What Should Criminal Justice Interns Know? Comparing the Opinions of Student Interns and Criminal Justice Practitioners

Abstract

We surveyed 118 criminal justice interns, asking them to assess the importance of various practical skills, professional skills, academic content knowledge, and knowledge of various current issues. We compared the results with those of 202 criminal justice practitioners. Student interns viewed almost every skill and knowledge area as important. Practitioners placed the greatest value on verbal communication skills, good work ethic, good work habits, and initiative. Regarding content knowledge, practitioners assigned the greatest importance to applied ethics. Racial issues as they apply to criminal justice and gender issues were viewed as most important in the current issues category. We examined the differences according to race, gender, and type of agency. We found significant differences between interns and practitioners in terms of the skills and knowledge deemed important, and significant differences between agency types. Significant differences existed based on racial and ethnic identity; differences based on gender were not significant.

Notes

¹ This referendum was overturned by a federal district court in October, 2014.

² Distributions of the “practical” skills rank for student interns and criminal justice practitioners were similar, as assessed by visual inspection. The same was true for the “professional” skills rank distributions.

³ Distributions of the “content” knowledge rank for student interns and criminal justice practitioners were similar, as assessed by visual inspection. The same was true for the “current issues” knowledge rank distributions.