criminal justice field observation

justice Justice, Wisconsin State Capitol Building

CLSJ’s Criminal Justice Field Observation is an advanced service-learning internship that combines community engagement and reflective learning. Students work in agencies serving justice-involved or at-risk populations, acquiring professional skills, an enhanced sense of civic responsibility, and a broader understanding of the criminal justice system.

For their final assignment, students create and collaboratively critique graphic field narratives reflecting on their experiences, which are designed for online publication. The project mobilizes student insights, builds critical 21^st literacy skills, and fosters community engagement. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the power of legal narratives.

Human existence is bound up with the stories or narratives that we tell about our own lives and the world in which we live; we cannot avoid the imaginative imposition of form on life. Our understanding of legal systems—criminality, trials, state and civic responsibility, and the very meaning of justice itself—is embedded in narrative.

Here are some excerpts from recent student field narratives, which are published in the hope of broadening public understanding of the justice system.