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Criminal Justice Internships - Theory Into Practice

NCJ Number
93538
Author(s)
G R Gordon; R B McBride
Date Published
1984
Length
95 pages
Annotation
Written for criminal justice students involved in experiential education, this work discusses preinternship considerations, professional concerns, the role of the organization, and academic concern and assessment.
Abstract
Guidance is provided on how to obtain a criminal justice internship, with attention to some common issues faced by all internship students. Included are discussions of resume writing and conduct at an interview. The discussion of setting goals and developing educational objectives emphasizes setting learning goals before arriving at the agency, with attention to knowledge acquisition, performance assessment, personal strengths, and professional development. One section addresses some major professional concerns that can arise during an internship. Critical issues discussed include role conflict, social isolation, and dealing with new people. A chapter devoted to the use of supervision covers the supervisory roles of the faculty supervisor and the agency supervisor as well as peer support, and attention is also given to ethics and morality in practice. Chapters dealing with the role of the internship agency explore adaptation to the formal and informal structure of the agency; ways in which the daily operations of the agency and its personnel are affected by political, economic, and legal factors; and agency effectiveness and its relationships to the overall criminal justice system. The concluding section on academic concerns and assessment deals with the methodology for obtaining data and documenting the internship experience. Figures, 32 references, and a subject index are provided.