How did their college experience lead them to their current career?My mentor, Raquel Cohen, attended University of Las Vegas (UNLV) as a criminal justice major. While thinking about what to write for her senior thesis, her teacher suggested writing about innocent people on death row. This was her first exposure to the concept of wrongful incarcerations, and the subject became really interesting to her. Raquel was interning with a judge at the time who spoke highly of their time at California Western Law School. Raquel applied to Cal Western and a relatively new law school in Las Vegas, and was accepted to Cal Western. She ultimately decided to attend Cal Western because of the fact she liked San Diego and that they had a small innocence project inside the school (which would later be known as CIP). During law school she participated in the clinical internship with the innocence project and her interest in false incarcerations grew. She moved to Orange County for a while because of her boyfriend at the time (now husband) and worked various jobs/cases. After a few years, she moved back down to San Diego with her husband and was hired as an independent contractor for California Innocence Project. Once the project received more funding, she was hired as a full time attorney for the project, and has been there ever since. Consider what you have observed and learned about your mentor or other employees at your site, and reflect on your own academic & professional preparation.I've learned from hearing Raquel's story that it's important to find what you're interested in and to take advantage of opportunities. Raquel realized during college that she was interested in wrongful convictions, and took opportunities from that interest that ultimately led her to her current career. Throughout high school I think I have also taken advantage of opportunities surrounding my interests. For instance, my internship last year in Ecuador incorporated my love for children and traveling, and my interest in learning Spanish. My externship with CIP involves my interest with criminology and criminal justice. In college, I need to continue to explore my interests and take opportunities that allow me to delve deeper into my passions in order to see if any of them are careers I'd be interested in pursuing. How has this experience (the externship) made you consider your college path that will ultimately lead to your career?At first, my experience with The California Innocence Project made me consider pursuing criminal law because of how interesting each case is and the fascination I have with the investigations. However, as the time at my internship progressed, I have become less interested in pursuing criminal law because I have realized that I don't like sitting in an office and sifting through paperwork all day. I am still interested in criminology though, and will possibly explore a career in criminal psychology.
0 Comments
How have you advocated for yourself during your externship, or seen advocacy demonstrated in other situations?With an internship at CIP comes an immediate need to develop self advocacy. I still ask as many questions now halfway through my internship experience as I did day one! However, the questions now are less on how to work the printers/scanners and more on decisions regarding individual cases I read through.
Just today, for example, I read a new letter from a case we had closed a year ago in which the inmate suggested he had new evidence to prove his innocence - but he needed help getting it DNA tested. But after looking through his other files, I saw that the "new" evidence had actually been used before. Since I was unsure of a) whether we had the ability to DNA test stuff and b) what to do since the case was closed, I asked Jasmin (one of the CIP staff) how to handle the case. Today I also wrote a reply letter to an inmate, and asked Alissa (attorney) to read it over before I sent it to make sure it was professional and up to CIP standards. Self-advocacy has proved to be an incredibly important skill I have used throughout this internship. At the beginning, asking the attorneys questions intimidated me, so I stuck to just asking my fellow high school interns. But since I have become more comfortable at CIP and with CIP's staff, I am comfortable asking anyone questions and do so often. We aren't allowed to take many photos in the office because of privacy reasons, but here is a photo of all the high school interns that were in the office today.
Are you glad you selected this project/internship?I am very glad I selected this internship with CIP! This internship has given me an insight into what a law career is like and has helped me to understand our justice system. Now in the second week, I've started to get a hang of my responsibilities and CIP's protocol, so I'm beginning to be able to recognize what the documents are that I'm dealing with and being able to use the lingo correctly. If you are being tasked to complete particular jobs at your internship, do you feel like you have enough time to complete them?The interns at CIP are responsible for going through the mail backup and taking the actions necessary for each piece of mail. Most often, we receive letters from inmates asking us to help them claim their innocence, and it's up to the interns to look over the case, decide if CIP should investigate it, and reply back to them with the necessary materials. This is a photo of the mail pile as of now....(it actually is much smaller than when we started!)
What questions do you have about your externship?I'm curious what the process is like once the cases get past the interns. What are the legal steps to exonerating someone? What new skills are you developing (or will you need to develop) for this externship?I heavily use my listening, writing, and organizational skills for this internship. Although I believe I already have a strong sense of self-motivation, this internship is helping me to strengthen this skill (since you're expected to finish any project you start within a timely manner). This internship is also allowing me to strengthen my multi-tasking skills: many times I've been in the middle of scanning documents/reading a letter for a case when the phone calls and I'll have to answer and be writing down whatever the person on the phone is saying while searching the computer for the case he/she is calling about, and then once the call is over I'll have to get my mind back to the original case I was working on.
What strikes you most about your workplace?What surprised me the most about my workplace is how casual the environment is. The California Innocence Project is a very professional and hardworking company, but everyone shows up to work in jeans and T-shirts with coffee in hand. It's a very welcoming and relaxed environment for such serious work. What strikes you most about your colleagues/peers?I wouldn't say anything really surprised me, but I am overwhelmingly thankful for how helpful everyone has been (fellow interns, my mentor, and other staff members). Learning how everything works comes with a lot of questions, and everyone is always happy to help. What strikes you most about the job you're doing?What strikes me most is the fact that I am actually opening letters and reading cases - don't even get me started on the surprises that come within each letter - I feel like I am actually being useful to CIP and making a difference in peoples' lives. What are you excited/worried about?I am both excited and nervous to open more letters and answer phone calls. With each letter/call comes new challenges that are exciting but also nerve-wracking since I am making real decisions that affect whoever the correspondent is.
For my internship, I will be interning at the California Innocence Project in downtown San Diego. The California Innocence Project (CIP) works to free wrongly incarcerated people by proving them innocent. I am excited to work with this incredible organization and gain law experience and knowledge on the criminal justice system first hand. I am nervous about all of the responsibilities I am expected to take on (looking at cases, answering the phones, dealing with the computer system, etc) but I am sure once I get the hang of it all I am going to have a really beneficial, eye-opening, and educational experience.
|