The Impact of Applied Learning in Criminal Justice: How Does Visiting an Actual CJ Agency Affect A Student’s Career Plan?

The final project/paper for the students of the Introduction to Criminal Justice class at Missouri Western State University is an applied learning activity intended to have students visit the actual worksite of a criminal justice agency to not only learn about the agency and their functions, but to also help them come to know if they really want to major in and pursue a career in criminal justice. Using qualitative content analysis of direct quotes from dozens of these papers over the past ten years, we come to the conclusion that this applied learning visit is very helpful in assisting students to know whether or not a job in law enforcement is something they really want to do.