In their senior year Criminal Justice students can apply for a field experience position. Students should meet with Dr. Lisa Leduc (lisa.leduc@maine.edu) in their junior year to discuss their application and internship goals.
Unlike most university courses, the learning for this class will occur outside of the campus. Through internships within Criminal Justice and Social Service agencies, students will be given the opportunity to connect theory with practice and to acquire knowledge and skills directly related to various activities within the discipline. Students registered for 3 credits will be expected to work 7-8 hours per week (104 hours total) and those registered for 6 credits, 14-16 hours (208 hours total).
The primary objective of the course is to allow students to gain valuable experience in a professional setting. Further, the students should use that opportunity to reflect on the relationship between their field experience and what they have learned in the classroom and in their readings and research in this, and other courses.
Other goals of the field placement experience include:
- To provide an opportunity to evaluate how theoretical concepts may or may not be applied in practice.
- To provide an opportunity for students to develop their knowledge of the criminal justice; social; and community services network. To become acquainted with the activities of these groups and to discuss related sociological and criminological questions within that milieu.
- To learn how individuals work their way into a structure that may shape them and that may in turn be shaped by them.
- To provide an opportunity for students to work collaboratively with experienced professionals.
- To provide an opportunity for students to establish a basis for choosing the area in which they would like to pursue a career.
- To develop professional autonomy, to identify one’s strengths and areas in need of improvement.
- To become aware of one’s values and beliefs and their role in a professional setting.
Internships are available with:
- Various local police departments
- Maine State Police
- Sheriff’s Office
- District Attorney’s Office
- Fire Marshal’s Office
- Maine Warden Service
- Department of Corrections (Probation and Juvenile Probation)
- Customs and Border Protection
- Battered Women’s Project
- Catholic Charities Maine
- Opportunity Training Center
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Pine Tree Legal
- Aroostook Mental Health Services
- Carleton Project
- Maine Criminal Justice Academy
- Canadian Customs
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
