The interweaving of sociology and criminal justice is developed in this essay. An explanation of how both academic knowledge and hands on experience in the two disciplines was gained is also described. In addition, past and present learning and performance, as well as future goals, are treated. My essay details the importance of an Individualized Studies Program with a combined concentration of Criminal Justice and Sociology at Charter Oak State College to further my career development.
My primary reason for pursuing an Individualized Studies Program degree is to further develop my career in the criminal justice system, a career that has spanned more than 20 years. Currently I am a child care worker in the Department of Children Youth Services of Hamden, Connecticut helping children deal with their emotional disorders. My previous employment involved counseling to young people that aimed to provide structure, stability and a sense of direction to their lives in order to cut down on their behavior problems and to hopefully prevent future criminal acts. I also was a counselor for adult federal and state parolees and again, my objective was to provide the kind of thoughtful counseling that would prevent recidivism.
The courses I have taken that focus on the Individualized Studies degree I want to achieve emphasize the American Justice System in relation to prevailing social forces and crime prevention. The current thinking in criminal justice is that an individual's involvement in criminal enterprise bears a direct relationship to poverty, unemployment, education and culture. As John Hagan wrote in 1993:
Sociological criminology is undergoing a theoretical transformation that is energized in part by the new ethnographies of poverty and crime. This transformation involved a new appreciation of connections between cultural and structural sources of crimeà.It frees criminology from a restrictive dependence on an aging group
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