Introduction to Criminal Justice



Loras CollegeIntroduction to Criminal Justice Service Learning Paper Sarah Trump 12/6/2012Sarah Trump ? Ride Along with Dubuque Police Department (9-26-12, Officer Drew)? Dubuque Courtroom Observation (11-8-12, 8:30 am) ? Anamosa Prison Visit (10-09-12)Introduction I have become much more fascinated with the criminal justice system after completing the Introduction to Criminal Justice course. The three different observations that I completed during this course were true eye opening experience that gave me a different perspective of this field. Going into the course, I was nervous about how much out of class work there was to be done, but the involvement in the real world really made the course more interesting. To say the least, my police ride along taught me that the job of a police officer is more than getting young kids in trouble and more about keeping the community safe. When the police officers detect crime and send these criminals to prisons, such as Anamosa, the vision I had was much different than it actually was. Movies and television shows make prison out to be a much more dangerous place than it truly is. Finally, the court system made my perspective much more realistic. Watching shows such as Judge Judy, the court system seems harsh and biased, when in reality, the court system seemed to be fair and reasonable. The observation experiences have made this course much easier to understand because I saw the terms and concepts that I read from the textbook in action. It is much more interesting to see the system being carried out rather than just reading about it and memorizing it for a test. Not only were the out of class observations interesting, but a big part of my life is religion and understanding how the Catholic religion views the justice system was very intriguing. What I have learned in the class has captivated me to look more into the criminal justice profession and take more classes next semester. Body Journal Baseline Looking back at the very first assignment that I completed for this course, it is apparent that I have not had much experience with the criminal justice system. Thankfully, I have never been to court or prison. The only encounter that I have ever had with the criminal justice system is being pulled over by a police officer for speeding. The experiences that I have taken away from this course are unexplainable. It is hard to compare the service learning experiences to the baseline journal, because I did not know anything about these systems before I took this class. There is no comparison between the knowledge that I have gained from my out of classroom experiences and my previous understanding of the judicial system. The only information that I had on any of these systems was from what I understood from television shows. Since I knew very little about the prison system, I found this to be the most interesting. Before I took this class, I thought that inmates were locked up all the time, had very little rights and did not get along with the “mean guards”. This is a very common misconception given by the media. When I went to Anamosa State Penitentiary, I was intrigued to find out that the faculty and staff working in Anamosa were all there to help the inmates. Yes, the inmates are there for making the wrong choices or decisions, but the staff at Anamosa were not mean to them, they wanted to see the inmates succeed. I found it very impressive that the tour guide we had knew a cast majority of the inmates by name. This really proved to me that the staff at Anamosa cares about the well-being of the inmates. Education was very important for the inmates to have. In order to work the inmates need to get or have their GED. In my baseline reflection journal, I made the personal connection to the crime rate in my neighborhood and the police force. I never knew that police officers do as much as they do until I completed my police ride along with Officer Drew. Officer Drew opened my eyes to the real job of a police officer very quickly. From my initial perspective on the police field to now, my view has changed drastically because of the out of class experiences. In my baseline journal I wrote, “… but I do think that there is more that they could do. Instead of worrying about kids being loud in the park or walking around the streets, they should be more concerned with the drugs and violence in the area.” The common misconception that I had that police officers only wanted to get kids in trouble was quickly demolished within seconds of my police ride along. As I was waiting for Officer Drew in the lobby of the police station, a situation caught my attention that was between a mother and son. It was obvious that the mother was worried about her son’s deviant behavior, as I heard an exchange of words and yelling between them. The mother asked to have an officer talk to the boy about the options he had unless he fixed his attitude. Right then I realized police officers don’t want to see kids getting in trouble, but sometimes it is their only option to help the kids realize the rode they are headed down if they don’t want to listen. The misconception that I had before my ride along was quickly replaced with a connection that I thought of from the USCCB. USCCB, Service Learning, Presentations, Guest SpeakersThe USCCB explains that parents are their child’s main support system. To help prevent crime parents, friends, neighbors and the community are supposed to help guide and lead the youth down the right path and out of the crimes way. When the parents cannot keep their child out of trouble, or when the child does not want to listen to them going to the police is the next step. The police are more authoritative than parents are which makes children more likely to listen to a police officer than his or her parents. This is not because police are mean or want the child to get in trouble, they are there to ironically keep the child out of trouble and keep the community safe. Another connection I made to this connection to the USCCB statement was when Officer Drew and I pulled over a young lady for running a red light. At first my perspective on this was, “why do police officers really need to be so strict on things like this”. Before Officer Drew got out of the car, I asked him, “how do you not feel bad giving people tickets?” He said “because everyone knows what is right and what is wrong. It is a choice that this woman chose to make even though she knew it is against the law”. When Officer Drew got back in the car, after giving the women the ticket, he asked if I felt bad that he gave this woman a ticket. I said “yes, because one too many times I was in this woman’s position but only I was speeding not blowing through a red light”. He then looked at me and pointed out that the lady had two little kids, under the age of 4, in the backseat of the car. After putting that into perspective, I understood why he did not feel bad and why I should not either. That lady was lucky that she only got away with a ticket and did not get into a more serious situation like an accident for running that red light. Officer Drew said that she explained to him that she did not realize that she ran a red light which scares me more. In more situations then one, it seems to me that you need to look at more than the obvious in situations like this and police officers cannot have biases on personal experiences like I had. If it was not for this traffic stop, my perspective on policemen handing out tickets would be the same as before. Now, my perspective is much different on why police officers do what they do to carry out the laws. Like the situation with the young boy, police officers are always looking out for the safety of those that are put in danger. The USCCB states that “those who commit crimes violate the rights of others and disregard their responsibilities”. This young woman was held responsible for these two young children, and by running this red light she was violating the rights of these children by putting their lives at risk. The perspective that I agree with the most would have to be “we believe that the current trend of more prisons and more executions, with too little education and drug treatment, does not truly reflect Christian values and will not leave our communities safer.” I would agree with this perspective, because locking someone up in prison because they are addicted to drugs will not help them overcome his or her addiction when he or she gets out of prison. The reincarnation rate is extremely high for drug addicts. With that being said, wouldn’t it make more sense to put the drug addict into a rehabilitation program to help them turn their lives around? This would not only help the user with a better chance at succeeding after rehab, but it would also help the community by lowering the relapse rate of drug users returning to the community and the streets. Contrary to that, the perspective that I do not agree with, is a certain part of the perspective on Human Life and Dignity. It is hard for me to agree that “victims, too, must have the help of the faith community in recovering their dignity and … this includes, of course, the children of the incarcerated, who themselves are seriously harmed by their parents’ misdeeds.” I do not agree with this because most crimes that call for the punishment of incarceration are linked to serious offenses. These actions are most times selfish and tactless. The children should not have to be harmed more by seeing the consequence that his or her parent has chosen for themselves. Plus, what is that going to do for the father or mother, seeing the way that they have to parent their child from inside prison? This is only going to make it harder for the incarcerated parent knowing and seeing that they are missing out on so much of their child’s life. While on my police ride along, I asked Officer Drew what some of the biggest problems are that most people don’t know about because it is done so discretely? He responded solely with the word “drugs”. While driving around, Officer Drew also showed me the areas that the police are told to keep a special eye on because they are owned or used by drug dealers. One of the main drug problems in Dubuque in recent years is heroin. The police are aware of and have stopped some distribution of the drug, but Officer Drew said that the problem is getting out of hand. It is very important for the criminal justice system to keep these drugs off of the streets and out of homes because they are harmful to a person’s health. While I was at my video court observation Mr. Brewer was sentenced to 10 years for possession of cocaine with the intent to sell. For me the part of this case that made it so hard to believe was that Mr. Brewer was selling drugs from inside his house with 2 young children present. If it was not for the criminal justice system to lock Mr. Brewer up, these children could have been put into danger with drugs or grown up to sell drugs themselves. The service learning experiences have made it much easier to understand the course material. I am the type of learner that learns better by doing and seeing. Not only were we able to have classroom discussions and share stories about our experiences, but I found it interesting that not everyone had the same experiences. The feeling of not knowing what was going to happen or what to prepare for that night I jumped in a police car was unexplainable. This is something that I would not have been able to understand from just reading the textbook. The thrill and adrenaline rush that I had when we were speeding down highway 20 with the lights and sirens on to find a young lady who was driving on the wrong side of the street was a feeling that I would not have experienced if it was not for the opportunity to do a police ride along. The outside of the classroom visits that we took in this class made it easy to make connections to the book material, because I wanted to understand and make connections to what I was experiencing. While doing my double entry journals, I did find it difficult to find some of the terms that I heard and learned during my observation visits, but for the most part it was very interesting to find terms that connected to what I just personally experienced while at the visit. I thought that this was the best way to learn in this class. Even though it was very difficult to find time in my schedule, especially with soccer, to complete these out of class experiences, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I can honestly say that if the visits were not included in this course it would have been much harder to understand the definitions and concepts of the chapters. Even though it is an introductory class, the amount of terms and concepts that are important to know for the field of criminal justice seems to be very overwhelming. The visits made it much more real and the understanding of the criminal justice system in action is an eye opening experience. Not only were the observation experiences interesting, but the opportunity to listen to guest speakers from other areas that are incorporated with the criminal justice system was interesting as well. From the beginning, the guest speakers were very interesting. Bre’s story was one that I will never forget. Not only was the way she explained the dragged out court process interesting, but I found myself making connections back to the USCCB as well. Look back, the course seemed to all come together even from the beginning. The guest speakers did a great job of explaining exactly what he or she did in the field. Listening to the true stories that these jobs consist of painted a new picture in my head of the many important jobs that are often not heard about. For example, when the coroner of Winnebago County came to talk to the class, she was explaining the process of what they do when they arrive at the crime scene and how long this process takes also. The television makes it seem like they can figure out exactly what happened and who did it that same day. This is a common misconception that many people have because of television shows like CSI or Criminal Minds. Like I said before, television and the media make the criminal justice system seem so easy. These different perspectives that I now have from the guest speakers closely relate to the course material because of the definitions and concepts from the reading. Like I said before, it is much harder for me to read and memorize terms than it is to experience the situation for myself. After reading a chapter and being able to connect it to a guest speaker or out of class observation experience, it is much easier to remember down the road because it was a memorable experience.Overall, this course has really changed my perspective on the criminal justice system in so many ways. The experience I had at Anamosa State Penitentiary was one that I will always remember. My understanding for how the prison system works is completely different than what it was before I went. Not only was this perspective different, but thanks to television the way I thought the inmates were treated was also incorrect. I am so glad to finally see that the inmates are still treated with human rights and dignity, because they are all humans and deserve to be treated respectfully. Since my police ride along, I have recreated my once common misconception of the duties that the police officer does, to now understanding that the job of a police officer is to look of for the safety of the community. They are not mean, they are just stern. All of my stereotypes are gone and I now see how hard the job of a police officer really is. Finally, I cannot say that I understand the court system fully, because we were not there for very long, but I can say that I did learn a lot from the experience. Just hearing the way that the Judge talked to the offender, it made me realize that the court system is not harsh. The Judge made sure that the offender understood what was going on and was a part of the process. Last but not least, I would defiantly recommend this course to any student that wants a good understanding and wonderful experience of what the criminal justice system is like. This course not only made me into an active learner, but made me feel like a part of the community. Being an active learner in this class, was the best way to actually learn the concepts needed to be successful in this field. I cannot stress enough how much of an eye-opening experience the out of class experiences impacted my life and choice to continue studying criminal justice. ................
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