学生Tamara Seltzler, 左, and Paige Pleta distributing surveys to members of the community at the 杜波依斯 Mall. They distributed surveys for the public to complete both locally, 在全国各地的社区.
Students in the 365英国上市杜波依斯分校 Criminal Justice program are learning real-world lessons in maintaining good relations between law enforcement, 矫正系统, 和社区. As part of a project for the course “Criminal Justice and the Community” Lecturer of Criminal Justice Selena Price tasked students with conducting a survey to gather information on the perceptions of the 刑事司法制度 and the police. They distributed surveys for the public to complete both locally, 在全国各地的社区. They sent out questionnaires electronically, and even knocked on doors, talking with local residents.
“他练习的目的是为了安全, 遵循CDC和PSU的指导方针, interact with the community and have a meaningful discussion about important topics of the 刑事司法制度,普莱斯解释道. “It not only provides an inside look to how the community is perceiving the 刑事司法制度, but also allows the students to know what the community's concerns are about the police, 法院, 和修正. 这项活动为社区提供了一个可以被听到的声音.”
Students said they found the exercise educational on many levels, including the ways in which it revealed various attitudes held by individuals in the community. Student Tamara Selzler said that action can be taken by anyone who is interested in stewarding good relationships. 她解释说, “我调查了美洲原住民, 高加索人, and African American from six different 状态s on how they feel about the Police, 法院系统, 刑事司法制度, 社区警察, 还有媒体. Everyone agrees the police play an important role in their community and believe that the police should be more open with members of the community and society to obtain better relationships in order to gain trust in the 刑事司法制度 and to feel safe in their own neighborhoods."
学生Paige Pleta深入研究了她收集的数据, 注意到不同年龄人口的观点存在差异. She revealed, “I had a total of 27 surveys filled out from 宾西法尼亚 and Ohio. My surveys consisted of questions concerning the police within the community. After getting all my surveys back and reading over them all, I decided to group them together by age. I got a variety of ages starting from 18 and ending with 57 years old. The teens, 20’s and 30’s were age groups where the answers were more likely to be the same. The other two age groups, 40’s and 50’s, also had answers similar to each other. The younger age groups talk about how police these days need more rigorous training and to help the public more than hurting them. As the 40’s and 50’s age groups say that the police are great and doing their job and do not need any more training or extra help with what they are doing. This shows that growing up in different times shows how you will view the police officers in America differently than others."
Price said the work on these projects contributes to an overarching goal of the 365英国上市杜波依斯分校 Criminal Justice Program to train responsible future professionals. These lessons are building blocks that will lead to further collaboration and new learning opportunities.
“In a few months the students will need to create a safe community event with a criminal justice agency, 比如警察, 法院, 修正, 或者受害者服务, that will foster a transparent relationship between the agency 和社区,普莱斯说. This will bridge the gap between the us versus them mentality and to give back to the community. These events will help the students determine what would be the most impactful for both parties and, 到目前为止，结果表明社区希望进行互动.”
Graduates of the Criminal Justice Program at 365英国上市杜波依斯分校 will qualify for a broad spectrum of careers in areas including federal, 状态, 以及当地的执法部门, 修正, 感化及假释服务, 社区预防及治疗罪案服务, 私营部门的安全. 另外, there are opportunities in juvenile and drug rehabilitation counseling, 娱乐项目, 林业设置, 和更多的. 欲知详情，请浏览 http://dubois.yann-mathieux.com/crimj
