As a campus-wide, student-led organization, CJSA is comprised of UA undergraduate and graduate students who share a common interest: all things criminal justice! Through the various guest speakers, tours, community service projects, and “brown bags” it sponsors, CJSA provides its members with the following benefits:
- Access to criminal justice agencies and knowledgeable professionals not normally provided in a typical CJ course;
- Up-to-date information on current criminal justice employment opportunities and trends;
- Education on how to prepare for graduate school, law school, and the criminal justice workforce; and
- Opportunities to complete service projects that benefit the wider community.
In fall 2003, CJSA became active for the first time since 1992. We are continuing to grow with a plethora of support from active members, faculty, and members of the criminal justice community. In the past, we have hosted guest speakers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Alabama Supreme Court, the Birmingham Police Department, and other agencies.
During fall 2011, we elected new officers, added roughly 30 new members to our ranks, and we sponsored the following four (4) major activities:
- On November 1, 2011, we began a book drive to benefit the juvenile delinquents housed in the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Detention Facility. The facility has a very small library that contains outdated books. Our goal is to secure an additional book shelf for the library, as well as donate 300 new or gently used (nonviolent) books that the youth can check out of the library and read in their cells.
- On November 4, 2011, we sponsored two guest speakers from the Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit. Investigator Toby Banks (Tuscaloosa Police Department) and Investigator Jimmy Horner (UA Police Department) spoke to roughly 45 undergraduate and graduate students about the crimes they cover, the types of things they learned on the job that they did not learn in school, the scope of the unit in which they work, their training and educational background, and discernible trends in crime since the April 2011 tornado. As members of the Metro Homicide Unit, they are responsible for investigating suspicious deaths in the City of Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County, as well as rape and other sex crimes.
- Members of CJSA toured the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Detention Facility on November 7, 2011. Undergraduate CJ major, Mrs. Tonya Hutto, who completed her CJ 395 internship at the facility, facilitated the tour. CJSA members spoke with male and female youth who were being detained; toured intake and the library (for which we are facilitating the book drive), control room, kitchen, recreational area, and various pods on site; and spoke with correctional staff about the facility.
- During lunch on December 7, CJSA held a “brown bag” on graduate school for interested members. CJSA Advisor Dr. Howell and a representative from the UA Graduate School spoke on issues of program eligibility, the admissions process, assistantships and funding, academic rigor, and completion of a curriculum vita.
During spring 2012, we plan to facilitate four (4) major activities:
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Continue the book drive (roughly 150 books donated since early February 2012!) that is benefiting the juveniles detained in the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Detention Center;
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Offer two (2) “brown bags:” (1) How to write a marketable resume or curriculum vita (for graduate school) and (2) Topic to be determined;
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Sponsor two guest presentations (one from the DEA) from professionals in federal law enforcement; and
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Support Alpha Phi Sigma’s annual CJ Career Fair, to be held Wednesday, April 25, from 10-3 pm in the Ballroom of the Ferguson Center.
Membership in CJSA is not bound by major or program of study. Any UA student may join. Member dues are $20 per year. Applications can be picked up outside the CJ Secretary’s Office (432-C Farrah Hall). Completed applications can be placed in Dr. Howell’s departmental mailbox (inside room 432-C Farrah Hall). If you are interested in becoming a member, or would like more information about the organization, feel free to contact one of the following Officers:
President: John Holmes - jeholmes1@crimson.ua.edu
Vice-President: Alex Cole - awcole@crimson.ua.edu
Secretary: Mary Anderson - meanderson2@crimson.ua.edu
Treasurer: Sam Jordan - sjordan13@crimson.ua.edu
Advisor: Dr. Rebecca Howell - rjhowell@ua.edu
