New vision: criminal justice education for students

In the fall of 1990, a committee of educators in central New York State developed an innovative model to enhance the senior-year experience for area high school students. Unlike traditional occupational programs, this new model would be neither job-specific nor college-preparatory in nature. Rather, it would provide a comprehensive overview of a wide band of career tracks within a chosen profession.

The educators designed curricula for three different career paths - allied health, business management, and criminal justice. In September of the following year, the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Board of Cooperative Education Services launched the New Vision Criminal Justice Program, the first career training program of its type in the country.

THE PROGRAM

The New Vision Criminal Justice Program is an interdisciplinary immersion model that takes high school seniors out of the traditional school setting and places them in the working world. It is designed to provide high school students with an enhanced understanding of the criminal justice system and law enforcement.

Traditionally, law enforcement career development programs rely on sending officers into the high schools. The New Vision program takes the opposite approach; it brings the school to the law enforcement setting, where participating students spend the majority of their senior year.

New Vision Classroom

Through an agreement with the participating school districts, the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) donated office space in its downtown Syracuse headquarters to serve as the New Vision classroom. In addition to attending regular classes at OCSD headquarters, students spend portions of selected days in city, county, and federal courts, the district and U.S. attorney's offices, the local FBI office, the Syracuse Police Department, the Onondaga County Department of Probation, and the offices of a variety of other criminal justice service providers. Students observe major trials, attend public safety hearings, and participate in a broad spectrum of other activities that cannot be replicated in a traditional classroom setting.

The New Vision Model

New Vision instructors attempt to reinforce and expand upon the educational background the seniors bring to the program by assigning projects that require them to synthesize data from various disciplines and relate the information to everyday life. In recent class reports, for instance, students were asked to compare and contrast community-versus-institutional corrections and to defend a position in a debate over whether crime causes poverty or poverty causes crime. These issues, like so many aspects of social science and criminal justice, provide the students with ample opportunities to explore budgetary and financial matters, as well as how the legislative, executive, and judicial branches approach such topics.

The New Vision curriculum relies on an integrated approach to classroom instruction but is flexible enough so that regular adjustments do not infringe on the program's effectiveness. Focal points of the curriculum extend to basic criminological theory, as well as in-depth study of the law enforcement function and the judicial and legislative branches of government. The curriculum also covers corrections, general security and private investigations, the coordination between a variety of human service providers, and a series of special topics that impact the criminal justice system as a whole.

The program coordinator generally schedules coverage of these special topics toward the end of the school year, after students have received appropriate exposure to the enforcement, judicial, and correctional aspects of the system. These special topics range from the death penalty, to the war on drugs, to privatization, and other contemporary law enforcement issues.

In addition, more than 60 guest speakers are invited to address the class during the school year. Because a major program tenet calls for students to explore different perspectives to common questions, speakers are chosen for their diversity and the different approaches they bring to key issues.

For example, the formation of a citizen review board in the City of Syracuse has sparked considerable public debate. To allow the students to form their own educated opinions, representatives from the Police Benevolent Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, the police department's internal affairs unit, and the review board itself, as well as a local prosecutor and a defense attorney, were invited to present their views to the class. Combined with reading and writing assignments, the presentations helped the students frame the issue and arrive at their own conclusions. At the same time, hearing and appreciating different perspectives on a given issue help the students further develop their own critical thinking skills.

Students also participate in a variety of short-term internships, or shadowing experiences. The students ride along with the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department, the Syracuse Police Department, and other area law enforcement agencies. They also spend time becoming familiar with the various divisions of the sheriff's department.

During a given school year, students have the opportunity to participate in at least 30 internships, ranging from spending a morning with a probation or parole officer to spending a day with a court reporter. Due to time restrictions, students must complete many of these outside experiences after regular school hours, which is indicative of these students' motivation and desire to learn. Over the course of a year, most students participate in as many out-of-class opportunities as possible.

Students also complete a variety of public service projects. Activities range from participating in an annual Christmas DWI display at a local shopping mall to regularly assisting DARE officers during visits to area middle schools. The students speak with the fifth- and sixth-graders about drugs and the transition to high school. They also frequently play the role of McGruff, The Crime Dog, with sheriff's deputies at public functions and participate in a variety of role-playing exercises at the police academy.

As part of the integrated study philosophy, the students take part in numerous field trips during the school year. These trips include excursions to prisons, the area 911 center, and the county police academy. In addition, the students participate in fund-raising efforts to pay for an end-of-the-year trip to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. While in the Washington, DC, area, the students also tour Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, and other sites of interest.

On a day-to-day basis, the classroom component of the program resembles a college-level seminar where discussion is the primary objective. Students spend the first half-hour of each school day reading the local newspaper and discussing current events dealing with criminal justice topics.

Academically, the students complete daily reading and writing assignments. They also conduct group presentations and complete book reports and position papers. During the school year, each student completes two individual research projects, and the class as a whole completes one major research project.

This team effort involves developing a hypothesis and test instrument, conducting an in-depth literature review, analyzing the data, and drafting a final report. Schools and law enforcement agencies throughout central New York receive copies of the reports, which have dealt with such issues as school violence and teen attitudes toward the police. The latter project was adapted into a well-received local cable television special in 1994.

In addition to taking a comprehensive final examination, the students develop professional portfolios. The portfolios not only serve as viable and contemporary means of assessing the students, but they also provide a way for students to personalize what they have learned and accomplished during the year while giving them a way to showcase their accomplishments to prospective college recruiters or employers. At year's end, students defend their portfolios before a panel of criminal justice professionals.

Application and Selection Process

The application procedure for the New Vision Program compares to the college application process. Members of the program staff, as well as current and former New Vision students, make annual presentations to junior-year students in the component schools between January and March. Interested students contact their guidance counselors to discuss the eligibility requirements. Candidates then complete a formal application and essay to provide program managers with an academic and personal profile, as well as with an opportunity to assess each applicant's writing skills. In mid-May, candidates submit transcripts and letters of recommendation. Throughout the process, they are encouraged to visit the program site.

Students who meet all requirements are formally accepted into the program before the end of their junior year. Generally, a maximum of 30 students are accepted into the program each year, traditionally with a 50-50 mix of boys and girls. In June each year, incoming New Vision students and their parents attend a pre-fall orientation at OCSD headquarters.

A Glimpse At the Future

At the beginning of each school year, approximately 70 percent of the students express interest in pursuing careers in law enforcement at the municipal, county, state, or federal level. Fifteen percent are interested in a career in corrections, while the remainder are undecided or express interest in private security, human services, or in different aspects of the legal profession.

By year's end, a portion of the students change their minds. While some decide to pursue a different criminal justice career track, others decide that a criminal justice career is not for them.

Allowing students to get a realistic picture of the criminal justice system in action and enabling them to fine-tune their career plans while in high school benefits the students as well as the profession. Students will be able to make informed decisions about alternate careers and will not waste time and effort pursuing a career path in an area that ultimately will prove unfulfilling to them.

Whether they pursue a career in criminal justice or not, the students will possess a heightened awareness of the intricacies of the criminal justice system, making them more informed citizens. The program benefits the criminal justice system by exposing interested young people to the realities of a career in criminal justice and diverting those youths who may have held a false impression of what such a career involves.

Funding

In New York state, many school districts in specific geographic areas join together in voluntary, cooperative associations called Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). These boards enable the component districts to secure educational or business services more economically than individual districts could procure by themselves. Each participating district then purchases seats in BOCES program offerings.

In 1996, the New Vision Criminal Justice Program cost approximately $3,400 per seat (for each participating student). This cost translates to roughly one-half that of traditional occupational training programs offered by the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison board. Because the sheriff's department provides a classroom free-of-charge, most of the program costs go toward materials-periodicals, videos, and textbooks. To date, the greatest expenditure has been the acquisition of a classroom-based multimedia computer, used to provide students with access to the Internet.

POST-GRADUATION

Recently, program managers finalized a formal agreement with the State University of New York at Onondaga Community College, where many of the students continue their education. A final grade of 80 percent or higher on the New Vision Program automatically is transferred to the university, which then waives its introductory criminal justice course requirement in lieu of the New Vision experience.

The year 1996 proved to be pivotal for many former New Vision students. Those from the first class who decided to pursue 4-year degrees began graduating from colleges and universities in May and now have embarked on their careers. Many have chosen to pursue careers in criminal justice. Some former students have opted for 2-year degrees and are planning to take civil service exams. Other New Vision graduates currently work in the criminal justice or human services fields while they await their civil service test results. A few have gone into the military where they currently serve in military police units.

CONCLUSION

Just as law enforcement agencies around the country have embraced more community-oriented policing philosophies, a comparable revolution is taking place in academic settings as educators strive to make education more relevant to student and societal needs. The New Vision model uses contemporary integrated learning techniques as it immerses students in a challenging and stimulating environment, where learning takes place on many levels.

The unique program provides young people who have an interest in criminal justice with an opportunity to see how the system works before they pursue their educations or embark on careers. For many students, the experience helps them focus their criminal justice career plans. For others, the experience prompts them to rethink their goals altogether.

Whether or not graduates pursue a career in the criminal justice field, the New Vision Program offers a deeper understanding and more realistic perspective of the challenges facing the criminal justice system. By doing so, it helps prepare youth to act as positive forces in their communities, whatever their career goals may be.

Student Eligibility Requirements

To qualify for the New Vision Criminal Justice Program, a student must:

* Be a high school senior from an Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES component district

* Have at least a B average

* Demonstrate an interest and desire to learn about the criminal justice system

* Exhibit a high level of responsibility and maturity. This includes the ability to work as a team member as well as individually

* Have met graduation requirements

* Be conscientious and highly motivated to succeed.

COPYRIGHT 1997 Federal Bureau of Investigation
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