Throughout my 2 and a half years at Lasell, I have learned so much about what being a criminal justice major may entail. With the end of the semester right around the corner, I wanted to reflect on my time as a criminal justice major. As a junior, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what my college experience has been like and what being a criminal justice major means for my future. When I first stepped into the Winslow Academic Center for my Intro to Criminal Justice class, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought Law & Order and How to Get Away with Murder prepared me for what being a criminal justice student was like. However, I was wrong.
Being a criminal justice major is nothing like how TV shows and movies display it to be. We are not in the science labs looking at DNA strands, fingerprints, or bullet casings like Abby in NCIS, and we are certainly not doing any investigative work. Being a criminal justice major is looking at laws, policies, and crime reports, and analyzing them, looking
at why they were created and subsequently, what the science that researchers have conducted says about these laws. As CJ majors, we are investigative in the sense of how the system works, what criminal and civil trials rule, and how the system's job is both to protect the public from harm and balance the rights of civilians to the weight of police work.
Another thing that I have learned about being a criminal justice major, is that the criminal justice system, like most institutions in America, is severely flawed. Systemic racism plagues the justice system by disproportionately sentencing Black Americans at a higher rate than White Americans, creating laws that barred Black people and other minorities from taking out loans, moving to specific neighborhoods, and partaking in government. These racist laws and policies still affect Black Americans today. Criminal Justice researchers have found risk factors that could predispose citizens to a life of crime, with many of these factors disproportionately affecting Black people. Having an incarcerated parent, a low socioeconomic status, and anti-social behavior can be a precursor to criminal behavior. These 3 risk factors have affected Black children for decades and continue to worsen because of the criminal justice system.
With the amount of knowledge I have learned as a criminal justice major here, it is important for me to understand the amount of work that has been put into the system, from the original inception to modern-day overhauling. Learning about the inner workings of what police officers, lawyers, victim advocates, and potential defendants must do or go through in this system of justice, creates a deeper level of respect for this system, although it has its flaws. Yes, there are a lot of things in the criminal justice system that are unfair and flawed, but a system that is being filled with people who want to change it, will benefit society, and hopefully erase the systemic racism that has been created and justified in it.
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