University of Delaware
Department of Sociology and Criminal
Justice
Syllabus – Fall, 2005
Field Experience In Criminal Justice
Dr. David B. Gulick
dgulick@udel.edu
http://www.udel.edu/CRJU/dgulick
Introduction
Field Experience provides advanced, career-minded, Criminal Justice
students an opportunity to apply their education and training in a supervised
professional setting. Many criminal justice professionals trace the roots of
their careers to experiences gained from courses like this. Students work in
environments where daily decisions are made that directly influence many
peoples' lives. They observe diverse professional styles and develop insights
into how to develop their own skills as criminal justice professionals. They
experience the rewards and frustrations integral to careers in the field.
In addition to providing a forum for
professional development, the course stresses the importance of sharing
experiences and insights with peers. Professionals do not develop in isolation.
The ability to function as a "team player" - a skill critically
important to successful careers throughout the field of criminal justice - is
developed through the process of communication. Therefore, students enrolled in
the course will post a journal of their professional activities using the
discussion forum on Webct. This will facilitate each student's
ability to benefit from others' observations and experiences. The insights and
experiences that are shared combine with knowledge developed through study and
experience and help prepare motivated students make informed career choices.
Printed copies (printed and archived by the instructor)
journals will also benefit students at the beginning of their academic careers
(Those registered for CRJU110- Introduction to Criminal Justice) by providing a
forum for gaining first-hand knowledge about careers in the field.
Course Requirements:
- Students registered for Field Experience will
meet as a class once at the beginning of the semester, and once at the
end. Dates and locations of the meetings will be announced. Additional
meetings with individual students may be necessary.
- Students are expected to prepare themselves for the course by
reviewing their Research Methods course (SOCI 301), concentrating on field
research and participant-observer techniques. Field
Experience is essentially an exercise in field
research directed toward answering the following research
questions:
- What is the primary purpose
of the agency?
- What is the formal and informal structure
of the agency?
- What identifiable activities
are routinely carried out by agency members?
- What relationships exist
between the agency and other components of the criminal justice system?
- What career opportunities
are available?
- What are the primary issues
facing the agency?
Students are additionally expected to have a thorough
understanding of the primary tool of the field researcher, the field
journal. This is the hand written set of notes taken in the field
used as reminders when preparing
professional journal entries. Informal field notes are to be made available to
the instructor upon request.
Students
having not yet taken SOCI 301 Introduction To Social Research may
contact the instructor for supplementary readings.
- Students registering for Field Experience must
meet with the instructor prior to the beginning of the semester and select
a placement that satisfies (1) the interests of the individual, (2) the needs
of the receiving agency, and (3) university policy. Many students choose
to develop their own placements through networks they have developed on
their own. Others, after filling in an application form and being
interviewed by the instructor, are placed in a variety of criminal justice
settings in Delaware and surrounding areas.
- Applicants for Field Experience must be
prepared to work as assigned 10-12 hrs. per week in the receiving agency.
In return for the time and effort agency representatives devote to your
educational experience, they can reasonably expect students to complete
assigned tasks properly and in a timely manner. The receiving agency, as
well as the student, should benefit from the Field Experience.
- It is assumed that applicants are prepared to present
themselves as professionals. As representatives of the University of
Delaware, students will dress appropriately, demonstrate enthusiasm for
their work, and meet all professional standards defined by the receiving
agency. The initial meeting with the instructor should be viewed not as an
instructor-student meeting, but as a pre-employment interview.
- Students must be prepared to communicate with the class and
instructors on a regular basis through WebCt. The instructor will check
postings from the class at least every other day and will respond with
periodic comments. Students unable
to access their WebCt accounts regularly do not meet the basic
requirements for taking the course.
- A weekly journal of work experience will be maintained and
shared with others in the class as well as students enrolled in CRJU110
(see below).
- Students are expected to prepare for Field Experience
by reviewing course materials and other academic resources relating to the
type of agency where they will be working. Taking an active, informed
part in agency discussions is an important element of the Field
Experience. Should issues arise that suggest a need for outside
information, the student should always be in a position to
offer help in locating resources. Few criminal justice agencies have the
levels of access to information that are often taken for granted at a
research university. The ability to locate and retrieve professional
information is perhaps the primary skill university graduates have to
offer agencies.
Course Journals:
Many successful professionals agree that developing the
skills and discipline needed to maintain a professional journal is one of the
primary keys to success. Records of events you experience over the years will become
valuable personal and professional resources as your career progresses.
Additionally, professional journals are essential tools for communicating and
sharing information and experiences with peers. As our technical ability to
disseminate information becomes increasingly accessible through the internet ,
developing the art of maintaining a journal becomes even more critical.
Professionals communicating through Usenet groups and LISTSERV lists rarely
have time to compose while on-line, especially when the point they are making
has been discussed before. Their postings often consist of "cut and
paste" thoughts from other sources, including personal journals.
Journals
developed for this course are expected to reflect the student's best
efforts (You are writing for a career, not
a simply grade). Journals must contain more than simply a
chronology of tasks performed. They are to represent a legitimate field
research project addressing the questions listed
above.
General Suggestions for Maintaining a Course Journal
No two people have the exact same style for maintaining a
professional journal. Some journals are highly structured, well organized
diaries. Others are more like the electronic counterpart of a shoe box
overflowing with notes, receipts, reminders, etc. The more organized the
journal, the more accessible and useful the contained information will be. The
following suggestions may be of help for getting started:
- Maintain the participant-observer mind set. You
are not a full working member of the agency (Though, of course, you are
expected to complete tasks as assigned). Nor are you a student in the
conventional sense. You are a researcher with the specific goal of
understanding agency dynamics and communicating your findings to others.
- Maintain a pocket notepad for field notes while at work.
Quick notations made during the work day will refresh memories for later
reflection and writing. Many find it helpful to develop a "coding
system" for jotting down field notes quickly.
- When at a loss for a starting point for describing a day's
activities, try going back to the basic what-when-where-who-why
format. Professional journalists do it every day. Your goal is to record,
understand, and communicate the day's activities. If these questions are
answered, your entry is probably complete.
- Include as many professional and legal
terms and concepts as possible in your writing. In the future you may
want to search your documents using these key words to remind you
of concepts and events.
- Never use actual client names in your course journal. You have a professional, ethical, and legal
obligation not to expose the names of any individual unless permission
is granted to do so. If an incident, no matter how interesting, cannot be
described without identifying individuals, it must be excluded from your
journal.
- Write journal entries every day in at least a rough format.
Though many people wait for a convenient time (about twice per week) to
organize and re-write rough notes, thoughts and impressions must be recorded
often. Memories fade fast.
- As a professional courtesy, plan to give a copy of your
journal to the agency where you worked. Many criminal justice
professionals enjoy working with students and are interested in your
impressions of life within their agency. You do not need to refrain from
well thought out and professionally structured criticism. Experienced
criminal justice professional are rarely "thin-skinned."
Remember, however, they are your hosts and you are guests. Be
professional.
- Daily journal entries are often not written in paragraph
format. People develop their own styles and codes as aids for later
reconstruction of thoughts and experiences. The objective is to develop a
format that you can use each day to record facts and
impressions with enough detail to allow for accurate reconstruction when
needed. You should review recent entries daily and reflect on their
content. By the end of the week, as you prepare to post your journal,
organizing your thoughts into a few concise pages will not be a chore.
- When the semester is completed, you should write an Introduction
and Conclusion to the final draft of your journal and
print a copy for your records.
- When making a journal entry, always keep in mind that you and
other professionals will be reading it in the future. Do not
make entries such as "..we really didn't have anything to do
today." If you are not busy, make the free time an
"opportunity" to explore some new aspect of the position.
Text
Henry, Stewart. Inside
Jobs: A Realistic Guide to Criminal Justice Careers for College Graduates.
Salem, Wisconsin. Sheffield Publishing Company, 1994. (Not required - You may
use the copy in the CJ office).
The
text should be briefly scanned throughout. It provides some excellent
information about criminal justice careers and will provide a valuable resource
as you explore career options. You will want, however, to read the articles
directly relating to your Field Experience in detail. Your first journal
entry, after introducing yourself, should be based on your expectations
developed from reading about the jobs you are being placed in. The
conclusion section of your journal should include a critique of your experience
as it compares to your expectations.
Course Evaluations:
The overall value of your Field
Experience has three elements; (1) the value of the course to the student, as
measured by course evaluations; (2) the value of your contribution to the
agency, as reported to the instructors; and (3) the quality of the course
journal. Course grades will be awarded on a pass-fail basis. This
grading system was established to allow students to focus energies normally
spent preparing for exams and writing term papers on learning about, and
contributing to, their assigned agencies. It does not suggest a
willingness to accept less than excellence in performance. A passing grade
represents:
- A course journal, published at least weekly to the class, of
a high enough quality (e.g., more than simply a record of
activities) to be cited in a future letter of recommendation;
- An agreement between the instructor and agency representative
that a student's performance met the standards of excellence expected of
graduating University of Delaware students.
Many graduating
criminal justice students have discussed how much they enjoyed and profited
from their Field Experience. You should look forward to enjoying
what is probably your first exposure to the criminal justice profession. Be
cautioned, however, this course does not tolerate mediocrity. If for any reason
you are not prepared to function as a criminal justice professional and as a
representative of the University, please wait for a more appropriate time to
register for Field Experience.