| Abstract: | Many criminal justice (CJ) undergraduates earn academic credit for completing internships. There is widespread recognition that these activities offer a range of potential benefits for students, yet many questions remain unanswered. The extent to which students and agency supervisors differ in their views about internships, for example, has thus far gone unexamined. This study, based on self-report surveys, explores these differences. Specifically, we compare how student and agency supervisors evaluate the importance of internships and the benefits commonly associated with them. With the goal of determining how long it takes to realize these benefits, we also examine opinions about the optimal duration of internships. Findings suggest that while students and their agency supervisors generally agree that internships are an important component of an undergraduate education in CJ and that a considerable amount of time must be invested to achieve the primary benefits, they tend to prioritize these benefits differently. |
