At the University of Utah, you won't catch criminology interns making coffee or copies. In fact, you're more likely to see them in the field, gaining the kind of first-hand experience needed to succeed in the criminal justice field.

“We absolutely do not allow students to be placed in institutions where they will do a lot of clerical work,” says Larry Bench, Director of the Criminology Internship Program at the university. “Some agencies might want someone to come in and answer the phone – but we don't answer to that kind of request. Our internships have a lot more content than just typing or answering the phone.”

Students at the university have the option to choose from an array of internships within the fields of criminology and sociology. From juvenile justice to law enforcement, there are internships available at 20 different agencies in Utah that students can pick from.

“Our students have plenty of options,” says Bench. “We give them the chance to select an agency [in the criminal justice field] that allows them to specialize in the area they care about the most during their internships.”

According to Bench, many students say the internships offer a valuable experience because they have the chance to work in a professional environment.

“These students are essentially staff members,” Bench says. “The assignments they accept differ from agency to agency. They are expected to carry a workload, and they are expected to act as a professional in the agency. From what I've seen, they enjoy the opportunity.”

By offering students the chance to choose their internship based on personal interest, Bench says many students can really invest in their work. Typically, students in the internship program are in their junior or senior year of college and the university usually places about 20 interns per semester in the field. Most students sign up for three credit internships, and spend nine hours per week in the agency they have chosen. They coordinate their specific hours with a supervisor at the agency, which makes the internship feel even more like a real job.

“The objective of this program is to provide a chance for students to see what happens when theory and practice are combined,” Bench says. “If they are really interested in going to work in the criminal justice system, they have to know what they will be doing on a daily basis. Sometimes they are intervening in disputes between offenders and helping to solve problems – this gives our students a chance to see what actually goes on in criminal justice.”

The Chance to Make a Change

According to Bench, juvenile justice internships have been all the rage with students and he believes that the chance to really make a difference in the lives of juveniles is the reason.

“Many of our students are interested in working with juveniles,” Bench says. “I think one of the things that attracts them is the treatment aspect of juvenile justice. There is more of a focus on treatment, and most of our students feel that it's an area that allows them to help make positive changes in young lives.”

Students that choose to intern in the juvenile justice field have even more career options. While some students work in juvenile justice courts, others work in educational centers for juvenile offenders. Each intern is trained by the agency they choose, and they typically work with first-time offenders, rather than chronic offenders.

“In the juvenile justice system, our students do a variety of things,” Bench says. “Some students work with offenders in group homes; some students make home visits with staff members. Other students run mandatory classes for juvenile offenders, and they do that with the training and help of staff members as well.”

Although students are typically required to intern for one semester, many of them enjoy the experience so much that they stay longer. Bench says that some students decide to stay with the agencies that have trained them because they really like the opportunity to work with offenders once they have learned the ropes.

“After they have been trained, and they have some experience, they like their work even more,” Bench says. “Some students, of course, don't like these internships – but the majority of the students who get involved really love what they end up doing.”

The End of an Internship: Reviewing Experiences

Over the course of each internship, students are required to provide feedback about the first-hand experience they have received in the criminal justice field. Each student keeps an internship journal, which documents their work and the things they liked and disliked about their position in the field. This information allows students to chronicle their work, and it also gives Bench a chance to re-evaluate the internship program on the whole.

“If we have enough student feedback that says a particular agency didn't provide the right kind of experience, we think about whether or not we want to continue to offer that internship to our students,” Bench says. “As part of their journal assignment, they make a recommendation as to whether other students should be placed in a particular agency. On occasion, we have found a few agencies that didn't work out, but that's pretty rare. We still rely on their recommendations quite a bit though.”

Beyond the journals, students are also required to write a research paper that is related to their internship. According to Bench, the research paper is an intense part of the internship program because it allows students to combine their personal experience with facts in the field.

“[For the research paper] students choose a topic related to the agency they are working in,” Bench says. “For instance, if they are working in juvenile justice, they will be expected to do a paper on something related to the juvenile justice system.”

By providing the chance for students to choose their own adventure when it comes to preparing for their careers, Bench says that interns from the University of Utah will pursue the jobs in the criminal justice field that interest them the most. 

“Our observation at the university is that the program is amazingly successful,” Bench says. “Most students who participate in this just come away with some really positive feelings about working in criminal justice – and they go on to do so.”