The Internship
The Criminal Justice Internship is an important part of the undergraduate
program in criminal justice at the University of Georgia. It is a requirement
of the major and represents an integral part of each student's education.
The primary purpose of the internship is to provide students with an
opportunity to integrate university learning with experiences obtained
in an operational setting.
The criminal justice faculty
maintain high expectations regarding the future success of our students.
It is important, therefore, that the internship provide experiences
that will sustain and further develop the skills that our graduates
will require to assume leadership roles in the field of criminal justice.
This is accomplished through the careful placement of students in agencies
that represent the highest ideals of professionalism in the administration
of justice. Ordinarily, the intern is assigned to an agency supervisor
whose duties are cast in the mainstream activities of the organization
and whose work represents what the intern might reasonably expect to
encounter should he or she pursue a career within this sector of the
criminal justice system. The agency supervisor is asked to view the
intern as an apprentice who is learning to perform the major tasks associated
with the job at hand. In this way, the intern learns not only the organizational
routine, but further benefits from the experience and expertise of the
supervisor.
The internship is also an
academic learning experience in which students are expected to successfully
complete a research project and paper in criminal justice as well as write a
series of short essays integrating the internship experience with concepts from their academic course
work in a theoretically meaningful way. The expertise of the agency
staff contributes significantly to the accomplishment of these requirements,
through the sharing of insights into the operation of the criminal justice
system, and by assisting the intern (when possible) in locating sources of information
and data relevant to the agency and its mission. Students complete a semester-long
internship toward the end of the program of study. Interns are required
to work 40 hours per week in the agency. Spring and Fall Semester
interns spend 14 weeks of the 15 week semester in the agency, taking
the remaining five days intermittently during the term to do library
research or consult with the internship professor. This time is
intended to aid interns in fulfilling the academic requirements of the
internship. Students must secure permission from the agency for
the days of absence, for which they submit a plan, including dates and
how the time will be used. Summer interns are required to register
for both the Maymester and the Summer term (with no days away from the
agency). This schedule enables summer interns to spend 11 weeks
in the agency and equalizes as much as possible the length of their
experience to that of the Fall and Spring semester interns. Internships
are arranged two terms in advance by the student in consultation with
the Criminal Justice Studies internship coordinator. All internships
must be approved by both the sponsoring agency and the Criminal Justice
Studies Program.
All Criminal justice majors must complete a full semester internship that entails working in a criminal justice or related agency for 40 hours per week while completing extensive academic requirements. This internship may be scheduled no earlier than the student's fifth marking period in the major (this may include the semester in which the student is admitted as well as summer session). For example, a student admitted to the major during the fall semester of his or her junior year would be able to participate in the internship in the spring semester of the senior year. Students register for twelve
academic credits (POLS/SOCI 5500, 5510, and 5520 - four hours each)
for the internship. Students should not take more than these twelve
hours during the internship semester nor should a student be employed
while completing the internship.
Placement in the internship requires that certain eligibility requirements be met one full semester prior to the start of the internship. These eligibility requirements are (1) to be in good academic standing, (2) to have a 2.5 overall GPA, (3) to have a 2.5 major GPA based on at least four major courses, two of which must be POLS 3600 and SOCI 3810 and (4) to sign a waiver of liability form. A student may not register for
the internship unless all Section I classes have been successfully completed
with a grade of C or higher. *
* ALL major courses require a grade of C or higher
Click
here for a partial listing of agencies that have previously
offered interships to Criminal Justice Majors.
Contact the Internship Coordinator,
Mrs. Doris Porter at porter@uga.edu
Click for Internship Eligibility Requirements and Program Policies
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