Internship Case Study

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Internships completed by students in certain degree programs are quite popular in most colleges and universities. An internship is used so classroom based learning in a degree program can be applied to practical situations in the real world (Jordan, Burns, Bedard & Barringer, 2007). When students are placed with an agency, there is a real possibility that a portion of students will witness actions they believe is unethical or illegal. During a study conducted within four universities, many students that participated in an internship program within the criminal justice system reported that they had observed behavior they suspected to be illegal behavior for a law enforcement agency. (Jordan et al. 2007). Due to this ongoing problem, colleges …show more content…

Many programs focus on the use of workbooks and assigned reading to help educate the student on the appropriate ethical standards of an internship within specific agencies (Jordan et al. 2007). Internship manuals given to each student at the beginning of the program present and discuss precise instructions on how to handle unethical and questionable behaviors. Without these programs, many students would not be sure how to handle situations in an appropriate manner and may create issues within the workplace (Jordan et al. 2007). Situations that may be reported include, but are not limited to, excessive force, sexual harassment, and sleeping on duty (Jordan et al. …show more content…

The information in this study was provided with complete confidentiality surveying 463 students by mail. Surveys were sent out giving the receiver postage-paid return, a letter from the school, as well as from the investigator explaining the process to ensure the reliability of the system (Jordan et al. 2007). Out of the surveys delivered, only 125 responses were returned. Given the nature of the investigation, students who witnessed misconduct on a regular basis were more likely to return the surveys (Jordan et al. 2007). Each schools percentages of return rates were rated from high to low by calculating the amount of students surveyed and the amount of students who returned them in an accurate amount of time (Jordan et al.

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