Criminal justice class opens eyes with unique experiences

On Thursday nights, about sixty Hopkins students pile into a mid-sized lecture hall in Hodson ready for a three-hour lecture in a course called Criminal Justice and Corrections. Their real lesson however, does not take place in the classroom, but rather in local courtrooms, police cars, detention centers, and state hospitals.

Instructed for over thirty years by Steven Harris, now the Public Defender of the State of Maryland, the course was conceived in the 1970s by then Hopkins chaplain Chester Wickwire. A busy social activist, Wickwire approached Harris about ways to expose Hopkins students to social concerns of the community, particularly issues involving the dissemination of legal services to the poor. The program began as a series of lectures held in the Levering's Great Hall, but grew to include field trips, internships, and an academic course in the sociology department. "It gradually evolved into a course with academic content, but it was always meant to be a hands-on experience," Harris said.

Over the years, Harris's students have been required to complete a variety of hands-on projects with focuses on several areas of the justice system. Much on the syllabus for this semester's course focuses on issues of juvenile justice. In addition to an internship, completed at sites like Baltimore's Juvenile Justice Center, students must visit the District Court of Maryland, a criminal court, a juvenile court, and have the option of traveling to the U.S. District Court of Maryland. They are also required to see the Baltimore City Detention Center, the Charles Hickey School and the Clifton T. Perkins State Hospital. Students may also opt to go on a ride-along with a Baltimore police officer and at times hear from guest speakers during their lectures.

While not all students knew about the nontraditional projects that they'd have to complete when signing up for the course, many have found them quite appealing. "The hands-on stuff is what makes the course," said junior Cait Murphy, a student interested in pursuing law as a career. "The stuff we get to do is something I'd never get to do on my own."

Junior Matt Dragon agrees that such teaching methods are a good way to address the topic of the course. "I think it's good because it's the kind of thing you haven't experienced," he said. "It's a lot more valuable than just hearing someone talk."

In addition to exposing students to conditions in and procedures of various legal offices, the course is designed so that students may see the system at work and come up with their own conclusions. "You do your reading. You have these experiences," Harris said. "Then you make up your own mind." He also noted that the social concerns he forces students to grapple with are ones that are important for everyone to consider. "These problems are not going to go away," he said.

Harris also feels that the course is one that may be particularly useful for students at Hopkins. "It does get them off campus and into police cars and into courts," he said.

Harris also recalled a class discussion where he raised questions about why crimes are committed and asked students if they could imagine themselves committing a crime. He set up a scenario where students had to imagine that their mother was dying and they had to get to D.C. to see her. Students were to imagine having no money and the opportunity to easily steal a car. Harris recalls that one student's response to the dilemma was, "I can't imagine not having any money," and that she told the class that she always has at least a credit card with her. "The people I defend don't have credit cards," Harris said, "or credit, or bank accounts."

These class discussions, which are sometimes heated, give students the opportunity to hash out opinions about these issues and discuss what they've seen on trips and in their internships. "I think I'm pretty good at provoking students and playing devil's advocate," Harris said.

Students' reactions to what they've seen so far in the field have varied.

Junior Claire Grossman, for example, was particularly struck by conditions of a holding cell she observed. "It was just horrible. There are all these people crammed into tiny rooms with electric doors and a toilet in the corner," she said. "And these are people who may have done nothing wrong. You can't make bail when you're poor."

Murphy noticed the difference between the legal system she and other students observed and media representations of it. "Its not like it is on TV," she said of the court visits. "Most cases don't go to trial. Court isn't like it looks on Law and Order."

In addition, Dragon has come away with a new perspective on the cyclical nature of the legal systems, especially after viewing bail review hearings. "Every single person had some form of drug related arrest or prior conviction," he said. "The same cop could arrest them three times a week." While he notes that he is not necessarily pessimistic about the ability to change or improve the system, he understands where some individuals might be. "As of now, people see it as hopeless and don't bother with it," he said.

Another element of the system that has been revealed to students is a low proportion of staff expected to complete a large amount of work. "The public defender, the prosecutor, and the police are so overwhelmed," Dragon noted. "None of them have time to do their jobs." Murphy, who shadows a lawyer during her internship at the Juvenile Justice Center notes that spending time with a defendant takes up a small proportion of a lawyer's day. "They do a lot of walking around. They don't get a lot of time with the person they're defending."

The course is also unique in the variety of majors of the students enrolled. Harris commented that he is unaware of another program in the country where such a course topic is offered to students in all disciplines. "You don't have to be pre-law or a criminal justice major. They run the gamut," he said. "I don't expect everyone to go to law school, but hopefully its thought-provoking.

Harris has, however, seen the long-term impact of his class for those who do choose to enter the field of criminal justice. Two of his former students work in the Public Defenders Office. "It makes me feel as though I've done something," he said. "Still after all these years, I believe in what I do and there's got to be a next generation. Here's the next generation."