Criminal Justice Internship Programs: Requirements and Opportunities

For individuals captivated by the intricacies of law, crime, and justice, a career in criminal justice can be incredibly rewarding. While a college degree in fields like criminology, forensic sciences, law, or criminal justice provides a strong foundation, practical experience is invaluable for standing out in the competitive job market. Criminal justice internships offer the hands-on experience necessary to pave the path toward a fulfilling career.

The Value of Criminal Justice Internships

Internships bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world application. They provide students with opportunities to apply classroom knowledge in a practical setting, develop essential skills, and gain exposure to various career paths within the criminal justice system. These experiences often lead to job offers upon graduation, providing a significant advantage in the job search. Our students' most valuable learning experiences often occur when they are required to apply classroom learning in a field setting.

Types of Criminal Justice Internships

The field of criminal justice offers a diverse range of internship opportunities, catering to various interests and career aspirations. Here are some of the most popular options:

1. Law Enforcement Internships

These internships provide exposure to practical policing tasks within local, state, and federal agencies, such as municipal and state police departments and sheriff’s offices. For example, the Delaware State Police offers an internship program that includes shadowing a state trooper on the job and going on a ride-along experience.

Future Employment Opportunities: City or county police officer, state trooper, detective, or criminal investigator (with additional experience).
Salary Outlook: The median range for police officers and detectives is $66,020 per year. Detectives and criminal investigators earn $83,640, while police and sheriff’s patrol officers earn $64,610.
Skills Needed: Communication, teamwork, knowledge of legal codes. Great verbal communication can help you effectively speak with other law enforcement professionals and everyday citizens. Law enforcement professionals work in teams. A knowledge of local, state, and federal law can give you an edge.

2. Correctional Internships

These internships support professional corrections officers working in prisons, jails, courtrooms, and probation services. For example, the Minnesota Department of Corrections offers probation officer internships where interns work directly with parolees (under supervision) and learn how to assess risk levels, provide referrals, and check compliance with parole terms (like administering drug testing).

Read also: Curriculum Overview

Future Employment Opportunities: Correctional officer, bailiff, or probation officer.
Salary Outlook: The median salary for correctional officers and bailiffs is $47,920 per year. Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists earn a bit more, with a median pay of $60,250 per year.
Skills Needed: Ability to remain calm under pressure, physical fitness, good people skills. Working in corrections can be stressful, so resilience and keeping cool under pressure are essential skills. Corrections roles may require long periods of standing, walking, and physical interaction. Corrections officers may interact with incarcerated criminals, their families, and members of the general public, as well as lawyers, judges, and social workers.

3. Legal Internships

These internships are available with law firms, public defenders’ offices, district attorneys’ offices, and nonprofit organizations. For example, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office offers legal internships where interns work with staff to help investigate and prosecute criminal cases, provide victim support, and research legislation.

Future Employment Opportunities: Lawyer (law firm, public defender), assistant district attorney, or district attorney (with additional experience).
Salary Outlook: The median salary range for lawyers is $127,990 per year. State and local government lawyers earn about $100,000, while the top 10% of lawyers - usually those employed for private law firms - earn more than $208,000.
Skills Needed: Research skills, critical thinking, legal knowledge. Working in the field may involve researching legal codes and doing investigative research on cases. Many law jobs require problem-solving abilities, as you have to determine how to best serve the client. Relevant legal knowledge is a must. For example, those working in the Manhattan DA’s office should know New York’s laws.

4. Victim Services Internships

These internships involve working in organizations that support victims of crimes, including nongovernmental and not-for-profit organizations, public law enforcement agencies, and governmentally funded crisis centers. For example, the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance offers a victim services internship program where, under supervision, interns support crime victims through crisis intervention, advocacy, and referrals to community resources.

Future Employment Opportunities: Career in victim services in the public or private sector, Federal Witness Protection Program.
Salary Outlook: The salary range for victims advocates generally ranges from $48,335 to $66,650. The average salary is $56,365.
Skills Needed: Compassion, listening skills, resilience. You must empathize with victims. Active listening skills help victims feel seen and heard. Working with victims may mean hearing about trauma, which requires resilience.

5. Advocacy Internships

These internships are with organizations involved in criminal justice reform, such as the Innocence Project, Citizens for Juvenile Justice, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). For example, the ACLU offers advocacy internships that involve researching legislation, lobbying decision-makers, and raising awareness.

Future Employment Opportunities: Lobbyist, communications officer, policy adviser, or advocacy specialist with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), like nonprofits.
Salary Outlook: The average salary for advocacy and human rights organizations employees is $63,000 per year.
Skills Needed: Persistence, excellent communication abilities, teamwork. You must be patient when trying to push change. Communicating arguments in writing and speech will make you a better advocate. Change is never achieved by one person alone. Be ready to collaborate with other advocacy workers, legislators, and the public.

6. Forensics Internships

These internships are ideal for criminal justice students wanting internship credits in forensics. Opportunities can be found with local crime labs and national forensic science organizations, like the FBI’s Forensic Science Research and Training Center. For example, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in Oklahoma City offers investigative, intelligence, and forensic services - and internships. Forensic Specialist II V. Unique to those students pursuing a career in forensic science who want to gain hands-on experience in a crime lab.

Future Employment Opportunities: Forensic science technician.
Salary Outlook: The median salary for forensic specialists is $61,930 per year. The highest 10% of earners make more than $103,430.
Skills Needed: Detail-oriented, independent, good record-keeper. You have to abide by strict lab protocols. Every detail counts. A lot of forensics work means working in a lab independently. Keeping accurate records of testing procedures, results, and consequent analyses is essential.

7. Research Internships

These internships are suited for individuals who enjoy research and are available with criminal justice research institutions, think tanks, or government agencies dealing with criminal justice policy and implementation. For example, criminal justice agencies like the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) offer research-based internships.

Future Employment Opportunities: Researcher, program officer, advocate, or policy-maker.
Salary Outlook: Criminal research roles pay from $54,863 to $66,362, on average. The median salary is $58,453.
Skills Needed: Keen research skills, attention to detail, great communication skills, analytical mindset. Research roles mean going through dense texts, like legislative documents, without missing key points. Communicating research results in writing and verbally makes your research meaningful. Researchers may also have to analyze their work to draw conclusions.

8. Cybercrime Internships

With the rise of cybercrime, these internships are increasingly important and can be found with law enforcement agencies like the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the FBI’s Cyber Division, and private cybersecurity firms. Municipal bodies may also have cybercrime initiatives, like the City of Tacoma.

Future Employment Opportunities: Cybersecurity analyst or information security analyst.
Salary Outlook: The median salary is $102,600 per year, with the top 10% of earners netting more than $165,920.
Skills Needed: Good time management, superior problem-solving, ability to work well under pressure, technical skills. Cybercrime experts may tackle multiple projects at once, making multitasking a must. Critically thinking about crimes like hacks and data breaches and coming up with solutions is useful. Cybercrime can be a stressful field.

9. Juvenile Justice Internships

These internships are for those who want to help young people and can be found with juvenile detention centers, probation offices, and youth advocacy groups. For example, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice offers internship opportunities in areas like communication, policy, and legal research.

Future Employment Opportunities: Probation officer or advocacy work in the juvenile justice system.
Salary Outlook: The average juvenile justice officer earns $43,416 per year, with salaries ranging from $37,076 to $50,964 annually.
Skills Needed: Liking young people, great listening skills, empathy, patience. Actively listening and communicating with people like juvenile offenders will take you far. Having compassion for the youths you work with is a must. Working with young people can be stressful. Patience helps.

10. International Criminal Justice Internships

For those interested in working across borders, these internships are available with agencies like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) or INTERPOL. You can even gain work experience abroad. While INTERPOL has offices in Washington, D.C., it also has in-person internship sites in Singapore and Lyon.

Future Employment Opportunities: Criminal intelligence officer, IT disaster recovery manager, or legal counsel with international agencies.
Salary Outlook: Salaries for international agencies like UNODC and INTERPOL are regulated based on a payscale, ranging according to grade, step, and location.
Skills Needed: Language skills, collaborative mindset, excellent research abilities. French is a must-have skill if you want to work abroad in a place like Lyon, France, for example. International criminal agencies collaborate with law enforcement bodies worldwide. Conducting investigative research into various legal codes, criminal case files, and more is part of the role.

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (“CEOS”) Internship

The Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (“CEOS”) and its forensic High Technology Investigative Unit (“HTIU”) are the nation’s experts in investigating and prosecuting high-technology federal child exploitation cases and crimes. CEOS Trial Attorneys and HTIU Digital Investigative Analysts lead the Department of Justice’s efforts to improve the enforcement of federal child exploitation laws and prevent the exploitation of children. CEOS and HTIU investigate and prosecute all federal child exploitation cases including those involving the production, sale, and trafficking in child pornography, the sex trafficking of minors, and United States citizens who engage in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.

Job Description: Interns will assist paralegal and attorney staff in performing legal and factual research and other closely related duties of a complex nature in support of the investigation and prosecution of complex criminal matters. This includes: digesting substantive materials and transcriptions of trial testimony or witness interviews; compiling, indexing, duplicating, and collating documents; reviewing and analyzing information, including statistical data, relevant to criminal cases and matters; preparing memoranda, discovery and other documents for attorneys; conducting factual research for a variety of purposes; preparing tables of contents, indexes for legal briefs, memoranda, and other such documents; specific problems and issues raised in litigation or correspondence; and performing a variety of other duties which may be assigned.
Commitment: Spring and fall applicants must be available to work at least 24 hours per week (across at least 3 days) for a minimum of 10 weeks. The summer internship is full-time (at least 32 hours across 5 days per week). This is a fully in-person internship.
Qualifications: Only junior and senior students may apply. Students must be enrolled either full-time or part-time in a college, university, or comparable educational institution. Students must be in good standing academically and eligible to continue as an enrolled student during the internship. The ideal candidate thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative work environment, possesses strong writing and communication skills, demonstrates proficiency dealing with Internet and computer technologies and produces high quality academic results, evidenced by a “B”/3.0 (or better) Grade Point Average. All offers require obtaining a proper security clearance after a review conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

General Internship Requirements and Considerations

Regardless of the specific internship type, several general requirements and considerations apply:

Academic Standing: Most internships require students to be in good academic standing, with a minimum GPA.
Course Credit: Many internships are designed to provide academic credit, requiring students to be enrolled in a related course. Everyone is required to complete six credit hours of an internship. You can also take an additional three or six credit hours of internship credit. If you take additional hours, you can do them during the same semester with the same agency.
Time Commitment: Internships range from 145 to 300 hours and typically involve at least four hours per day, up to five days per week. Because this is an unpaid program, scheduling is designed with flexibility in mind. Spring and fall applicants for CEOS must be available to work at least 24 hours per week (across at least 3 days) for a minimum of 10 weeks. The summer internship is full-time (at least 32 hours across 5 days per week).
Application Process: The application process typically involves submitting a resume, cover letter, and transcript. Some agencies may also require a background check and interview. Upon completion of these tasks an in-person interview will be scheduled. If selected, the HR process will then begin.
Flexibility: Scheduling is designed with flexibility in mind, particularly for unpaid programs.
Location: You can intern near campus, your home community, or out of state.

Finding Internship Opportunities

Several resources can help students find criminal justice internships:

University Career Services: UMKC Career Services offers support in resume and cover letter development to enhance your applications.
Department Internship Coordinators: You need to schedule a mandatory internship meeting with Megan Patterson, the Internship Coordinator, one year out from your internship.
Online Job Boards: Handshake can help you find the perfect match. Set up your profile and start getting job alerts today.
Networking: Building relationships with faculty and advisors can lead to internship opportunities. Excelling in academics, building relationships with faculty and advisors, engaging in extracurricular activities, and taking on leadership roles are crucial.
Personal Research: You can always complete your own research. Think about what you want to do and what agency would be a good fit. Canvas: Check out the CJS Internships, Jobs & Careers, and Professional Development Spreadsheet in the CJS-STU-002 Canvas page.

Examples of Internship Experiences

Officer P. Reh participated in the KCPD Internship Program before attending the Police Academy.
Officer P. Reh participated in the KCPD Internship Program before attending the Police Academy.
Grace helped on real cases, did real investigative work in conjunction with the special agents, the task force officers, the professional staff.
Joshua worked with bank statements, working with forensic accountants, and doing a lot of things actually that apply to his major and he’s really been able to use what he learned at school and apply it here.
Laura worked more specifically on the cyber squad usually work with our CART team, which is our Computer Analysis Response Team. And they’re our digital forensic examiners for the office. So anytime there is a computer or tablet or phone involved in an investigation, CART goes out on the search warrants and seizes it and then they are trained in processing the evidence so that the case agents can review it and we can maintain a good chain of custody on it.

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