours for
the semester by mid-semester, the internship coordinator and the student will
determine another date for submission of all material required to be submitted
at mid-term).