Universities Effectively Working with Corrections Agencies, or “Why do the Prison People Act Like That?”

• In Event: Roundtable: Incarceration Programs

Abstract

The Ohio State University Criminal Justice Research Center (CJRC) manages an innovative, interdisciplinary undergraduate internship program providing students with unique opportunities to gain real-world experience in the fields of criminology, justice and law. The internship program places high performing students in a wide array of research and practical placements. Reciprocity between the CJRC and the criminal justice community partners connects entities at several levels – students, field supervisors, administrators, human resources professionals, faculty, practitioners, and researchers. As a result of these partnerships, the university has enhanced working relationships with community agencies resulting in conjoint grant applications, cooperative research projects, professional presentations, critical data sharing, employment, extended internships and additional experiential opportunities for students.
This roundtable paper will focus on the challenges related to working with community criminal justice agencies, the how’s and whys of the reasons they act the way they do from an “inside” (former warden’s) perspective. When doing research/programming with these programs, how can you: 1) establish mutual trust between the university and community agencies; 2) use efficient and efficacious screening, selection, supervising and follow-up processes; and, 3) establish effective direct contact among university staff and community partner staff.

Author

• Christopher Yanai, The Ohio State University