Criminal and Juvenile Justice in Social Work Education: Emerging Critical Dialogue

Overview: This interactive workshop will take a critical approach to discussing the educational needs of future social workers who may practice in criminal and juvenile justice settings, and with system-involved populations, by discussing specific knowledge, skills, and ethics they must be equipped with in order to operate effectively and with integrity.Proposal text: The U.S. leads the world in rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration, disproportionately using its criminal and juvenile justice systems for those from historically oppressed communities, including people of color and people living in poverty (Prison Policy Initiative, 2020). Because challenging social injustice for and with vulnerable, oppressed groups is one of the six Code of Ethics principles (NASW, 2008), and smart decarceration is one of the 12 Grand Challenges of Social Work (AASWSW, 2022), there is a need to prepare social workers for intervention in unjust systemic processes at micro, mezzo, and macro levels of practice. Though social work positions are not largely represented amongst criminal justice job roles (Reamer, 2008), increasing numbers of social workers report interacting with justice-involved clients in recent years (Kolivoski, 2021). However, few social work programs prepare students for work in the criminal justice system through specific coursework or specialization (Epperson et al., 2013).

In the past few years, demands for criminal justice reform have increased across the country, particularly in response to the disparately violent and otherwise discriminatory treatment of Black people, as well as the lack of humane treatment of poor people with mental health and/or substance use challenges. Simultaneously, the social work field has grappled with questions about if and how social workers should be involved in justice system processes; for example, whether or not they should be partnering with police to respond to child welfare and health crises, or focusing more on offering rehabilitative services, or advocating for system abolition altogether. While the social work profession offers knowledge and skills useful to working with system-involved populations, there is the potential and likelihood for significant ethical conflicts to arise in justice system-based social work due to misaligned ideological purposes. Further, concerns are raised by leaders about how social work identity and ethics may be co-opted by involvement in system processes of policing, courts, and corrections (Jacobs et al., 2021). There is an abundant demonstrated need for social work students to be prepared on this topic, and for educators to include relevant content in the curriculum (Young, et al., 2021).

Through the use of online polling, interactive documents, linked resources, and breakout dialogues, this workshop takes a critical approach to considering the educational needs of future social workers, discussing specific knowledge, skills, and ethics they must be equipped with to operate effectively and with integrity in justice system processes. At the conclusion, attendees will be able to identify key trends in the historical and contemporary role of social work practice in criminal and juvenile justice (Learning Objective #1), and to summarize an overview of the state of criminal justice in social work education (Learning Objective #2). Participants will also be able to describe key controversies and challenges in social work practice in the justice system (Learning Objective #3), and recognize at least two resources to engage students and colleagues in critical discussions about preparing future social workers for working in justice system roles and with justice system-involved populations (Learning Objective #4).