Journal of Criminal Justice Education

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Innocence Projects, Work-Integrated Learning, and

Student Career Pathways

Greg Stratton, Monique Moffa, Alyssa Sigamoney & Michele Ruyters

To cite this article: Greg Stratton, Monique Moffa, Alyssa Sigamoney & Michele Ruyters (02 Jul
2023): Innocence Projects, Work-Integrated Learning, and Student Career Pathways, Journal of
Criminal Justice Education, DOI: 10.1080/10511253.2023.2231050

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10511253.2023.2231050

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Journal of Criminal Justice Education
https://doi.org/10.1080/10511253.2023.2231050

Innocence Projects, Work-Integrated Learning, and

Student Career Pathways
Greg Stratton, Monique Moffa, Alyssa Sigamoney and Michele Ruyters
Criminology & Justice Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative (BOHII) at RMIT is an inno- Received 16 March 2023
cence project that has, since its inception in 2014, delivered an Accepted 24 June 2023
innovative and applied work-integrated learning (WIL) experience KEYWORDS
to students while raising public consciousness about errors in the Work integrated learning;
criminal justice system. WIL internships are assumed to provide internships; innocence
students with skills, competencies, and insights relevant to profes- projects; criminology;
sional practice. This paper highlights the experiences and reflections criminal justice
of students who completed an internship within BOHII as either
a core 50-day or elective 20-day WIL subject in their Criminology
and Justice degree at RMIT University. The presentation of student
reflections serves a dual purpose of demonstrating the need for
more research into the pedagogical value of innocence projects
and WIL in criminological and criminal justice settings in preparing
students for the workplace. We outline the various contributions
the BOHII placement has made to the students from their perspec-
tive, including the development of work-ready skills, self-efficacy
and career path decision-making, with a particular focus on stu-
dents who indicate policing as a preferred career path.

Introduction
The Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative (BOHII) at RMIT is an innocence project that
has, since its inception in 2014, delivered an innovative and applied work-integrated
learning (WIL) experience to students while raising public consciousness about errors
in the criminal justice system. BOHII is a multi-disciplinary, on-campus workplace that
allows students to investigate claims of wrongful convictions. Alongside the investi-
gations and exposure to the issue of wrongful convictions in Australia, students learn
about ethics and professional communication, critical thinking, case analysis
methodologies, resilience and self-care, providing authentic learning experiences and
translatable work-ready skills.
BOHII is the only Australian innocence project created as an internship model for
criminal justice and criminology students. While other similar projects are offered as
WIL opportunities, they are usually only available as clinical legal education (for

© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms
on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with
their consent.
2 G. STRATTON ET AL.

example, Griffith University Innocence Project; University of Toronto Externship

Innocence Canada; California Western School of Law Innocence Project). The internship
model within WIL is important in the context of criminological education. BOHII is
an extension of a need within a criminology degree to provide core WIL components,
which are primarily experienced as internships. However, recent research has acknowl-
edged potential limitations to WIL offerings in criminology and criminal justice degrees
(Murphy & Gibbons, 2017; Stichman & Farkas, 2005).
This paper highlights the experiences and reflections of students who participated
in BOHII as a core WIL course within their Criminology and Justice degree at RMIT
University. Although innocence projects within university settings have run for nearly
30 years, and the pedagogical importance has long been advocated, there is limited
evidence of the outcomes and consequences of their educational influence (Hewitt,
2018; Hewitt & Owusu-Kwarteng, 2021; Ricciardelli, Bell, & Clow, 2011). University
internships aim to teach values such as thoroughness, preparedness, and skepticism
(Findley, 2006). However, their effectiveness in practice still needs to be explored
regarding pedagogical success and workplace readiness.

Why WIL in criminology?

In Australia, most criminal justice and criminology degrees emerged in the 1990s,
and there are now over 40 courses across Australian universities (Bartels, McGovern,
& Richards, 2015). Like in the US, Australian criminal justice and criminology degrees
were historically vocational in nature and provided training for current and future
criminal justice professionals such as police, corrections officers, and cognate fields
(Krimmel & Tartaro, 1999). While the vocational and practical focus of criminal justice
degrees waned and has been contested, a resurgence in the need for criminology
and criminal justice WIL in the current context has been driven from numerous
perspectives. Broadly, the direction of global higher education policy has seen an
emphasis on engaging and collaborating with business and government sectors
which have influenced how degrees operate and the conditions in which academic
knowledge, teaching, and learning exist (Stockdale & Sweeney, 2022). The shift can
be considered a continuation of the increasing advancement of neoliberalism in
the university sector globally centering on marketization (Bottrell & Manathunga,
2019), but also driven by student demand to increase the currency of their degrees
toward employment (Lock & Kelly, 2020; Tomlinson, 2008), and employer demands
for graduate employability (Owens & Stewart, 2016). In Australia, a ‘graduate-ready’
reframing of higher education was introduced within the 2011 Australian Qualifications
Framework (AQF) which now requires that qualifications from Level 7 upwards
(Bachelor degrees upward) to ensure graduates “will have broad and coherent
knowledge and skills for professional work and/or further learning” (Australian
Qualifications Framework (AQF), 2022). This was a reframing from the prior require-
ment to provide vague “interpersonal and teamwork skills appropriate to employment
and/or further study” (AQF, 2007) and signalled an emphasis on professional work
and skills within the university sector as part of the then Labor government’s edu-
cation revolution.
 Journal of Criminal Justice Education 3

To address this shift, many universities and degrees adopted models of WIL. WIL
combines practice with traditional academic learning by exposing students to the
‘world-of-work’ in a chosen profession and aims to better prepare undergraduate
students for the workforce (Jackson, 2015, p. 350). WIL emerges from a tradition of
work-based learning (WBL), which refers broadly to learning situated in a workplace
setting, often vocational, and reliant on arrangements between institution and work-
place to ensure knowledge transfer through experience and professional development
(for example, apprenticeships and on-the-job training) (Boud, Solomon, and Symes
2001; Lester & Costley, 2010). WIL expands on the premise of WBL, but typically
represents a more formalised program of learning built into a degree for credit and
designed to integrate academic learning objectives with work experience. In Australia,
WIL in the form of practical placements or internship courses has become a central
feature in higher education across many fields. WIL internship and placement courses
allow students to work in a professional environment while ensuring their knowledge
and skills developed in their degree are applied and effectively assessed. According
to Cooper, Orrell, and Bowden (2010, p. 58) this type of WIL enables students to:

identify, develop and use theory to interpret, explain and intervene in the real world;
affirm personal career choices and develop intrapersonal awareness; assume roles in which
they must function as responsible members of society, contributing to their community;
develop their interpersonal communication capabilities; learn the particular competencies
and cultures of specific professions, industries, and community contexts.

In order to deliver work-ready graduates, universities are increasingly providing a

synthesized model of ‘higher vocational education’ (Billett, 2009; Tynjälä, Välimaa, &
Sarja, 2003). Key to this model are internships that embrace numerous pedagogical
approaches (Butin, 2007; Penn, 2003) to foster links between academic work, com-
munity engagement, and experiential learning (Ross & Elechi, 2002).
Following the emergence of the criminal justice field, the ‘internship’, or ‘placement’
has been a regular mainstay of its curricula (Ross & Elechi, 2002; Thurgood, 2020).
WIL internships are assumed to provide students with skills, competencies, and insights
relevant to professional practice (Ryan, Toohey, & Hughes, 1996), as well as “providing
significantly higher engagement and outcomes over students without WIL” (Australian
Council for Educational Research, 2011). As the most extensive form of experiential
learning used in criminology and criminal justice courses (Ross & Elechi, 2002), the
internship also tends to be regarded as a reliable fit for the qualities inherent to
these degrees (Bramford & Eason, 2021; Miller & Braswell, 1988; Parilla & Smith-Cunnien,
1997; Ross & Elechi, 2002).
Criminal justice students support this type of learning and perceive the opportu-
nities to complete WIL as beneficial (Crandall, Buckwalter, & Witkoski, 2021; Ross &
Elechi, 2002). As Cooper et al. (2010, p. 19) noted, “students want to find everyday
relevance and practical applications in their studies for their life after graduation.”
Students also link the opportunity to enhance career prospects. Hiller, Salvatore, and
Taniguchi (2014, p. 10) surveyed criminal justice students at Temple University in the
US and found that “students believed an internship would look good on their resume,
help them acquire job-relevant skills; help them clarify what career they wanted, and
enable them to network with individuals who could help them find a job.” These
4 G. STRATTON ET AL.

expectations are consistent with graduate outcomes, as while the impact of criminal
justice and related WIL experiences on employment prospects in the field remains
under-researched, criminal justice students are most often employed in the criminal
justice sector following graduation (Hiller et al., 2014; Wimshurst & Allard, 2007). A
survey of graduates of the Criminology and Criminal Justice School at Griffith University
in Australia found that 97% of participants had found employment, with over 60%
being employed in the criminal justice system (Wimshurst & Allard, 2007).
Offering WIL in the context of criminology and criminal justice is a complicated
prospect because of the diversity of options available to graduates (Bartels et al.,
2015) and the absence of benchmarking or consistency in curriculum across univer-
sities (Fishwick & Marmo, 2018). Wimshurst and Allard (2007) suggested that crimi-
nology schools should focus on student transition from university to the workforce.
Similarly, Bates and Hayes (2017) highlighted that while WIL subjects in these degrees
have a clear and linear field focus, the courses often fail to improve student under-
standing and navigation of the breadth of career pathways available. These suggestions
are somewhat addressed by relying on WIL placements in governmental and non-
governmental criminal justice organizations to provide students with comprehensive
practical experiences (Fishwick & Marmo, 2018, p. 105). However, consistency in
approach across universities is difficult to generalize, with the options available to
students varying from standard short-term internship electives to mandatory 50-day
internships required to complete a degree (see RMIT, 2023), with varying support,
assessment and engagement in preparing students for the workforce. Consequently,
the impact of WIL in Australian criminal justice has been opaque, with few insights
into how specific types of internships (and accompanying curricula) benefit students.

The BOHII model

BOHII is an on-campus simulated workplace offering unique opportunities for students
to develop and apply transferable employability skills to real-world situations with
tangible life-changing outcomes. Under the BOHII model, up to 45 students annually
complete 20- or 50-day internships, contributing significantly more hours to wrongful
conviction investigations than other projects that limit the student experience to
shorter units of study. While the approach is resource intensive in a university setting,
the BOHII model is succeeding because the workplace structure addresses
well-recognized sectoral challenges of preparing work-ready graduates through authen-
tic and accessible WIL and alleviates the risks of students’ inability to access suitable
internships (Schuster & Glavas, 2017; Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency
(TEQSA), 2022).
BOHII is staffed by academics in a Criminology and Justice school who act in dual
roles as placement supervisors and academics, which means they can contextualize
the students’ learning to their workplace experience in ways that other WIL providers
cannot. Supervised by staff and student mentors, student interns assist with collecting
case materials; searching for other case resources; liaising with witnesses, experts,
and other parties; analyzing data; constructing chronologies; and producing reports.
These activities provide useful touchpoints for staff to relate practice to theory and
 Journal of Criminal Justice Education 5

draw from academic and technical skills students have already acquired in their
degrees. They also promote students’ immersion in the cases they investigate which
supports the authenticity of their learning. BOHII’s methodologies require them to
work through case materials that originated in a police investigation and follow the
narrative of the case through the pre-trial, trial and appeal proceedings. Students
also hear directly from the individuals who apply to BOHII for assistance, adding
human and real-life dimensions to the case under investigation, particularly individuals
still incarcerated.
Students gain a very practical understanding of the criminal justice system through
their case investigations and from case outcomes which have included assisting legal
teams with appeals, preparing and submitting submissions of petitions for mercy,
and substantial media coverage of BOHII cases. Unlike other workplaces where stu-
dents are usually situated in one setting, BOHII students gain an invaluable inside
view of the criminal justice system and the roles of professionals in multiple settings:
from police investigation to court proceedings, through to corrections and reintegra-
tion when incarcerated people begin to navigate parole and re-entry to the community.
The design of the BOHII WIL environment also emphasizes the development of
students’ social-emotional and technical skills in preparation for the workplace. BOHII’s
design is structured on the evidence that transformative WIL student experiences rely
on strong and directed supervision (Billett, 2011). Informed by empirical research
highlighting students’ desire to engage in real-life problem-solving (Crebert, Bates,
Bell, Patrick, & Cragnolini, 2004) and emotional work readiness (Bandaranaike &
Willison, 2015), BOHII interns are actively engaged in casework from the start of their
internship, which is moderated by interaction with academic staff managing casework.
This approach is supplemented by direct instruction to support the development of
more technical work-ready skills and facilitates the students’ transformative learning
(Van Schalkwyk et al., 2019). Additionally, BOHII students learn about translatable
work-ready skills such as ethical procedures, professional communication, and critical
thinking through more traditional workshops and seminars incorporated into their
internships.
By focusing on skill development, BOHII embraces RMIT University’s role aligned
with the priorities of the Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency
(TEQSA) and the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) for the delivery of tertiary
education in Australia (TEQSA, 2022). In particular, BOHII addresses the aims of the
current Australian government funding scheme, the National Priority and Industry
Linkage Fund (NPILF), which incentivizes the delivery of ‘employability’ skills across
all degrees, including soft skills such as critical thinking and working in teams
(Department of Education, 2022).
Like most humanities and social science degrees, criminology degrees have leant
heavily on critical thinking as the primary indicator of student learning. However,
much of this is achieved through traditional teaching and assessment methods that
make critical thinking a difficult and subjective measure. By reviewing and aiding
people claiming wrongful convictions, BOHII extends students’ critical thinking and
recognition of social realities related to crime and justice. These experiences follow
Thurgood’s (2020, p. 28) assertion that a core criminological graduate attribute should
be the ability to consider a range of behaviours and the structural elements that
6 G. STRATTON ET AL.

shape them to ensure their career trajectories create social beneficence. The critical
application of criminological theory and concepts under the supervision of academic
staff enables contextualization that fosters ‘deeper learning’ that transcends the varied
outcomes of work experience to a greater likelihood of a transformative experience
(Thurgood, 2020, p. 26).

Method
This paper highlights the experiences and reflections of students who completed an
internship within BOHII as either a core 50-day or elective 20-day WIL course in their
criminology and justice degrees. The approach serves dual purposes in addressing
the need for more research into the pedagogical value of innocence projects and
WIL in criminological and criminal justice settings. To date, most evaluation research
into criminal justice internships has focused solely on their effects on student satis-
faction and students’ attitudes towards their experiences (Murphy, Merritt, &
Gibbons, 2013).
Criminology and Justice Studies (CJS) at RMIT is a large school offering several
undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, including the Bachelor of Criminal Justice;
the Bachelor of Legal and Dispute Studies; the Bachelor of Criminology and Psychology;
the Bachelor of Justice and Criminology (Hons); and the Master of Justice and
Criminology. Students exit to diverse careers in policing and law enforcement, courts,
corrections, youth justice, government departments, and non-government organiza-
tions (see also Bartels et al., 2015). WIL has been deeply embedded in the Criminology
and Justice Studies school for many years, building on long-standing industry recog-
nition and engagement. Most students complete a compulsory 50-day supervised
industry placement in their final year with opportunities to complete elective 20-day
internships and WIL projects throughout their degrees.
Within the CJS discipline at RMIT University, students are presented with a critical
examination of the criminal justice system and institutions. Throughout their under-
graduate and postgraduate degrees, students are introduced to issues of miscarriages
of justice and wrongful conviction as regular topics in multiple criminology and
socio-legal subjects, as well as in an elective titled ‘Miscarriages of Justice’ (JUST2339).
Across these courses, all students in the discipline are exposed to concepts and factors
that lead to miscarriages of justice within Australian and international criminal justice
systems. This learning equips future BOHII interns to recognise the importance of the
work and merits of their placement. The data sourced in this project were reflective
student assessments submitted by BOHII interns as part of their undergraduate or
postgraduate WIL subjects (HWSS2181 Justice and Legal Internship; HWSS2156/2186
Professional Internship; JUST2312 Justice Research Project) completed within one of
RMIT University’s CJS degrees. Each WIL subject has similar learning outcomes ascribed
to their delivery that address core competencies aligned with the AQF requirements.
The subject learning outcomes include:

• Analyze and critique professional practice in an organization relevant to the

justice sector and your career interests;
 Journal of Criminal Justice Education 7

• Explain the organizational structure of the organization and the role and func-
tion of employees working in the area;
• Identify good teamwork principles and practices and group dynamics;
• Critique the OH&S practices of the organization;
• Critically reflect on theories, approaches and research informing practice in the
organization;
• Demonstrate newly acquired skills resulting from the experience of professional
practice;
• Demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication skills;
• Self-appraise your performance in professional practice and critically examine
factors that shape your professional identity.

One hundred student reflective assessment pieces submitted between 2018 and
2021 were collected, de-identified and thematically coded in NVIVO, a data analysis
software that assists in the organization, coding, categorization, and qualitative analysis
of data. In these assessments, students were asked to identify the skills and experi-
ences they had or hoped to develop during the internship subject, reflect on whether
and how their prior studies have influenced their internship, and discuss if and how
their career aspirations had changed. As a reflective assessment, students also offered
insights into their perceptions of their work readiness, preparedness, and employability
at the time of completing their WIL experience in their degree at RMIT University.
The assessment pieces were thematically coded for broad observations about the
students’ WIL experience within BOHII, how the experience aligned with their subject
learning outcomes, and emergent themes such as work readiness, preparedness, and
transformative experience.

Findings: alignment with the course and degree objectives

Students completing a placement within BOHII outlined the benefits of balancing
learning and experience in WIL-settings. In their reflections, students identified the
development of work-ready skills, hinted towards self-efficacy and reflected on their
career path decision-making. Acknowledging these findings, the remainder of this
paper is structured into three sections: skill development and professional practice,
career trajectories, and realigned trajectories. The latter section provides insight by
focusing on students who indicate policing as a preferred career path and how their
WIL experiences have informed their career aspirations.

Skill development and professional practice

In line with AQF, each WIL subject requires students to demonstrate development in
workplace skills and professional practice. The subject outcomes acknowledge the
need for students to display a range of work-ready skills from identifying good team-
work principles to demonstrating newly acquired skills resulting from professional
practice (see Justice and Legal Internship Course Guide: http://www1.rmit.edu.au/
courses/044506). In analysing student reflections, we identified how students recognise
8 G. STRATTON ET AL.

the value of WIL in enabling the development of general skills such as written and
verbal communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, research and
intelligence gathering, IT skills and the use of Microsoft programs. For example, the
following excerpt is indicative of student perceptions of the value of these skills in
preparing them for the workplace:

Every task we did has helped me build skills that will help in the workplace. This includes
morning meetings, where each day a different intern was responsible for compromising [sic]
the notes and running the meeting, building my confidence, and writing skills. I also learnt
how to work with confidential information and deal with sensitive materials, and how this
protects not only the integrity of the workplace but also the applicants and their cases.

Student reflections used in the study highlighted how these skills were supple-
mentary to the skills developed through their university education. The primacy placed
on WIL experiences in skill development was highlighted by students who emphasised
specific skills aligned with their work within the innocence project. For example one
student explained:
I learnt a lot of skills that I believe will be useful for a career in the criminal justice
field - especially skills that are not taught at university including transcribing calls, filling
out paperwork and the general lingo used.

In addition to these skills, other students identified a diverse range of specific skills
including how to request material from applicants, submit Freedom of Information
requests, requesting materials from lawyers, and seeking information from government
organizations.
As with many university degrees, the practice of teamwork principles and group
dynamics are also recognized in the subject learning outcomes and the emphasis on
these skills is highlighted throughout the BOHII students’ reflections. As one student
acknowledged:
I also learnt basic workplace skills such as teamwork - what to do if someone in your
team is not pulling their weight and how you should go about a situation like this.

The recognition of teamwork as a skill in these findings aligns with the under-
standing that WIL can develop skills in an effective way. Where teamwork and group
dynamics are often purported within academic settings, practising these within a
working environment supervised by academic staff enables students to learn with
the support and reflection that align with Billett’s (2011) suggestions for effective
curriculum and pedagogic practices via WIL.
The findings in these reflections demonstrate how BOHII placements align with
previous research that has acknowledged that criminology and criminal justice intern-
ships provide students with the opportunity to practice learned concepts from their
studies while also exposing students to develop other career skills (George, Lim,
Lucas, & Meadows, 2015). With BOHII established as a workplace within a university
setting with academic mentorship, the translation of work skills is a training focus
and is highlighted throughout students’ reflections. The ability to demonstrate skills
developed throughout the degree in combination with specific investigation skills
required to examine claims of innocence were highlighted through the reflections:
 Journal of Criminal Justice Education 9

My internship required me to employ and develop my analytical skills which needed to

be precise and thorough. The nature of the work BOHII conducts means attention must
be paid to small details and information must be processed thoroughly and precisely to
ensure we had a complete understanding of the case at hand. I believe in whatever career
path I choose this ability to analyze, condense and problem solve using available informa-
tion will benefit me.

Common responses within student reflections were recognition of student devel-

opment of more abstract concepts and skills such as analytical thinking, problem-solving,
and critique. These recognize the broader outcomes situated within the degree in
terms of the AQF but also demonstrate how an internship can develop self-efficacy
through the practice within a work environment. As one student explained:

I found this placement experience very helpful. I was very worried and anxious before
starting placement that I didn’t have the skills to complete it, let alone have the skills and
experience to enter the workforce. However, the placement opportunity helped calm my
worries as it proved to me that I am more than capable to enter the workforce.

Reflections like this see an emergent workplace self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986) where
students recognize skills and abilities through work practice. Self-efficacy has long
been associated as a key element within WIL programs, as it allows students to
develop “judgment of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action
required to attain designated types of performances” (Bandura, 1986, p. 391). Central
to achieving self-efficacy is the combination of knowledge, skills, and action through
a self-referential thought between them. BOHII internships allow students to develop
self-efficacy while progressing casework by offering a supervised and supportive
framework encouraging learning.
Reflections on self-efficacy often form during the recognition of the broad array
of experiences BOHII exposes students to. For example, one student acknowledges
the benefits and expansion of their abilities because of their experience:
Gaining such knowledge and experience in the investigation field will aid my career
within the criminal justice system. I have been exposed to and now understand how to
read and potentially draft case materials as well as building resilience to sensitive materi-
als. This placement has given me the ability to enhance my investigative skills and enable
me to think outside the box in terms of where to look for evidence and what to look for.
It has taught me to investigate all possible avenues and look closely at every bit of evi-
dence, as something that seems insignificant can lead to major breakthroughs. Even the
exposure of working in a team through the investigative process and being able to
bounce ideas off each other in this environment is a unique experience, that you may not
gain solely from part-time work or through university. These are all skills that will comple-
ment my career.

The identification of self-efficacy also reflects a broader conceptualization of WIL as

a sight of building social capital within students through skill building and recognizing
opportunity. As the previous student comment highlights, some students can complete
a degree but remain anxious or unaware of their capabilities and capacity to enter the
workforce. The production of self-efficacy and social capital is particularly important
considering the evidence linking social disadvantage with negative impacts on student
experience and their entry into the labor market (O’Sullivan, Robson, & Winters, 2019).
10 G. STRATTON ET AL.

By offering an academically supervised workplace, BOHII helps address these potential

concerns in two ways. First, by offering strategic supervision to ensure translation of
prior knowledge into practice, and secondly, through instruction and ‘professional
development’ sessions within the placement on how to translate internship experience
to develop and mobilize social and personal capital in the search for employment
(Lehmann, 2019). This represents a focus on the need for students to develop self-efficacy
and confidence in the skills developed throughout their degree and WIL experiences.
Student confidence is linked with their self-efficacy as a reinforcement of ability and
recognition of their belonging within fields or as practitioners (Pool & Sewell, 2007).
Confidence in recognizing one’s abilities is a crucial outcome of WIL experiences, espe-
cially considering the past misperception of the role of self-efficacy in skill development
and teamwork within university settings (Crebert et al., 2004).

Career trajectories
The theme of student trajectories post-internship was a focus of most student reflec-
tions. This is consistent with both the framing students receive from universities
promoting degrees as a platform to be ‘job ready’ and the increasing desire of stu-
dents for a degree to place them favorably in the job market (Tomlinson, 2008). Our
research found that many students come into their WIL experience with BOHII with
predetermined career goals or, alternatively, hope that their placement experience
will point them in the right direction. For example, one student noted:
I have always hoped my degree would help point me in a career direction, as all I knew
was, I had a passion for helping people and an interest in the justice system.

Some students with predetermined ideas found that their placement experience
confirmed their choices:

[M]y placement experience has reassured me that my future career plan of being a case
manager remains accurate and in line with my expectations and goals.

Before my placement I was undecided between wanting to work in corrections or law. If

anything, this placement has helped me confirm that I am wanting to pursue a career in
law. This way I still will get to work with evidence briefs and perform small scale
investigations.
Given the greater emphasis within their degrees on concepts which often lead to
critical perspectives of the criminal justice system and innocence projects’ histories
of exposing flaws in the system, the potential trajectories of BOHII WIL students in
their transitions to the workforce is a site of importance.
While innocence projects like BOHII critique policing practices and advocate policing
policy reform, a somewhat counterintuitive trend among students completing BOHII
internships has been a readiness to pursue a career in policing. Many students inter-
ested in pursuing policing upon graduating are attracted to BOHII for its investigative
nature and the potential to learn about policing methods. Perhaps surprisingly, given
the context of the contemporary critique of policing within criminology, the
 Journal of Criminal Justice Education 11

presentation of defund policing arguments within the degree, and the role of policing
as an issue within wrongful convictions, several responses identified the reinforcement
of students’ desire to seek careers in policing. For example, two students reflected
on this position explaining:
Working with Victoria Police for investigations has continued to be my career goal prior
and post placement as I want to help the community and protect them from harm. The
majority of police are law-abiding and ethical officers, however only the negatives are
focused on in these cases. This has informed me of the correct and incorrect procedures
associated with investigating cases and ensuring that the people involved are being
treated fairly. Further, this placement has confirmed my interest in investigations, in par-
ticular homicide squad and has even introduced me to the possibility of working for the
SOCIT [Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigations] team.

This placement has prepared me for Victoria Police more than any other placement I
could have taken part in. By looking into real cases and gaining a more in-depth under-
standing of the justice system and the role of police within a case, I have a greater under-
standing of the role I will play and how to be effective within that role. This placement
offered a perspective of the justice system that is not widely available. Specifically for the
police force, highlights how important it is to complete a job to the best of your ability,
ensuring all procedures are followed and all leads are explored.

We found that two primary drivers highlighted the trajectories of BOHII students
in their plan to seek positions within policing. The first rests on their established
trajectory prior to the internship (see above) and the social capital built during their
placement reinforcing their desires. This is demonstrated through students identifying
the building of skills and understanding of ‘how the system works and fails’ that will
embolden them to succeed in the organization to benefit the broader community
(see investigations skills, rigor etc.). This finding links to prior research that has
acknowledged that, compared to generalist degrees in humanities and social sciences,
students selecting criminal justice degrees tend to accept a status quo understanding
of how the world works (King, 2015). This also occurs in a context where criminology
as a field of study has historically been slow to adopt shifts in theory and practice
from outside of the field (Garland & Sparks, 2000). With this said, recent criminological
awakenings have seen social justice perspectives critical of criminal justice systems
such as abolition, decolonization, Southern Theory, and others presented as core
learning within criminology degrees in Australia (Burns, Loney-Howes, Wood, & Iliadis,
2023; Fishwick & Marmo, 2018). Considering these trends, we view the students’
pursuit of a career as merging social justice orientations and social change embedded
within degree and student orientations towards employment.
The second theme on policing trajectories focused on reinforcement but extended
it with the desire to improve a system rather than remove their participation within
it. While these perspectives may clash with orientations offered within degrees, it
does reinforce government and university requirements to prepare students with the
skills and awareness needed to work in the ‘new’ criminal justice system (Hummer &
Byrne, 2021). Throughout the multitude of police-orientated trajectories, students
reflected on the requirement of integrity, ethics, and avoiding bias in their professional
practice to ensure justice. For example, multiple students reflected on addressing
systemic issues within organizations:
12 G. STRATTON ET AL.

This insight into wrongful convictions has strengthened my desire to pursue a career in
policing at the AFP [Australian Federal Police]. I want to take ownership of some of the
errors policing organizations have made in the past and work towards correcting them.

The placement has made me evaluate what I want from a job while BOHII has made me
question policing practices and their true intentions as an organization, it has motivated
me to continue to want to pursue a job in the field and try to be an agent of change.
The BOHII internship has taught me the importance of being transparent as a police offi-
cer and the impact of unintentional and intentional biases can have on someone’s life.

These reflections are indicative of the structure of BOHII as a campus workplace

supervised by academic staff and how the unique opportunity of investigating possible
miscarriages of justice influences their career trajectories. The reinforcement of policing
trajectories and the desire to be ethical practitioners for some students highlights the
potential positive effect of the internship. These findings align with the recognition that
higher education has a positive influence on reducing police officer misconduct (Rydberg
& Terrill, 2010). Student trajectories towards policing that were reinforced by their
experiences in BOHII were supported across other student reflections surrounding
desired trajectories towards working in corrections, case management, and law ("this
placement has helped me confirm that I am wanting to pursue a career in law").
This is not to say that students who continue trajectories towards policing some-
how have less transformative experiences than others. Here, transformative experiences
can include exposure to concepts, ideas, and situations that students otherwise would
not gain access to. In BOHII, this often means a progression from critique of the
justice system in ‘theory’ towards recognition of the fallibilities and problems of the
system in practice. For some students aspiring to become police officers, the trans-
formative experience of BOHII is not only found in the casework, but also in the
exposure to the happenings within cases and police investigation:

I feel like my eyes have been truly opened to some of the worst aspects of the criminal
justice system. I am particularly aware of the failure of police men and women in doing
their job correctly and how this can have drastic ramifications for another person. Knowing
these pitfalls, I believe that I would contribute better to a policing workplace and am
more aware of how my actions in the job can affect others.

The exposure to both the experiences of the wrongfully convicted and the actions of
the criminal justice system is a unique experience to innocence projects. In combination
with supervision within the internship, students are provided with options and insight that
extend beyond the standard development of skills and etiquette on worksites, towards
transformational experiences of their career trajectory and their place in the workforce.
However, it is not uncommon for students who have participated in BOHII to be
in two minds about applying to the police force - either as uniformed officers or in
an ‘unsworn’ role - by the injustices they have witnessed:
With current world events such as the disgusting actions of police officers resulting in the
death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the assault of an Indigenous Australian in
Sydney, it has made me re-evaluate my career goals to work in law enforcement and my
experience with the BOHII so far has defiantly [sic] influenced this evaluation.

I was considering working for Victoria Police, while only slightly, my work with BOHII
exposed me to injustices that occur in police work and may have turned me towards
 Journal of Criminal Justice Education 13

other career ideals. It also posed the question that if I were to work for Victoria Police,
what kind of officer would I be? Ultimately, my placement experience has made me more
mindful of the work that I could be contributing to in the future.

Realigned trajectories
Students who noticed their career trajectories shift due to the transformative work-
place experience were perhaps more aligned with the social justice expectations and
outcomes of BOHII’s work. One key outcome for some organizations in enabling
internships is the opportunity to present students with work that challenges stereo-
types and preconceived ideas about particular service user groups (Bramford & Eason,
2021). Internships like those offered by BOHII extend this opportunity to address
potential stereotypes of those suffering from a wrongful conviction and the organi-
zations that impart harm towards them.
Some students who identified themselves as potentially on police career trajectories
identified the transformative influence of their innocence project experience. One
student, for example, recognized a significant shift away from a desire for a specific
criminal justice career, noting:
Originally, when undertaking Bachelor of Criminal Justice, I wanted to apply for the police
force however, my career goals have changed while undertaking my placement and now
I would love to work with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) helping
disadvantaged women who do not have the same opportunities as other women … My
placement helped me understand what I really wanted to do as there are so many people
who are unable to help themselves as they may not have the privilege or understanding
due to factors such as socioeconomic status, education level or social group.

This statement indicates many students who, while enrolling and completing crim-
inology and criminal justice degrees, recognize the alternative approaches to assist
and achieve justice outside the justice system. Similar to this example, these students’
trajectories toward policing or corrections were often realigned toward the Department
of Health and Human Services or non-government organizations assisting vulnerable
and marginalized populations who are over-represented in the experience of the
innocence project (see Stratton & Sigamoney, 2023).
The trajectory shift can be identified because of the WIL experience within the
innocence project. It is common for students to recognize the transformative element
of their experience. The student whose career objectives shifted to assisting ‘disad-
vantaged women’ clarified that:
without experiencing my placement and the tasks that came along with it my future
goals may have resulted in being unchanged and not know what I truly want to do, the
thought of working for the DHHS truly excites me with possibilities to come which were
before unseen and unnoticed to myself.

Another student expressed that this desire was cultivated during their internship,
where they
developed a passion for trying to make a change with wrongful convictions in Australia’s
criminal justice system. Alongside working with marginalized and minority groups in
Australia at risk of entering the criminal justice system.
14 G. STRATTON ET AL.

The desire to work toward social change and justice demonstrates the building of
social capital and navigational capacity. A perspective encouraged throughout crim-
inology and criminal justice degrees, the experience within an innocence project
exposes students to opportunities rarely afforded within standard placements that
are often office or policy focused. As one student noted, "learning of the lived expe-
riences of applicants and the sensitive issues they encountered whilst imprisoned"
can shift student trajectories from criminal justice towards broader horizons of social
justice. This shift enables exposure to diverse perspectives and experiences that allow
students greater mobility in career choices outside of criminal justice institutions that
they may deem more ethical or in line with a just society.

Conclusion
The design and approach that BOHII brings to WIL experiences demonstrate how
criminology education can open possibilities for students to take advantage of the
transferable skills developed throughout the degree. Where the most common route
for criminology students is to pursue a career in criminal justice-related occupations,
the ability to research and critique data, communicate complex ideas and work as
part of a team are highly sought skills across a range of fields. By offering a structured
WIL experience, programs like BOHII can build student capacity towards post-graduate
employment following criminal justice and other trajectories.
BOHII’s approach addresses many critiques and failings of WIL by offering a ped-
agogical focus on education and justice (Findley, 2006, p. 245). BOHII internships,
when placed in the broader context of practical experience that encourages critical
reflection, are important in developing criminology students who are more deeply
considerate of their experiences and fulfil more meaningful learning. This success is
expressed through student recognition of the skills developed, self-confidence and
self-efficacy, and recognition of their career trajectories due to their experiences
within BOHII.
The students that BOHII works with come from diverse educational backgrounds
and bring different life experiences and educational journeys to the program.
BOHII compliments their journey by facilitating learning through focused mentoring
and support based on a strength-based approach. Guidance from expert and
experienced staff who are passionate about their work can provide support and
opportunities for students to develop as people, critical thinkers, and future pro-
fessionals. A strength of the approach used at BOHII is the structure of the inter-
vention and the support provided to students. Students can explore their interests
and concerns by examining the impacts of law and policy on issues they are most
passionate about.
To allow students from diverse backgrounds to succeed in the current environment,
criminology degrees have been required to develop career preparedness for the wider
variety of career paths available to students (Bartels et al., 2015; Thurgood, 2020;
Wimshurst & Allard, 2007). With these pressures, BOHII ensures graduates are equipped
with the necessary skills and knowledge for life beyond the university while also
gaining the critical knowledge a criminology degree provides (Jameson, Strudwick,
Bond-Taylor, & Jones, 2012). Where the likes of Garland (2011) have criticized the
 Journal of Criminal Justice Education 15

vocational shift within criminology education, government targets and policy changes
incentivizing higher education enrollments have increased pressures on universities
and criminology schools. This has brought opportunities for diverse and representative
student populations who provide a wealth of benefits to the university experience.
However, it has also increased the responsibility of addressing student aspirations of
social mobility, career trajectories, as well as learning and knowledge. Programs like
BOHII provide an opportunity to quell the concerns of academic dilution with practical
measures that address the needs and desires of students by offering practical mea-
sures to ensure students a trajectory toward employment.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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