[music]
[Diane Young]: I'm glad you're interested
in our Criminal Justice major.
We have a unique major.
It was created based on the community's 
expressed need
for more Bachelor's level trained 
Criminal Justice professionals.
At the time, we were Social Work 
faculty,
and we saw an opportunity to create 
a unique Criminal Justice major.
One that emphasizes Social Justice
and emphasizes restorative and 
rehabilitative responses to crime,
and to the criminal justice system.
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[Alissa Ackerman]: What it means to teach a 
course for the Social Justice lens
is to always be aware of the effects 
of Criminal Justice systems
on individuals.
[Derby-McCurtain]: When people tell me 
there are other programs out there
that don't teach Criminal Justice from 
that lens,
it confuses me because I think that
it's very important, again, the power
that we give the Criminal Justice system,
the police prosecuters, especially,
it's important to keep Social Justice 
in mind.
[Madfis]: Great deal of our focus is also
on mutual emergent alternative 
paradigms and perspectives
for understanding the causes of crime.
We'll talk about new insight from 
critical race theory.
From feminist criminology, from 
cultural criminology.
From post modern criminology, and 
from peacemaking criminology
among many others.
[Andrea Hill]: It emphasizes a really 
kind of useful
on-the-ground way of understanding
Criminal Justice.
So, not looking at the individual parts 
of the Criminal Justice system,
and looking at the entire Criminal 
Justice system
as a social institution with many 
interrelated parts.
[Barb Toews]: To understand the 
connections between
economic disparity, racial disparity,
low and lack of education,
access to social services, and health 
resources.
And how those play into why crime 
happens and how we respond
after crime happens.
[Alissa Ackerman]: So, each course in 
our program emphasizes diversity.
So, for instance in the adult corrections 
class
at a typical university, you might learn 
what it means to be a correctional officer.
But here at the University of Washington 
Tacoma,
the focus really is on the racial 
disproportionality that we see in the system,
and the effects of that on communities 
of color.
[Jerry Flores]: We really need to 
understand
how the nuances of every community 
are unique,
and how we can become uniquely
able to serve them
and to help them, and to help empower 
these groups.
[Derby-McCurtain]: I'm always looking 
at it from a frame
that I am helping to shape future 
professionals
that are going to go out and they're 
gonna be police and prosecuters,
defense, probation.
They have to do their jobs in ways 
that is unbiased
and without prejudice.
[Andrea Hill]: Community partnerships 
are really important
to the CJ cirriculum here,
and that's one of the things that makes 
the Criminal Justice program
at UW Tacoma really valuable.
Students are encouraged to interact 
with the communities.
It's often a requirement for many 
courses.
[Madfis]: In our research course 
for example,
you'll often be asked to engage 
in what's called participatory action research.
Which means you actually go out into
your local community
in various community organizations, law enforcement,
detention centers,
and do some research there, and gain 
some real knowledge about
what's going on in those programs.
Help you better understand Criminal 
Justice policies and practice.
[Janelle Hawes]: I like to bring in guest 
speakers from the community.
So, I have someone that comes from 
the Pierce County Jail.
I have someone that comes from the 
base.
I have people from other organizations 
that come in
and really provide some real-life 
examples.
[Jerry Flores]: I helped connect different Criminal 
Justice
and different local institutions with the 
students in my class.
And really encouraging them to do 
volunteer work
because one thing I realize is for 
students
who are attempting to find employment,
having internship volunteer opportunities 
is key.
We're able to create an interdisciplinary 
multifaceted, multidimensional major
that allows students to gain knowledge
about what's going on in the world
and also gives them the skills and the ability 
to themselves to go out in the community
and shape how they want the world to be.
