CRJU4850
CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERNSHIP
Course Syllabus
Weekly reports: Be sure to mail off your weekly reports in a timely manner. Be sure to fill them out completely, including return address and telephone numbers of your superior.
Visitations: Either I or Dr. Paterline may arrange a visitation to your job site sometime during the summer. Arrangements will be made with you prior to the visit.
Graded material: You have to hand in three items after the completion of your internship;
1. The typed answers to the chapter questions
2. The 20 page capstone paper (minimum of 5 pages per section) The electronic copy of your internship paper must be submitted as a single electronic file entitled "paper".
3. A general daily log of your thoughts and experiences.
* Numbers 1 and 2 are to be turned in as a hard copy and a copy on a 3.5" or zipdisk. All authored material will be run through an electronic plagiarism program. All cases of plagiarism will be dealt with severely.
Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to sumission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use posted on the Turnitin.com site.
Grading: If you want a regular grade for the course you must have all material turned into Dr. Downing the deadlines posted below. This includes a job performance evaluation by your superior. If the material is not turned in, you will receive an "I" for the course which will be removed when all the material is turned in. It usually takes at least one week to process a change of grade request. Keep this in mind if you want your internship grade on your transcript for a military packet.
Internship Policy
The Department of Political Science/Criminal Justice believes that all students who apply for an internship must be personally and psychologically equipped, as well as academically prepared for the experience. Interns are representatives of North Georgia College & State University, and therefore, must have a strong personal character consisting of maturity, integrity and high ethical standards. A student may be denied entry to an internship by the Department, if the student, based on the professional judgment of the criminal justice faculty, has a questionable character or has exhibited behavior that indicates erratic, unpredictable or unsuitable conduct, including but not limited to:
-Known Honor Code or Academic Integrity Violations
-Frequent Tardiness
-Rudeness
-Erratic Behavior
-Known Alcohol and Drug Problems
-Known Criminal History
-Psychological Instability
-Poor Academic Performance
-Deceitful Behavior and/or Lying
This policy is based on the premise that criminal justice faculty should be a part of the evaluation of a student’s ability to function adequately and safely in a criminal justice setting and that the faculty have a right and responsibility to make such judgment prior to placing a student in an internship.
The internship coordinator has the authority to withdraw a student from an internship if a student’s performance constitutes a detriment to other personnel at the internship site or if the student behaves in a nonprofessional manner during his or her internship.
Information and documentation related to the withdrawal may be based on the direct knowledge of the internship coordinator or from information forwarded to the coordinator by the internship agency.
A student may appeal an internship denial or withdrawal by requesting that an appeals committee hear their case. The appeals committee will consist of two criminal justice or political science faculty members who are not intern coordinators and one faculty from another academic department. The student may appeal his or her case a second time by presenting the case to the Dean of the School of Business and Government.
A student who is denied an internship may be allowed to fulfill his or her graduation requirements by taking an equivalent number of academic courses as specified by their Academic Advisor and the Department Head. Courses will be selected that enable the student to meet the program's goals including completion of a capstone paper project.
Students are required to have a GPA of 2.0 in order to apply for an internship.
Course Requirements
The internship is an important part of your criminal justice education. It allows you the opportunity to view the realities of the system in operation and how it melds with the models discussed in your class work. It also gives you and the employing agency a chance to review each other for post graduation employment. A large number of our students are offered jobs by their internship agency. For these reasons it is important to choose your internship agency very carefully.
You should begin to plan your internship at least two months in advance. Some agencies, such as the GBI, require earlier preparation. Internships can only be performed during the Spring and Summer semesters. The summer is usually the optimum semester for two reasons. First, many agencies only make provisions for internships in the summer and second, CJ courses are offered once a year, if you get out of the sequence it could delay your graduation.
Before performing your internship you must have completed a minimum of 18 hours of criminal justice classes (6), thus the summer between your junior and senior year is normally the first eligible period. Students on military contract (attending advance camp) are allowed to break up their internship into two periods over the summer, as long as the intern agency agrees.
There are FOUR requirements aside from your work duties that must be turned in before a grade will be issued:
1. A daily log of your work duties, hours, experiences and thoughts for each day.
2. At the end of each chapter of your text book are a number of questions or projects. You are to TYPE out the
answers to all of these questions and turn in a hard copy and a copy on a 3.5" disk.
3. Each intern is required to mail a weekly report form to Dr. Downing (or other designated faculty member).
4. A capstone paper at least 20 pages in length, excluding the bibliography. Turn in a hard copy and a copy on a 3.5" disk.
The paper must be turned in as a single electronic file titled "paper".
The following is an outline of the specific step-by-step procedure for fulfilling your internship requirements.
1. Purchase the textbook required for this course; Criminal Justice Internships by Gordon and McBride (4th ed.). Besides providing questions for your paper, the text serves as an excellent resource. The first few chapters should be gone over prior to going on to step two. They will help you in preparing to contact the agencies.
2. Determine the agency you would like to intern with and clear the agency with Dr. Downing. Some agencies have been deemed inappropriate and are not eligible for internships. After approving the agency Dr. Downing will give you a contact name and telephone number for the agency, if available. Contact the agency you are considering for placement. Determine if they have any openings, the number of work hours they will require, if any payment is available and if any potential problems can be worked out. i.e. unable to work weekends or the need to split up your work schedule. Be honest with the agency and address any problems up front.
3. If the agency has an opening and is interested in you, complete a contract request form and give it to Dr. Downing. A letter detailing the internship requirements and formal agreement contracts will be sent as soon as possible. No more than 3 letters will be sent out.
4. Approximately two weeks later (after the letter and contracts have arrived) contact the agency again to determine if they are still interested. If you and the agency reach an agreement regarding work assignments, have them fill out the appropriate agreement contract and return it to Dr. Downing.
5. Make an appointment with Dr. Downing in order to review your internship and obtain copies of the weekly report forms.
6. Prior to the beginning of your work assignment attend a general internship meeting for all interns. This will usually be held during finals week of the semester prior to the quarter you will work.
7. Begin the 320 hours (minimum) of work assignments keeping a daily log of your activities and hours. Be sure to mail your weekly reports.
8. Dr. Downing or Dr. Paterline may conduct a personal interview with your supervisor and fill out a midterm evaluation on your performance.
9. After completing your work assignment have your employer return your final evaluation. Then make an appointment with Dr. Downing to turn in your log and the typed answers to the textbook questions. DO NOT leave them in a mailbox or with a secretary. At this time Dr. Downing will go over your experiences and review any problems.
10. Only after all of the above steps have been completed will a grade be issued for the course. Your grade will be calculated as follows: 50% Job performance, 15% Job log (including weekly reports), 20% capstone paper and 15% answers to chapter questions. I want to emphasize that this course is worth l2 hours of academic credit, so a considerable amount of effort will be expected in completing your academic work. It is not something that you could knock out the night before turning it in.
SPECIAL NOTES
1. Some employers will require more than 320 hours of work. Be sure to agree to a set number of hours prior to finalizing your internship arrangement.
2. Some agencies pay their interns, usually minimum wage. Most however do not pay and are not required to do so. If compensation is a major requirement of yours be sure to ask during your initial inquiries.
3. Please remember that the answers to the chapter questions must be typed.
4. Before contacting any agencies clear them through Dr. Downing. Some agencies have misused our interns and are not eligible for any future interns.
5. Always remember that you are representing NGCSU. You will not be allowed to jeopardize future internships with the host agency. If your job performance or work attitude are deemed by Dr. Downing to be unacceptable you will be pulled from the agency, given an F for your grade and the hours worked will not be credited toward your next assignment.
6. Also remember that you are working at the convenience of the agency. They are not going to tolerate behavior from you that they might from a regular employee. Tardiness and absenteeism are not acceptable work habits even if others do it. Prior to working your first shift you should obtain the phone numbers of those supervisors you must contact if you are going to be late or absent. Remember you need them, they don't need you. They can and will terminate you if you are deemed to be more trouble than you are worth. If termination is appropriate you will be given a grade of "F" for the course and the hours worked will not be credited toward your next assignment.
7. While criminal justice work is sometimes risky you must not allow yourself to be placed in any dangerous situations; i.e. carrying a gun, making arrests, etc.. That is neither your job nor your responsibility. It might seem exciting at the time but more often than not results in trouble. If a supervisor orders you into a dangerous situation, respectfully and firmly decline and contact Dr. Downing or Dr. Paterline immediately.
8. If any problems or questions arise contact Dr. Downing or Dr. Paterline immediately. Also note that the school will continue to send it's official correspondence to you through your mail box on campus. You should check it at least once a week or have a friend do so for you.
9. Every effort possible should be made to complete all your internship requirements prior to the end of the quarter. If not, you must hand in all the needed material by the deadlines posted on the calendar. Every 24 hour of tardiness will result in a 5% internship grade reduction.
10. Remember to fill out the proper forms at the registrar's office for commuter/off-campus status. This will waive your activity fees.
FINAL NOTE: IT GENERALLY TAKES AT LEAST A WEEK FROM THE DAY YOU TURN YOUR MATERIAL IN FOR A GRADE TO BE ISSUED. DO NOT EXPECT A GRADE THE DAY AFTER YOU TURN YOUR MATERIAL IN. THOSE OF YOU WHO NEED THE GRADE FOR A MILITARY SESSIONS PACKET SHOULD KEEP THIS IN MIND. GRADES WILL NOT BE ISSUED AT ALL IN BETWEEN SEMESTERS.
YOUR GRADE
1. JOB PERFORMANCE (50%)
Your immediate supervisor will complete an evaluation on you at the conclusion of your internship. Low evaluations scores will result in a lower grade. If your placemnt is terminated by the agency, you will recieve an F for the course.
2. JOB LOG & WEEKLY REPORTS (15%)
Each student must mail, carry, or deliver a weekly report of their hours worked and short explanation of their duties on a weekly basis. Even if you do not work a full week of 40 hours you need to mail a report in. The report should have your daily shift hours (9 AM-5 PM), your total hours for the week, your total hours for the internship and addresses and phone numbers where you can be reached both at work and home. Failure to send these reports in on a timely manner or incomplete reports will result in a reduced grade. It is your responsibility to keep copies of these reports. Copies will not be provided to students after they are turned in.
At the end of the internship each student will also hand in a log book. This is a simple notebook that should contain your thoughts and ideas that occur to you each day. It is NOT graded on spelling, composition or grammar. This is your chance to tell me your ideas and experiences. No one else will ever see this notebook. Failure to provide a timely insightful journal will result in a grade reduction. This log book is not a log of duties, rather it is a diary of your thoughts and experiences. One or two sentence entries will not meet this requirement.
3. CHAPTER QUESTIONS (15%)
Each student must answer the questions at the end of each chapter in the course text. Some chapters do not have any questions (1 & 13). Regarding the "me file", students do not have to turn in copies of past term papers, however transcripts and a resume are required. Some questions may not be answered, such as in chapter 9, question 3. A private agency is not going to turn over their budget to you, however, all public agencies have public budgets. Grammar and composition are important components of this assignment.
Answers that give little thought to the question posed or that offer incomplete answers will result in a lower grade.
4. CAPSTONE PAPER REQUIREMENTS (20%)
The capstone paper is intended to demonstrate your understanding of the material taught in the classroom and its relationship to your internship experiences. The entire paper must be written using the APA style. If you haven't written a paper using this format, you may consider purchasing a style manual. Rather than purchase a style manual, the easiest thing to do is to look over any Criminal Justice or social science journal and follow their method of annotation. All social science journals use APA format. Margins are to be 1" on all four sides, size 12 font, double spaced lines and 24 lines of text per page. Failure to follow the correct format will result in a 10 point grade reduction regardless of paper content. An excellent site that gives detailed information on how to use the APA style is found at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html
The paper will consist of four sections, as outlined below.
1: The literature review. (5 page minimum length)
A historical review of the agency category in which you work. If you are working for a law enforcement agency give a brief history of the development of that type of agency (private, public, state, local, etc.) and the same for courts or corrections. The literature review is a summary statement of original research that you compile using primary library resources. Encyclopedias, internet summaries, lecture notes and survey textbooks are secondary sources and are not acceptable. Our library contains several historical reviews and journal articles on the early development of each component of the CJ system. Many others can be found through interlibrary loan. A minimum of six different resources should be used. This is a historical review so you need to start at the earliest developmental predecessors. Failure to use proper citation format (APA), or the use use of improper sources will result in a reduced grade.
2: Agency specific review (5 page minimum length)
Give a detailed account of the development of the agency in which you work. How it developed, its' historical antecedents, etc.. If there is not a great deal of information regarding your agency than step back and take a broader perspective. For example, if you are working for a private attorney there may not be a lot of information on the development of their law office. Instead, start off discussing lawyers in Georgia, the Georgia Bar and the duties of lawyers in Georgia. Be sure to cite all sources used to compose this section of the paper using the APA format.
3: Relevant course material (5 page mimimum length)
First, list all the criminal justice courses you have taken. Second, recount specific course work that applied toward your internship position. Finally, discuss how that material was or was not applicable to your experiences.
4: Personal (5 page mimimum length)
Give a summary account of your experiences with your internship agency and how your course work helped or did not help you in your work. What material was particularly helpful in your work? What material or topics should be added to the curriculum to help future students be better prepared for the workplace? This is your chance to influence future program and course content at NGCSU, take advantage of it. You will not be penalized in any way for your opinions.
The paper is to be turned in with all of your other materials at the end of your internship. It should be a minimum of 20 pages in length (excluding footnotes), typed, double spaced, 1" margins on all four sides, size 12 font and bound or in a hard notebook with the other materials. Grammar, composition and spelling are key components of this assignment. Failure to cover any of the topics in an in-depth manner will result in a reduced grade.
*WARNING: Plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated. Your papers will be run through a plagiarism program and if it is determined that you have plagiarized any part of your paper you will receive an "F" for the course and a request for immediate academic suspension will be filed against you. No excuses will be accepted.
If you need help in understanding what plagiarism is, see: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html
“Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to sumission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use posted on the Turnitin.com site.”
* Note: Students who turn their material at least 10 days early can, at their option, have it reviewed and returned for revisions. The material will be reviewed for content, grammar, spelling, style and composition. It will not be reviewed for plagiarism.
IMPORTANT: All materials turned in to complete your internship requirements become the property of NGCSU. Any items you believe you will want in the future should be copied BEFORE turning it in. As stated earlier, this also applies to weekly reports.
Weekly Report Forms
WEEKLY INTERNSHIP REPORT FORM, TO BE MAILED IN AT THE END OF EACH WEEK
STUDENT NAME________________________________ AGENCY____________________________
REPORT NUMBER ____________ WEEK ENDING DATE __________________________
MONDAY:* SHIFT HOURS (START/END) ___________ TOTAL HOURS WORKED ________
DESCRIBE YOUR DUTIES ________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
TUESDAY:* SHIFT HOURS (START/END) ___________ TOTAL HOURS WORKED _________
DESCRIBE YOUR DUTIES_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
WEDNESDAY:* SHIFT HOURS (START/END) ___________ TOTAL HOURS WORKED _______
DESCRIBE YOUR DUTIES__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
THURSDAY:* SHIFT HOURS (START/END) ___________ TOTAL HOURS WORKED _________
DESCRIBE YOUR DUTIES__________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
FRIDAY:* SHIFT HOURS (START/END)___________ TOTAL HOURS WORKED _____________
DESCRIBE YOUR DUTIES___________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
SATURDAY:* SHIFT HOURS (START/END)___________ TOTAL HOURS WORKED ___________
DESCRIBE YOUR DUTIES___________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
SUNDAY:* SHIFT HOURS (START/END ___________ TOTAL HOURS WORKED ______________
DESCRIBE YOUR DUTIES____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIBE ANY PROBLEMS YOU ARE EXPERIENCING:
TOTAL NUMBER OF HOURS WORKED THIS WEEK: ___________________
TOTAL NUMBER OF HOURS WORKED TO DATE: _____________________
EXPECTED DATE OF COMPLETIONOF YOUR IUNTERNSHIP ______________________________
FILL THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS OUT COMPLETELY
ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER WHERE YOU CAN BE REACHED AT WORK:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER WHERE YOU CAN BE REACHED AT HOME:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
SUPERVISOR SIGNATURE ______________________________________________
By signing this form you are verifying that the student worked the hours stated on the front of this form.
STUDENT SIGNATURE: ________________________________________________ *
By signing this form you are verifying the hours that you claim to have worked. Falsification of hours is a violation of the Honor Code of NGCSU and will result in your internship being terminated and a grade of F submitted for the course.
COMPLETE AND MAIL TO:
LEO C. DOWNING, JR
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
NORTH GEORGIA COLLEGE & STATE UNIVERSITY
DAHLONEGA, GA 30597
EMAIL: ldowning@NGCSU.EDU
Phone: 706-864-1910
LEAVE ANY MESSAGES WITH THE SECRETARY AND I WILL CONTACT YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. MESSAGES ARE CHECKED EVERY DAY. PLEASE NOTE IF IT IS AN EMERGENCY.
IF DR. DOWNING IS NOT AVAILABLE CONTACT DR. PATERLINE (864-1914)
Contract Request Forms
REQUEST FOR INTERNSHIP CONTRACT
This form should be filled out by the student after an agreement has been reached with the agency and given to Dr. Downing for processing. Remember you must sign your contract before it can be mailed.
DATE ______________
STUDENT NAME _________________________________________________
AGENCY NAME AND ADDRESS _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
AGENCY CONTACT NAME AND PHONE NUMBER ___________________________
_________________________________________________
DATE YOU WILL BE STARTING YOUR INTERNSHIP _______________________
IF YOU ARE GRADUATING YOU NEED TO START ASAP.
ARE YOU GOING TO MILITARY CAMP THIS SEMESTER _______________________
ARE YOU GRADUATING AT THE END OF THIS SEMESTER _____________________
IF YOU ARE GRADUATING BE SURE AND ADHERE TO THE DEADLINES ON THE SYLLABUS.
EXPECTED DATE OF COMPLETION OF INTERNSHIP _______________________
STUDENT ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER DURING INTERNSHIP
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Email address: _____________________________________________________________________
Help With APA Citation Format
Help With Understanding Plagiarism
Internship Placements: 2005
Internship Placements: 2004
Internship Placements: 2003
Internship Placements: 2002