The Department of Criminal Justice offers a wide variety of internship experiences for its undergraduate and master’s students. Internships are a critical portion of students’ undergraduate education. Internships provide a practical, “real world” look at the theoretical concepts and issues that students have learned in their other coursework. Internships also allow students an opportunity to experience working in a justice-related agency.
All undergraduate students earning a B.S. in criminal justice are expected to complete an internship (unless they have been excused from this requirement because they are completing an independent study research project or a senior honors thesis). Graduate students may elect to complete an internship, but are not required to do so. All internship students, whether undergraduate or graduate, register for a six-unit internship experience by enrolling in CRJU 492 after consulting with the Department of Criminal Justice’s Internship Coordinator.
Senior Integrative Experience. Internships are six-unit learning experiences designed to take place at any time during an undergraduate student’s senior year after students have completed the 300-level core courses required for a major in criminal justice (CJRU 301, 302, 303, 304,320, 325, 330, 340, and 350). Students are encouraged, however, to begin looking for an internship at least one semester prior to the semester in which they plan to do their internship. Advance planning is important because many justice agencies require students to undergo a background investigation before they will allow students to begin an internship with their agency. These background investigations typically take several months. So, students who do not start the internship application process in advance risk delaying their graduation.
Internship Opportunities. Where students do their internships is entirely up to them. Ideally, though, students should seek-out internship opportunities with agencies related to their career goals. For example, students interested in being police officers should investigate internships with police departments; similarly, pre-law students should investigate internship opportunities with law firms or with the offices of prosecutors or public defenders.
Finding an Internship. The Department of Criminal Justice does not place students into internships. Rather, students are responsible for finding their own internship opportunities. However, the Department does maintain a list of potential internship sites and the contact information for people at these sites responsible for coordinating their internship programs. The easiest way to access this information is to consult the bulletin board at the end of the hall that houses the Department of Criminal Justice (on the second floor of the SSPA building). On that board, the business cards of Agency Site Intern Advisors associated with agencies that have participated in our intern program in the past are posted. Faculty members may also be able to help students identify potential internship sites related to the faculty member's particular area of expertise. Once students identify relevant contacts at potential internship sites, they should make calls to several agencies to discuss the types of experiences that an agency might provide. In that way, students can select an agency placement that aligns with the types of experiences for which they are looking. Students are reminded that this process can take a long time. So, advanced planning, rather than waiting until the last minute, will help insure that the internship experience is a meaningful one.
Applying for an Internship. Calling agencies and talking to their internship supervisors are only the first steps towards obtaining an internship. Many agencies will require students to submit a résumé and cover letter. Additionally, agencies often require students to undergo a background investigation (which may include drug testing and testing for tuberculosis or other infectious diseases); to participate in one or more in-person interviews; and to be fingerprinted. It is very important that students allow enough time for the various requirements to be completed since, until all such requirements are satisfied, agencies are unlikely to allow students to begin their internships. Accordingly, students are not permitted to register for CRJU 492 until they have been accepted by an agency into its internship program.
Registering for CRJU 492. After a student has been offered an internship position with a justice agency, the student must complete the Internship Enrollment Form (document hyper-linked here) by carefully following the instructions contained on the form. Students should then make a copy the completed form for themselves while placing the original form in the gold internship box outside SSPA 236. After the Internship Coordinator has reviewed and approved the form, a confirmation email will be sent to the submitting student that a permit has been issued that will allow the student to enroll in CRJU 492 using MyCSULB. The email will also contain the section number, course identification number, and name of the Department Intern Advisor to whom the student has been assigned. The Department Intern Advisor will be copied on the email. Please note that the issuance of a permit does not actually register the student for an internship. Rather, the permit allows a student to register for CRJU 492. It is therefore the student’s responsibility to register for the course after having received the confirmation e-mail that a permit has been issued.
Internship Requirements. Successful completion of CRJU 492 requires students to; (1) complete 130 hours of on-site work at their internship; and (2) complete a number of writing assignments.
- Internship Hours. All students who do an internship must complete 130 hours of on-site work. These 130 hours are expected to be completed in the semester during which the student is registered for CRJU 492. (Exceptions to this policy may be made, under exceptional circumstances, in consultation with the Department of Criminal Justice Internship Coordinator prior to a student registering for and beginning an internship.) The 130 hours do not include the time it takes to get to and from an internship site. Moreover, the 130 hours do not include any training time that may be required for a student to participate in an internship. It is therefore highly advisable for students to discuss their work hours with their Site Intern Advisor prior to committing to an internship.
- Writing Assignments. The specific requirements of the writing assignments for CRJU 492 are identified in the course syllabus that will be provided to all students officially registered for CRJU 492 by the faculty member who will serve as their Departmental Intern Advisor. At a minimum, students are required to maintain a daily time log (sample document hyper-linked here); write a weekly journal entry; and write a term paper that blends scholarly research with participant-observations (sample paper hyper-linked here).
Grading. The agency evaluation of a student’s work at his/her internship constitutes fifty percent (50%) of final course grade in CRJU 492. Students are responsible for insuring that their Internship Site Supervisor receives and completes an evaluation form, a copy of which may be obtained by pressing this link. The remaining fifty percent (50%) of the final course grade will be based upon student performance in completing weekly journals and researching and writing the final paper. All internship papers will be graded using the internship paper grading rubric hyper-linked here.
Criminal Justice Internship Coordinator
Dr. Harvey Morley
Department of Criminal Justice
California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90840
Phone: (
562) 985-4157
Office: SSPA-236
Email: hnmorley@csulb.edu
Internship Program Forms
