Criminal Justice—A Restorative, Hands-On Approach

“At Geneva College, we focus wholeheartedly on the restorative justice piece of criminal justice. We don’t just focus on the incarceration piece, “says Dr. Millie Johnson, Professor of Criminal Justice. “We actually turn the table and ask students, ‘What do we do for people when they get out of the system?’”

Geneva encourages criminal justice students to look at people leaving the system as people who have sinned, and challenges them to seek ways to help people to fulfill what Jesus has called them to be in life.
Johnson says that she also focuses on the entrepreneurship side of justice, which involves the establishment of programs designed to help restore people who have left the system. “If there isn’t a program of some kind to support someone, it becomes an issue of reintegration into crime because they know nothing else.”

The criminal justice curriculum provides students with real-world experience to help them to fully understand the potential roles they will be filling as part of the criminal justice system. This includes inviting speakers from all parts of the field, trips to see working police stations and now mock crime scenes.

Mock Crime Scene Photo

The first mock crime scene, which took place this fall, allowed students to gain valuable hands-on experience as they assumed roles in a scenario and worked to provide care, as well as collect evidence. When asked how students interacted with the scene, Johnson explained, “They did everything. I wanted them to create the entire crime scene, which included police officers, investigators and a coroner. Everybody had a part.”

Students collected, labelled and placed evidence in bags. Johnson said, “I wanted students to get an opportunity to see the procedures of how a crime scene operates. Once they are in the field they need to understand what it’s like to be a law enforcement officer and to be the first reporting officer, so I wanted them to get an actual feel for what it’s like to arrive on a crime scene and to be able to render care and do your job at the same time in the midst of chaos.”

Mock Crime Scene Photo

“They handled it very well,” says Johnson regarding the students’ performance. “You would have thought it was a live scene. They did everything very professionally. I’m so proud of them.”

—Brett Williams ’16

October 2015

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