I love working with offenders and wanted to go into that field of work. I thought Criminology would be a good degree to equip me to do that in the future. I had already worked with young offenders on some estates in London last year when I was doing volunteer work with a Christian organisation, so after having tried it I knew I wanted to work in that area.
As a Christian I felt like Coventry was the right place to come. I can’t really explain why but it felt right. When I came for the open day, the course leader explained what the course was all about and it sounded interesting. It has really met the criteria of what I was looking for. There is a lot of research involved but I really enjoy doing that.
I particularly enjoy the workshops where we sit down in groups and discuss an issue. Like, we might talk about prisons, and whether prisons work and the implications and ethical issues behind that. There is a good balance between lectures and seminars but a lot of the work is done off your own back and going away and doing the reading - which I love doing.
As a first year I am looking forward to going into more depth with the work, which is scary but good at the same time as I like to be challenged.
The staff have got a lot of experience. Some of them have worked in serious organisations – like Tony (Colombo) has worked with the FBI and it is the same for the other lecturers. It is not just someone with a degree; they have actually got to a position where they can speak with authority in the classroom. They are all very, very good and I am not just saying that. They know what they are talking about.
I’d love to work with young offenders in the future as I have a real heart for that area but working with offenders in general is something I would want to do. I’m working with Victim Support at the moment and have just done training with them so even working with victims is something I could see myself doing. I don’t have a specific career in mind at the moment but just something in that area. Next year I will be able to pick what modules I want to do and that will allow me to specialise a bit more.
The course is quite specific but if you have a real want to work in the area of crime then I would say definitely do it.
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