UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

Criminology Internships

 

Dakota County Community Corrections

1560 Hwy 55
Hastings, MN 55033
952-891-7151

https://www.co.dakota.mn.us/Government/Jobs/Volunteering/Pages/community-correction-volunteers.aspx



Interns indicate duties performed

  • Helps supervise sentence to service juvenile crew with an STS crew leader. Experience various aspects of comunity corrections from offender observation to pre-sentence investigation evaluation, to many other areas. Just ask the supervisor, he'll let you do a lot. (2008)
  • violation reports, client case transfers, client office visits, answer phones, CSTS and other computer systems, observe court hearings and different types of probation, conduct LSI risk assessment interviews, internal mail filing, attend meetings and training sessions, etc...(2007)

Students identified positive aspects of this placement

  • Diverse experiences, observing was a huge plus. Also, the contact with the the offenders working on the STS crew every week was very beneficial. (2008)
  • I felt that this placement was perfect for me in that it was close to home. Rob was a good supervisor in that he pushed me to do job tasks that he thought I was capable of even though I did not feel comfortable at first. There was a great deal of independence at this placement as well as a large amount of hands-on activity. (2007)

Students identified difficulties typical in this placement

  • Meeting directly with clients, you do a lot of phone calls, observations and working with offenders on the community work service/sentence to service crew. (2008)
  • My supervisor is a very busy probation officer and had a lot of classes to teach as well as training. At times, it was difficult for me when I would be scheduled/assigned a task and could not ask questions right away(2007)
  • Working with the staff was very positive and a lot of fun. It was a very good on the the job learning experience. (1997)
  • Employees in the corrections dept. were approachable and knowledgeable and were happy to share information, talk about job opportunities, etc. They had great patience as well! I was able to conduct interviews by myself and take responsibility for written reports. The hours were flexible and accommodating. (1996)
  • Lots of experience. Supervisor was very helpful and easy to communicate with. Direct contact with clients. (1995)
  • Definitely the complete hands-on experience. You are expected to do the job, not observe. The entire staff is exceptional in advice and assistance whether they work directly with you or not. (1995
  • There was a lot of down time and not knowing what to do next. The phone rang constantly. There was not much client contact and the work could become boring and monotonous. (1996)
  • Not paid. Often there are many steps to complete a simple process (bureaucracy). Hours were both night and daytime. (1995)
  • The only real difficulty has been learning the rules regarding classification. Staff shared notes and their and there are training manuals available but the finer points are a little more difficult to discover. Do not sit back as people are expected to pull their own weight. (1995)