Operation 11 Tyler Schaeffer Memorial Scholarship

I plan to not only study criminal justice but also psychology. I want to understand better people's motivations to deviate from the law. I want to delve into the psychology behind why people become homeless. What happened in these people's lives? Why do certain people with certain mental health conditions become homeless, but others with the same conditions are housed? Who is most at risk for becoming homeless? But most importantly, what can I do to help? Well, I think it all comes back to mental health. It's been stigmatized and been such a hush-hush issue for so long, when people have feelings of anxiety or depression, they either feel ashamed to get help or don't know where to go for it. These people self-medicate, with either drugs, alcohol, or other harmful routes, eventually beginning the cycle of addiction. These people can become homeless. We should have more mental health screenings for people down on their luck. With my criminology and psychology degrees, I plan to work with communities to have more accessible therapy options and treatment plans. But in the meantime, I can encourage my peers and family members to go see a therapist or even just a simple, "It's okay to feel what you're feeling, you are still valued." can go a long way. The end goal for me is to work for the FBI as a criminal investigator. I can do my part to make sure that all people suspected of committing crimes are given due process and a fair trial, as our constitution guarantees its people. I want to be available to inmates to talk about their experiences, too, and what they would have done differently if they were given a chance. Prison reform is something I strongly believe in. I don't believe that prison is effective if all we do is lock perpetrators away, we have to provide them with opportunities to improve as people. Some prisons are implementing woodshops or libraries for their inmates to learn and have skills when they are released. I want to join this movement to view prison as a "redirection and reflection" as opposed to a "grownup time out". 44% of criminals released from prison are back in within the first year. The recidivism rate is disturbingly high, and I believe that if we provide more opportunities for these inmates to turn away from a life of crime, we can lower violence, gang activity, drug addictions, and potentially many other sorts of crime. These individuals should be given opportunities to improve, and this is what I plan to do with my criminal justice degree. With my degree, I plan to help make mental health help more accessible to all people, help guarantee a fair trial for people accused of criminal activity, and help create more opportunities to help incarcerated persons end up on the right side of the law.

Based on having a criminal justice degree like I want to have, you can do many things to help the community and other people. I will be giving 5 descriptions and examples on how I can help. One example is being in rehabilitation services. They help others get into the society after serving their time. This could be based on education services, counsleing, or more. An example of this is a parole officer helping an ex-offender with finding a job or housing. Another description is social work. People that do this can work with one person at a time or families that have been affected by resources, crime, providing support, and others. This can be providing counseling for a family that is dealing with the aftermath of a crime, by being there for them while they cope. The third description is being a community outreach officer. They tend to work within their community that they are around and help build relationships, fix issues around it, and promote a better understanding between the public and law enforcement. I really like this one because I think it is a big job that people with criminal justice degrees can do. It is an easy thing to do, but also very thoughtful to yourself and other people. An example of this is organizing something like a neighborhood for watch programs, fostering, safety, and more. The fourth description is legal services. It helps people who are not able to afford having a legal representative by helping them understand their rights and to be able to navigate legal systems. The example of this can be a public defender representing someone who is not able to afford someone like a lawyer, but being able to be there for them to ensure their rights and making sure the people are protected. Although we do have many descriptions, here is the final one. The final one is policy making. It works to change or even create policies that can affect how the justice system operates, which aims for social justice and fairness. I think an example of this could be researching something and maybe having a change they would want to make that could affect a certain type of group, which provides equal justice. These five descriptions I think are very meaningful if you really want to do it. It provides help for people and the community, and there are many, many more ways to help the people in need, but I think these are the top five most important ones.

Within the field of criminal justice, us students are dedicating their lives to working for the people. We are devoting our time, work, and effort to help people that are in need of the help. I personally plan on pursuing a law degree, so I can become an attorney. Every year, many people are wrongly accused of things like rape, assault, or theft. These charges can ruin people’s lives because careers can depend on records, and many further personal reasons. My goal is to be able to stop the wrongly accused, give people a second chance, and place people where they truly belong. Another topic that is very important to me is topics revolving around family law. Child abuse is a very common occurrence today, along with the separation of married couples. Today, around 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Another very sad, but common event is children going to the wrong parent, child support being too high or too low, and problems revolving around children not getting a proper healthy childhood. Granted, not all things can be controlled by the courts if they are not taken there, but the cases that come to me, I want the best outcome to be concluded. Within my current, and probably future community, I have seen many bad households that kids end up trapped in. This can be families around drugs, house hopping, or other horrible occurrences that can lead to a horrible childhood. Luckily, when my parents divorced, it was a healthy divorce and with good attorneys involved to conclude fair results. Overall, within family law, my goal as an attorney would be to conclude fair results and not leave one person way lower than the other. As of right now, I have not concluded what type of law I want to devote myself to, but there are strong reasons behind each one. Another goal of mine within the community would be to help the wrongly accused, and give people a second chance in their lives. In my current job, I have met around a dozen people that have had very hard lives revolving drugs, abuse, and other hardships. Many of those people battle addiction, and have told me specifically they want to stop. Some of them have kids that you can tell they want to change for, but struggle so badly with addiction that they can’t. I want to give these people a second chance to show they are worth something, and be able to hopefully help them learn from their mistakes rather than have their lives ruined by them. Obviously, some will not change, and continue with their ways of drugs and addiction, but even if a few people take the second chance and learn from it, I think it will be worth it. In the end, the community needs attorneys to deliver second chances, and improve people’s hardships with what is truly deserved. Everyone goes through hard times in their life, but sometimes all it takes is one person, which I plan to be, to help them receive a second chance to change their lives, and sometimes their family’s lives for the better.

As a society, we are constantly striving to improve the quality of life for everyone. One way to achieve this goal is by investing in education, particularly in fields that directly impact the well-being of individuals and communities. By pursuing an undergraduate degree in criminal justice and psychology, followed by a doctorate in psychology, I will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to make a positive impact on my community. Criminal justice and psychology are two fields that intersect in many ways. Criminal justice focuses on the study of crime, law enforcement, and the legal system, while psychology is concerned with the study of human behavior and mental processes. By combining these two fields, I can gain a deeper understanding of the factors that contribute to criminal behavior and how to prevent it. Possessing the knowledge of both criminal justice and psychology is an amazing advantage and necessity for changing the violent society we live in. One way that a degree in criminal justice and psychology can help people in the community is by improving the criminal justice system. By understanding the psychological factors that contribute to criminal behavior, I will be able to work to develop more effective rehabilitation programs for offenders. This can help reduce recidivism rates and ultimately make communities safer. In addition to rehabilitating criminals, obtaining a degree in criminal justice and psychology means that I can work to improve mental health services in my community. Mental health is a critical component of overall well-being. Many individuals who come into contact with the criminal justice system have mental health issues, helping improve mental health in my community will not only lessen crime but improve the well-being of the members of my community. Receiving this scholarship will greatly assist me in obtaining my degrees, ultimately allowing me to make a crucial change in my community. With the financial burden of tuition lifted, I can focus on my studies and fully dedicate myself to learning and growing as a professional. With my further education, I will be caple of evaluating and studying criminals to have a deeper understanding of their behaviors and minds. With this knowledge, I will be able to prevent crime and help recover offenders so that more people in my community can be protected. This scholarship will not only benefit me but also those around me as I strive to make a positive impact in my community.

You don't always have the option to choose how your story starts in life, but you have the choice to write your ending. I was born to homeless drug addicts. After 5 weeks in the hospital, with a brain hemorrhage, sepsis and problems eating and breathing, I was given the opportunity to have a better life by being placed into the foster care system. For some, that might have been the end of a story that was over before it began, but for me, I see it as the small spark that ignited the flame that was meant to burn more fiercely than anyone thought it could. I am currently a semester away from completing my associate's degree in criminal justice through a local junior college while completing my senior year of high school. Since the pandemic, I've been taking dual enrollment college classes because I've fallen in love with the criminal justice system and the impact a person can make on the lives of those who are hurting and broken. I am going to obtain my bachelor's degree from a private college next in my journey, where I will major in psychology to use with my criminal justice degree, which will allow me to work with youth offenders who are incarcerated or on probation. I want to be a youth correctional counselor to help guide those who haven't been given the same opportunity that I have, a path toward writing a better ending for their lives. I don't believe that people should be defined by their biggest failures in life. I want to be the person who helps them discover how they got to the point they are at, why they were with the people that led them there, and how to be strong enough to see their worth and to make real and positive change for their remaining future. My birth parents may have benefitted from someone reaching them in their teen years, telling them there is more than getting high and helping guide them toward healthier choices. Between them, there are (at least) eight children who have been born drug-exposed and who have been removed from them through the state. That is eight humans who started life with the cards stacked against them and who would have benefitted from being born to people who had prenatal care, weren't abusing drugs or alcohol, and who could love them like they should be loved from a young age, instead of being removed and placed with grandparents or family members and struggling with medical, mental and emotional issues as a result from their trauma. I was lucky enough to be born later than most of them, so I was made a part of a family that valued me like I should be loved. I am going to be the person who will help teenagers, struggling with the harmful identity they have created, break free from the chains of repeat incarceration and emotional bondage. I'm going to help them create a better story than they thought they could have in life.

A degree in criminal justice can open up a multitude of career paths, but for me, the ultimate goal is to use my knowledge and skills to help those in the community who are in need. There are numerous ways to make a difference in the criminal justice system and contribute to the welfare of society. In this essay, I will outline my plan to utilize my criminal justice degree to benefit the community. Firstly, I plan to use my degree to become a probation officer. Probation officers are responsible for supervising offenders who have been released from prison and are serving a probationary period. My goal as a probation officer is not only to monitor the behavior of the offenders but also to assist them in making positive changes in their lives. This includes helping them secure employment, providing educational opportunities, and connecting them with community resources such as substance abuse treatment programs and mental health services. By doing so, I hope to reduce recidivism rates and help offenders become productive members of society. Secondly, I plan to volunteer with community organizations that provide support services to victims of crime. As a criminal justice professional, I understand the importance of victim advocacy and the role it plays in the healing process. Whether it is providing emotional support, helping with legal procedures, or connecting victims with resources, victim advocates are critical in ensuring that victims receive the help they need. By volunteering my time and expertise with these organizations, I hope to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those who have been impacted by crime. Thirdly, I plan to work with local law enforcement agencies to improve community policing efforts. Community policing is a philosophy that emphasizes collaboration between law enforcement and the community to solve problems and prevent crime. As a criminal justice professional, I understand the importance of building trust and relationships between law enforcement and the community they serve. By working with local law enforcement agencies, I hope to promote community engagement and provide a voice for those who feel underserved or marginalized. Fourthly, I plan to advocate for criminal justice reform. The criminal justice system is far from perfect and is plagued with issues such as over-incarceration, racial disparities, and inadequate mental health services. As a criminal justice professional, I believe it is my responsibility to use my knowledge and skills to advocate for change. This includes supporting initiatives such as restorative justice, reducing mandatory minimum sentences, and increasing access to mental health services. By advocating for criminal justice reform, I hope to create a more equitable and just system for all. Lastly, I plan to mentor and educate the next generation of criminal justice professionals. As someone who has benefited from the guidance and mentorship of others, I understand the importance of giving back. By sharing my knowledge and experience with aspiring criminal justice professionals, I hope to inspire and guide the next generation to make a positive impact in their communities. In conclusion, my degree in criminal justice is not just a means to a career, but a vehicle to make a difference in the lives of those in the community who are in need. By utilizing my skills and expertise as a probation officer, victim advocate, community policing advocate, criminal justice reformer, and mentor, I hope to contribute to the betterment of society. The criminal justice system is far from perfect, but by working together, we can make a difference and create a more just and equitable society for all.