The Double Shift: Why Your Criminal Justice Degree is Punishing the Wrong Person
There is a distinct, physical pain that comes from staring at a glowing laptop screen at 4:30 AM when you have been awake for 22 hours. Your eyes are burning, your hands are shaking slightly from too much caffeine, and you are trying to comprehend the nuances of the Fourth Amendment for a 15-page legal brief. For the average college student, this is just a rough night of procrastination. But for a massive percentage of Criminal Justice majors, this is not procrastination. It is the unavoidable reality of the "Double Shift." Many students in this major are already working in the field. You are a security guard pulling night shifts, a dispatcher, a paralegal, or an active-duty law enforcement officer trying to secure a degree for a promotion. You are out there dealing with the harsh, exhausting reality of the real world, only to come home to a university system that treats you like a full-time, unemployed teenager. The academic system is currently punishing the exact people i...