Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
Introduction
“If we want to keep crime coming down, we need to instill trust in our criminal justice
system.” (Bill Clinton) This simple quote is something that I feel can be connected to every
aspect of Introduction to Criminal Justice. Throughout the experiences of prison visits, guest
speakers, and the textbook I feel it is safe to say I have faith in the criminal justice system and
how it is being represented in today’s society. Coming into this class I had a fairly good
understanding of the criminal justice system. The knowledge obtained during this semester and
the understanding of different learning theories and personal experiences helped shape my idea
and interpretation of what and how the CJ system is. I have made connections to my everyday
life and to my past experiences, but that was not without the help of the USCCB, guest speakers,
observations, and the different class presentations. Out of everything that was taught and
discussed in this class I feel that the most influential and most effective experience I had was my
presentation on the movie “Inside Job”. It was the one assignment that brought everything that I
have experienced in this class together.
Journal Baseline
In going back to what I have done from the beginning of the course until now my ideas
have been essentially the same. The main point in my mind that I can make a direct link to my
journal baseline is when I visited court in Rochester, Minnesota. When the first person went up
to the judge and the judge asked what day the crimes were committed. It was January of this
year. This goes back to what I said in my journal baseline, the court system takes too long to get
through cases. This one person had to wait over nine months to get in front of a judge for the first
time. Aside from the amount of time that it takes for someone to get in front of a judge, I think
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
the system is put together very well. Essentially what I thought about the criminal justice system
before, compared to what I now know, there is really no change at all.
The experience that I enjoyed and gave me the awareness of the effectiveness in the
criminal justice system was the prison visit to Anamosa. I did not have much in my journal
baseline about the prisons or how I thought they were a good or bad thing for inmates. When it
comes down to it, I feel prisons are a good place for people to make some real changes in their
lives. The most important observation I made was the work environment and the prisons work
programs offered. This made me believe even more in the system then I did before; I saw people
who looked like they have never had a real job before and now they were enjoying doing work
and these jobs were able to keep them out of trouble.
The one real concern I had with the prison system, and the one that we hear the
most about, is overcrowding and how it is always a big problem. When I went on my two prison
visits this year, overcrowding did not seem like a problem. What the real problem looked to be
not having enough people working in the prison. If you do not have enough people working in
the prison, then how are you supposed to be able to make sure that no problems occur? Along
with not having enough people to properly staff the prisons, I think there are not enough
programs for inmates and that rehabilitation programs should be something everyone should go
through, whether they want to or not.. Rehabilitation is necessary for everyone to attempt. They
have to be aware that they can change and that if they work hard at something they can
accomplish their goals and operate in everyday society.
When doing my law enforcement observation I chose to go the non-traditional way of
going to a place where I used to work and asking the Loss Prevention Manager if I could do an
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
observation. This observation allowed me to see a different side of law enforcement. Brain, the
Loss Prevention Manager, was able to take me through his daily process. This mostly consisted
of watching people and observing what they were doing. The first thing that he said to me was
that I would be surprised at the different types of people that get caught shoplifting or
committing theft, and how it can range from teenagers to people in their 70’s. In connection with
what I wrote at the beginning of the year for my baseline journal, I do feel it is hard for the
individual to make a significant impact in the store. Instead of being a police officer and being
out and interacting with people, he sits inside a room and watches people. As a former employee
of Shopko, it was expected of us to help prevent theft from happening by being friendly and
asking the customers questions.
USCCB, Service Learning, Presentation, Guest Speakers
When looking back on the Catholic bishops statement and choosing which teaching were
used in Intro to Criminal Justice, the one that I thought had the most vast impact on my thinking
and interpretation of the criminal justice system, was one paragraph that compiled all the ideals
learned in this class.
“Crime and corrections are at the intersection of rights and responsibilities. Those who
commit crimes violate the rights of others and disregard their responsibilities. But the test for the
rest of us is whether we will exercise our responsibility to hold the offender accountable without
violating his or her basic rights. Even offenders should be treated with respect and rights”
(USCCB)
How this USCCB statement helped me expand my thinking as a student and as a future
employee of the CJ system is by challenging me to help people who have given up those rights
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
and responsibilities. Helping people become reintegrated back into society should be a key goal
of Criminal Justice majors. This way you are able to show you can help people and that through
proper action and treatment anyone can be brought back to be a normal functioning person of
society. The crucial part of this statement I feel is “we will exercise our responsibilities to hold
the offender accountable without violating his or her basic rights.” (USCCB) The reason that I
feel strongly about this statement is because you want to hold the person accountable but you
cannot do it in a way that is going to break down their human dignity or their basic rights.
There was one other reading that played a unique role in my development as a CJ major.
“ Parents have a critical and irreplaceable role as primary guardians and guides of their
children.”(USCCB) Through my family life and my life in college and becoming a CJ major my
family has always been there and will always be there. If there were more families that
functioned in the manner of supporting each other and learning from each other than I feel crime
would be reduced.
In my Juvenile Delinquency class I have been exposed to some of the counterproductive
families which have not helped their younger children make the right or best choices. I feel those
readings and interactions helped me to take on the ideas that I have about the criminal justice
system, and helped me to think critically about how people should be helped. These types of
programs and support systems need to offered to help criminals become reintegrated back into
society.
Connections to USCCB
The USCCB does have some real strengths but I feel that it does also have some pretty
big weaknesses. The main strong point I feel is “Promoting serious efforts toward crime
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
prevention and poverty reduction.” (USCCB) I feel strongly about this section because based on
what I have learned in various CJ classes, there is a strong correlation between the social classes
and the amount of criminal activity in which they engage. A reason for this is given in the
reading, “ Extreme poverty, discrimination and racism” are believed to be the key factors if a
person of a younger age is going to engage in crime. In connecting this with another class
(Juvenile Delinquency), it is easy to see that these are the main factors and the people affected by
these socio-economic factors are the ones in need of guidance in order to prevent crime from
happening.
Along with what is stated above, I have a strong connection with changing laws
such as “three strikes and you are out.” The USCCB states that this “One-size-fits-all solutions
are often inadequate.” This is in correlation with what we learned in class and about aging out of
crime. By the time someone has committed their third offense they aging out of crime (usually
around 23-25 years old). You are not doing the person any good if you are going to lock them up
and throw away the key. What I feel needs to be done is to have each case looked on a case by
case basis. There has to be a combination of factors going into sentencing someone to prison for
a large amount of time, not just the number of offenses that they have. One of the reason that the
USCCB gives that I agree with is that “placing children in an adult jail is not a solution, it is a
failure”(USCCB) When you are having children being charged as adults you are not fixing a
problem, you are adding to a problem that can become unfixable. If people spend time and try to
rehabilitate the inmates and if the inmates want to change, then you are going to have far greater
success then letting someone rot in prison until they get released, they will probably just commit
more crimes.
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
There is second main point that is brought up in the USCCB that I disagree with
completely. “ Offering victims the opportunity to participate more fully in the criminal justice
system”, I disagree with this and one of the statements in this section, which is that victims are
not getting the satisfaction of having their offender be punished, or held accountable. I disagree
with both of these because if you are a victim and if you go through the court process and the
prosecution of the offender it can be hard for the victim to see the offender at all and it can cause
more of a strain on the victim emotionally. Another reason is that having someone of a young
age getting involved in the criminal justice system can be more overwhelming and could just add
more stress to someone life than is needed. I do however see that there is a lack of closure
involved in this but I feel if you go through everything and come away with nothing that keeping
trying to find help in the CJ system that you come out more stressed then you went in.
Importance of CJ system and sociological influences
The CJ system will always be a love hate relationship with people. You can start off by
loving them for getting drugs off the street and arresting the “bad guy”, but when something
happens to you such as a speeding ticket, they suddenly become the bad guy. There are a vast
variety of influences that go into people’s mind when thinking about the CJ system. They all
start off when you are a little, your family will help mold you into the person you are going to
become, and criminal justice is no different. If you have bad experiences with cops when you’re
younger more than likely you are going to think negatively of them when you are older, and the
opposite of that can also be said.
As people get older they start to go to school and there are police officers that will
come to the schools and talk about different drug prevention programs such as DARE. These
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
instances will once again help you reform what you think about the CJ system. Skipping ahead to
a college students perspective and how it can change by doing different observations with
different aspects of the CJ system. Coming into the class I thought pretty highly of all parts of
the CJ system, I felt especially good about the police for and community policing. It could be
because I was from a neighborhood that was more sheltered and we did not have many problem
at all. Or it could just be that I did not notice them. When doing my observation at Shopko I was
able to see a different side of law enforcement than most other people, there was very little
interaction with people. And you always had to give people the benefit of the doubt in situations.
But there were also times that you had to profile people. This is where people can get the idea
that they are being watched in a store just because they are a different race or ethnicity, which
would create a negative sociological influence of law enforcement ant the CJ system.
In the court observation I was able to see how many of the different sociological
influences that were at play. I was able to gain the most knowledge of what people thought of the
system based off of their reactions. Many of the people in the court you could tell were not use to
it and they did not have a very good education, but there were individuals were you could tell
had a good job and were put together. Some individuals were in court for what I thought was a
pretty big offense and they would just get off with fines, in that kind of instance you could tell
that these people were happy with the CJ system and that they were able to catch a break this
time so they might not go back to doing whatever it was they were doing.
When getting into the prison system and the reflection I wrote, it was hard to make
connections to their sociological influences at first, but overall now I believe that they have the
highest effect on individuals, as long as they are willing to change. If a person is in prison they
have essentially no rights. Thus they have time to think about their different actions and the way
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
that they can change what they did and the ways they can change what they think about the CJ
system. When talking to the inmates they one thing they said is that it was dumb what they did
and they wish they could go back and change everything. Obviously they cannot change what
they did but they can change the way they think when they think and go about life because of
what happened to them.
The Influences that the CJ system has are around all of us every day. Weather that
are good or bad is up to the people who have the experiences and how they interpret what they
see in the media, and in person. The real negative is when you see a law enforcement do
something negative, those are the times that stick with you. Rather than the moments when they
are a good force in society and prevent and protect people from harm.
Service Learning
The service learning experiences that I had compared very well with what we covered in
class. The courts observation that I did I felt compared the most with Chapter 7 which was
Courts and The Quest for Justice. That could be related to the face that I did two court
observations and how I got to see how things were handled and the different types of courts that
were covered in the chapter. This also helps with the how I have taken Chris Corken’s class on
criminal law before. So I had sort of sneak peak to what the chapter was going to be about before
even getting into it.
The connection that I was able to make the strongest with was my observation at Shopko
with the loss prevention manager. Since I brought the book along with me because I figured that
we would not be doing that much as it was because he had a pretty boring job. I asked him to
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
pick out three chapters and he thought were most important just to what he was doing. He chose,
Measuring and Explaining Crime, Challenges to Effective Policing, and Juvenile Justice.
In measuring and explaining crime there was a lot of talk about the different theories that
were linked to crime, and in the people that he had caught he could tell that some of them did
have different internal and external factors that could explain why they did what they did. Thus it
helped make this service learning experience the most meaningful and the most fun that I have
had.
All of my service learning experiences were able to help my learning drastically. Because
I was able to get out into the CJ system and see what it was like I was able to get the real hands
on approach. Asking question and getting detailed answers from people that have experienced
everything that I want to eventually experience, these opportunities are just like getting job
training, except you do not look dumb for asking a lot of questions. All of the experiences that I
had matched up with the course material, there were times in reading the textbook that I could
pick out different things that were talked about on the prison visit, the court observation, and my
law enforcement observation. The one thing that I remember most about these experiences is in
the courtroom where the judge actually referred to the wedding cake model, and how the
different levels that are associated with it.
Perspectives and experiences
One of the reoccurring themes that I noticed in the presentations and with the guest
speakers is that you cannot take your work home with you. There has to be a separation between
the two. You have to come to the understanding that if you take your work home with you it will
be more of a burden on you and on your family. The two police officers that came into the class
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
and talked with us mention that if they have a problem with things they have seen while on the
job they can talk to each other or taking to a counselor so that they can have that person to let
everything out to. This is also something that I noticed with the County Corner also, she is
around death all the time and it can be a hard thing to deal with but you have to still keep the
separation between the two.
In working on my groups presentation I came across the idea and the notion that you
never see anyone in a business suit with a nice job in jail or in prison, and if you do see them
they are not in the system for very long. I made the connection to chapter 9 on punishments and
sentencing. In most white collar cases usually a person will to jail or prison for an extended
period of time and they will pay a fine. However in the movie “Inside Job” no one when to
prison, and not a single person was charged with a criminal offense. The only things that really
happened to them was that the companies which they worked for had to pay fines. The practices
that these companies were practicing were making their employee an impossible amount of
money compared to your everyday person. The one thing that never really happened that I think
people wanted to see was to see someone actually go through the court system and let a jury
deiced if they were guilty or not.
Every presentation that was given and in every service learning opportunity we had it was
easy to make connections to the different learning theories that were covered in class. The
theories covered the most I think were cultural deviance and social disorganization. Seeing has
these are kind of one in the same they fit well together. For cultural deviance it is all about the
environment that you grow up in. for instance gangs, and social disorganization theory deals with
lower level neighborhoods mostly and how they foster criminal activity.
Rochester, MN- Courtroom observation- 10-19-2012
ShopKo-Dubuque Iowa- Law enforcement Observation – 11- 26-2012
Prison Visit- Anamosa
Conclusion
There are flaws in the criminal justice system, but only because there are flaws in people.
Yes there are parts of the system that work perfectly together. The people that work in the
Criminal Justice system have probably one of the hardest jobs in the world to do. Yet they get up
and do it every day because it is something that they love. They know that there are flaws in the
system also and that there needs to be more opportunities for inmates and criminals to get help,
to learn life skills, to be normal everyday people. The real problem is that there is not enough
money to fun all of these programs. Criminals are people to and they deserve to be treated has
people. I am sure there are people who have friends that are criminals or have done something in
their lives that could result in a criminal record yet no one thinks bad about them. What it all
comes down to is you have to let people choose for themselves and to learn from their mistakes
and the people in the criminal justice system have to be there to help them in this learning
process. Anyone can get involved in this process, all you need to do is ask and become an active
citizen in the community. For instance you can go to the police station and ask to do a ride along,
even if you are not a criminal justice major you should go just for the experience. People have to
understand that working in the CJ system is by no means easy.