Criminal Justice Observation

The most surprising aspect of my internship was observing the distinct types of parolees I encountered. Despite everyone being on supervision, each case was unique. I remember learning the difference between situational and career criminals in an Introduction to Criminal Justice course. This difference was easy to see by definition, but is not highly noticeable in all probation cases. For example, there were individuals who constantly made it to their appointments, paid fees and never found themselves in trouble. Yet, there were also individuals who only reached out for help with certain situations that they could not solve on their own. Other individuals constantly needed help with a crisis or problem. There is nothing wrong with any type,

but it is a clear difference in how people respond to supervision. I observed how a few individuals would land in the middle, but the majority were on opposite sides of the spectrum. It seemed as if most high-risk offenders needed more attention than minimal-risk. Yet, minimal-risk women displayed a high need for constant reassurances, crisis and untreated trauma topics. For example, I observed JL in many different settings and situations.

Her case displayed how often the lives of parolees can fluctuate and, their agent is responsible for keeping up with them. JL was an older woman, battling an alcohol addiction and a participant in FDTC. She was trying very hard to deal with the addiction, while focusing on her daughter. She completed AODA, cognitive programs and was in residential treatment yet continued to struggle with sobriety. Over three months, her daughter was taken from her home custody at least twice. On the last day I attended drug court, JL was absconding and lost residential treatment placement that would allowed her daughter to stay with her. Agent Wood knew how much JL missed her daughter and wanted them to be together. Despite the programs offered, she has unable to stay on the straight and narrow. This internship provided a vast amount of knowledge on what to expect from a career in this field. Working with Agent Wood was an eye-opening experience because our interests were quite similar. I observed her approach (and others’) up close and personal. I applaud her on how she managed everyone after building relationships with some, yet unable to communicate with

others. It was a way to see a genuine approach to someone with a lot of experience in the field and with a certain population. She knew her population, and she encouraged therapy, support groups and cognitive homework. I believe this was an efficient approach for those who worked b well with it. Although, there were some cases where individuals found themselves unable to get their paths on the straight and narrow.

This experience allowed me to interact with the population I’d prefer to work with in the future. On the other hand, I learned that I will have to get used to working longer, faster-paced days because I am used to following a set schedule. There were many instances when Agent Wood had to quickly change focus to others tasks because the job requires it. Another benefit was learning firsthand knowledge of the documents, procedures and responsibilities of an agent. There is more paperwork in this job than I could have imagined. For example, I was instructed to do a criminal history. CP had a criminal history that started in her juvenile years until age 50. There were some years where she had police contact multiple times in one year. I spent over an hour working on her criminal history of one person. I was required to find incident date, arresting agency, charge literal, charge number, disposition, sentencing date and sentence for each arrest recorded. It was more difficult than I expected. Some women were arrested four times, but CP had around 15 arrests to provide details

on. Moreover, she had a large file to correlate an extensive arrest record. Also, I was fortunate enough to observe someone completing the DOC documents. Some of the paperwork was more tedious than others but it is always important to make sure it is correct. I witnessed paperwork submitted by Agent Wood, approved by Supervisor Clemmons then sent back from regionals for one error.