During the fall 2003 semester 96 criminal justice students completed 1116 hours of co

During the fall 2003 semester 96 criminal justice students completed 1116 hours of community service within the region under the instruction of Dr. Mark Davids, chair and assistant professor of criminal justice. The goals of requiring community service by students are twofold. The first goal is to get the future criminal justice practitioner prepared and willing to provide his or her services free-of-charge for those in need, whether for an individual or an agency. Second, it provides some insight into the vast array of organizations that compose the administration of justice. Through this selfless act of volunteering, the student appreciates his or her own worth in addition to the needs of others. Students can attain the knowledge of terms and models through research in the classroom, but learning to apply them in the field is critical and oftentimes difficult. The result of fieldwork in community service at the university level is a person who is morally, culturally, and socially prepared to meet the requirements of the criminal justice system. The student learns to apply course material while acquiring an interest in an area of practice possibly unknown to him or her before.