Crime doesn’t pay, but studying it at NSU might.
The Criminal Justice Club is organizing a week of events to increase understanding of criminal justice careers and drug use in the U.S. from March 14 to 16.
Criminal Justice Week will include a panel discussion on drugs in the U.S., a job fair for criminal justice careers and a movie night featuring films on drug-related issues.
Representatives from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the Hollywood Police Department, the Ft. Lauderdale Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the military and NSU Public Safety will attend the job fair. The Broward Sheriff’s office will bring a mobile crime lab, a SWAT armored truck, a fire truck and a K-9 unit.
Jacob Caprioni, senior criminal justice major and president of the criminal justice club, said almost all NSU majors can relate to criminal justice. He said that artists can work in criminal justice drawing police sketches, and dentists can work in criminal justice identifying tooth prints.
“There are many different things you can be doing [in criminal justice] that don’t put your life at risk,” Caprioni stated.
Shanae Brown, junior criminal justice major and historian of the criminal justice club, said she hopes the job fair will help her decide what career path in criminal justice to take.
“I hope people learn more about criminal justice,” she said. “When people think about it, they think about law enforcement. But there’s a lot more you can do.”
The panel discussion on drug use in the U.S. will include Jim Hall, a drug abuse epidemiologist at NSU, whom CBS and CNN interviewed because of his research on flakka, a synthetic drug that grew popular in Broward County in 2015.
Caprioni said that it’s important for students considering a career in criminal justice to be informed about drug issues.
“A lot of people in the criminal justice system are there because of drug violations, whether because of a small amount of marijuana or pounds of cocaine,” Caprioni said. “Whether you go into a judicial or police role, there won’t be a day where you won’t deal with something that has to do with drugs.”
At the movie night, the criminal justice club will play “The Real Walter White,” a documentary about the real-life inspiration for the “Breaking Bad” character, and “Stoned Kids,” a film about a town in Oregon where marijuana is legal.
Caprioni said that criminal justice is often viewed in a negative light, and he hopes that the job fair will promote a more positive understanding of law enforcement, as well as other criminal justice careers.
“Everyone sees videos of police officers doing stuff that they shouldn’t be, and there’s a lot of racial bias in those videos, but those videos are only from the perspective of the person filming,” Caprioni said. “They don’t know what happened prior. Not every cop is bad and out to get everybody.”
For more information about Criminal Justice Week, contact Caprioni at jc3262@nova.edu.
Criminal Justice Week Calendar
March 14—Panel discussion 5 p.m. @ UC Pit
March 15—Job fair 12 p.m. @ UC and Shark Circle
March 16—Movie night 5 p.m. @ Flight Deck
