Criminal Justice System

Instructions
Choose a component of the criminal justice system that you would like to learn more about and complete a field experience. You may choose from any of the following activities:
• Ride along with a police officer.
• Court visit (minimum of 2 hours).
• Correctional Institution (jail or prison) tour.
For those students that are not able to complete a physical interaction with a component of the criminal justice system, the following activities are available to complete for a field project.
Keep in mind the requirements in the analysis section when selecting these options and consider adding an interview of a CJS professional as part of this activity:
• Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab tour (The CELL):
• National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial tour National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
• Colorado Peace officer Standards and Training tour Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) (NOTE: You may also select any other state and tour their POST and training academy websites.)
• Jailing the Mentally Ill: Listen to the podcast and then explore the website: Jailing the Mentally Ill: Stories.
• Solitary Nation: Watch the video and then explore the following website: Prison Writers
• Policing the Police: Watch the video and then explore the following website: The Police Foundation
• Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice: Listen to at least one of the nine episodes of the podcast (or more) and then review the following articles: Charging Youth as Adults and The Creation of the World’s First Juvenile Justice System
• Other: Contact the instructor within the first one to two weeks of class if you wish to complete this assignment with some other type of field experience.
After you have engaged in your field experience, analyze the experience, and address the following components:
Introduction:
• What criminal justice entity did you interact with and how did you interact with it (for example toured their facility, researched their website, interviewed an official at a CJS- related organization).
• Summarize their function within the criminal justice system and provide an explanation of the services they provide; explain their philosophy and goals.
• Explain elaborately why you choose this particular entity or activity as your field experience.

Analysis:
Please note this is not a blog or journal of your experience but a formal analysis.
• Was the field experience what you expected? Why or why not? Explain.
• Compare this field experience with other experiences you have had interacting with or participating in the criminal justice system. How is this similar, different,
etc.? Explain. (NOTE: All of you have interacted with the criminal justice system at some level, even if you do not realize it. For example, when you are driving down the street and see a police officer, do you immediately slow down or check your speed? Think about how this “controls” your behavior.)
• What is your opinion of this field experience? Has this encouraged or discouraged you to get involved with the criminal justice system in the future? What would you do differently the next time? Explain.
• Explain how this field experience ties into our course. Provide several examples of specific concepts from the readings and/or the many discussions we have had in the class. (NOTE: Your connections should flow across the whole gamut of the course. For example, were any theories of crime or strategies for responding to crime apparent in the field experience? What philosophies or goals were you able to identify? Is the CJS component effective in the services it provides? How is justice served by this entity? Etc.)
• What lessons have you learned about the criminal justice system from this field experience? Explain fully.

Assignment Requirements
• 3–5 page essay.
• For essays, use MSWord, times new Roman, 12 pt font, double space, 1-inch margins.
• All essays must use college-level English, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
• All essays should be properly cited and referenced using the APA style.
• Put your name, course information, date, and assignment title on the document.
• Save as: CRJ1010 M4 Field Experience Project Essay FirstName LastName
• Upload to the M4 Assignment 1: Field Experience Project Essay Assignment Submission Folder.
Incorporate concepts from our eText and properly cite them using APA Style for referencing and in-text citations. Visit the Criminal Justice Subject Guide for more information on APA Style.