Criminal Justice Internship Program

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The deadlines for submitting internship applications are listed below. All students must attend the General Orientation Meeting from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on the date indicated in the table below.  Students who fail to attend the General Orientation Meeting may not be allowed to intern in the desired semester and may be required to reapply.

Central to the educational experience of a criminal justice major is the opportunity to compare theory and knowledge acquired in the classroom with practical experience and knowledge gained in a criminal justice agency.

All criminal justice majors are required to participate in an approved internship during their senior year. There are currently over 500 agencies that participate in the internship program. Participating agencies include federal, state, county, municipal, and private sector organizations that deal with all aspects of criminal justice including police, courts, law, corrections, juvenile justice, mental health, immigration, private security, loss prevention, and corporate cyber security, as well as faculty within and outside the department of Criminal Justice and Criminology.

Limited to Criminal Justice Majors: Only undergraduates who are declared degree seeking criminal justice majors are eligible to participate in the internship program.

Note that if you are a Digital Criminology Minor you are required to take CRJU 4996 – Practicum in Digital Criminology, in lieu of CRJU 4935 – Field Placement I (you may opt to take CRJU 4935 in addition to CRJU 4996). Please consult with Professor David Maimon ([email protected]) and his assistant, Simon Botton ([email protected]) for details

The Criminal Justice internship program consists of two courses: CRJU 4935 (Field Placement I), a mandatory 6 credit hour course, and CRJU 4940 (Field Placement II), an optional 3 credit hour comparative course.

CRJU 4935 is a prerequisite for CRJU 4940, and the internship host site for CRJU 4940 must be different than that used for CRJU 4935. Students must successfully complete CRJU 4935 during their senior year of residence at Georgia State University.

Because the placement process commences approximately 6 to 7 months before CRJU 4935 is taken, all criminal justice majors must complete an online internship application no later than the deadline provided for the semester that they plan to intern.

The student’s application is reviewed by the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies’ Office of Academic Assistance. Students are strongly encouraged to meet with their academic adviser before applying to the internship program. 

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that information contained in the application (e.g., address, telephone numbers, and criminal histories) is always current. Failure to do so may prevent the student from receiving information in a timely manner, which could prevent the student from interning during the desired semester.

They must also have a 2.00 GPA (of total hours earned) at the end of the semester immediately prior to commencing the internship course. Students that meet the internship academic requirements at the time they are placed with an agency but fail to maintain the required GPA in the semester immediately prior to interning will no longer be eligible to intern and will be removed from the course. If this occurs, the affected students must reapply to intern in a future semester.

Students who are terminated by their agency or removed from the agency by the Internship Coordinator for inappropriate behavior, including lack of professionalism or arrest, will receive a failing grade in the courses and are not permitted to re-take CRJU 4935/4940.

Please direct questions about the status of internship files to:

Students should refer to the “Criminal Justice Internship Resources” module on iCollege (https://gastate.view.usg.edu/) for answers to internship related questions. All deadlines, the undergraduate Internship Handbook, forms, possible internship host agencies, checklists and other relevant information can be located on the iCollege “Criminal Justice Internship Resources” site.

Prior to the General Orientation Meeting, students should schedule an appointment to have their resume reviewed by the Career Services Office of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, or use the University Career Services’ “resumania” site. Additional details about resume reviews can be found at the iCollege “Criminal Justice Internship Resources” site.

Students should meet with their Academic Advisers prior to applying to take the internship.

• Students whose credit hours are between 0 – 89 hours (Freshmen through Junior) will need to visit their advisers at the University Advisement Center (UAC) (25 Park Place).

• Students who have 90+ hours can visit their senior academic advisor located at the Andrew Young School Office of Academic Assistance (Second Floor, 55 Park Place). Senior walk-in hours include: Monday & Thursday 2:30-4, Tuesday & Wednesday 9:30-11:00. Appointment hours: Tuesday & Wednesday 2:00-4:00, Thursday 9:00-11:00; to schedule an appointment, call (404-413-0021).

All internship applications will be reviewed by the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies’ Office of Academic Assistance (OAA) to determine students’ academic eligibility. If a student meets all requirements (GPA, course requirements, etc.) the application will be forwarded to the Internship Coordinator in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology for final review.

Participating agencies have different requirements and deadlines for students applying to intern. Many federal and state agencies require students to begin the placement process with them at least 6 to 8 months or even up to 12 months prior to the semester in which the student plans to intern. County, municipal, and private sector agencies also vary in their application requirements, with some requiring students to apply several months in advance, while others may require only a few weeks or days to complete the placement process.

Agencies also have different requirements regarding the number of hours that a student must work each week while interning and some non-governmental agencies require a full year’s commitment. If a student accepts a placement with an agency that requires completion of a greater number of hours than required by the Department, the student must complete the agreed upon hours in order to successfully pass CRJU 4935/4940.

Students desiring to intern with the City of Atlanta Police Department should take special note of the information on the iCollege site and follow those instructions carefully. Initial applications to the Atlanta Police Department require: (1) driver’s license, (2) reviewed resume, and (3) the internship letter distributed at the General Orientation Meeting and available on iCollege. Because the City of Atlanta Police Department does not perform background checks until approximately thirty (30) days before commencement of the internship, upon request they will provide a provisional acceptance to the Internship Coordinator.

It is the student’s responsibility to find an approved placement. Students should consult the iCollege list but are also free to identify and explore other sites. Sites on iCollege are pre-approved; however, new sites must be criminal justice-related and approved by the Internship Coordinator. While the Internship Coordinator will assist students by identifying the types of agencies that are appropriate and providing them with agency contacts (if available), it is up to the student to contact agencies, request an interview, and secure a placement. To facilitate this process, students are encouraged to research agencies online prior to applying for criminal justice internships and learn what is involved in the agency’s placement process.

Placing a student with an agency takes a good deal of time, effort, coordination, and agency resources. Several deadlines are imposed on students to facilitate their success. These deadlines are announced in advance both on iCollege and at the mandatory General Orientation Meeting and are designed to assure that all aspects of each placement are handled in a timely and efficient manner. Students who fail to comply with the deadlines that are imposed will not be permitted to enroll in CRJU 4935/4940 during the semester that they had originally planned. It should be carefully noted the FILE COMPLETION DEADLINE at the beginning of this document is  NEVER EXTENDED.

A completed internship file contains; (1) A reviewed resume, (2) A completed internship form for the semester, (3) confirmation of placement from the host agency clearly denoting; (A) the student’s name, (B) the semester of intended internship, (C) the actual start date which can be no earlier than the Monday before the semester begins nor later than the Monday after the semester actually begins, (D) the ending week as noted in the Important Dates File for the intended year of internship which can be found under Content, Important Dates on iCollege, (E) that the student must complete at least 160 field placement hours in roughly equal weekly increments over an 11-week period in spring or fall or a 9-week period in summer.

Students are responsible for reading and understanding the policies and procedures of the internship program, which are contained in the Undergraduate Internship Handbook. If a student has a question about the internship program, the student should first consult the Undergraduate Internship Handbook and iCollege site and if the answer is not found, after diligent effort, then the student should contact their academic adviser or the Internship Coordinator. 

The Weekly Activity Log (and other forms) can be found on the iCollege site. Students must complete a separate Weekly Activity Log for each week that they perform field placement hours. The field placement supervisor must sign each week’s form at the bottom. If working with a different supervisor, each day’s hours should be signed by the daily supervisor on that day’s line. It is the student’s responsibility to keep track of their Weekly Activity Logs. Students should make copies of each week’s Log as that is the only evidence of completion of the required number of field placement hours.

At the midpoint of the semester, original, signed Activity Logs must be uploaded to the course iCollege site in a single, chronologically ordered PDF file. At the end of the semester, all Activity Logs for the entire semester must be uploaded to the course iCollege site in a single, chronologically ordered PDF file.

At the conclusion of the internship, students are required to complete the Student Evaluation of Internship Experience, which asks their opinion of whether they gained valuable practical experience, knowledge, and/or skills as a result of the internship experience with their assigned agency. The information is used to help determine whether future students should continue to be referred to the agency for placement, and to improve the overall internship program.

At the conclusion of the internship placement, agencies are requested to complete the Agency Evaluation of Criminal Justice Intern survey, which assesses students on several measures including work readiness, academic and professional growth and development, and level of professionalism. The survey results will be considered by the Internship Coordinator and used to better prepare GSU criminal justice students for the internship program.