The Impact of a Death Row Exoneration Testimonial on Social Work Students: A Teaching Note

ABSTRACT

Criminal-justice-involved clients often are a complicated population for students to consider through a lens of oppression. Nevertheless, it is critical that they do so given that many will serve clients with criminal records during their careers. An attempt to challenge students’ prejudice toward criminal-justice-involved people was deployed using a teaching technique derived from intergroup contact theory. The authors invited Juan Melendez to share his story of incarceration on death row for more than 17 years for a crime he did not commit. This article is an examination of the impact of Mr. Melendez’s story and the application of intergroup contact theory.

KEYWORDS:

• BSW students
• ethics
• oppression

Notes

¹ Also, students enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate research classes (n = 39) were asked an additional question about the connection between research and Mr. Melendez’s talk. Data from this question were excluded here, though analyzed and reported separately.