Jayden Brown - Reporter
The DHS Criminal Justice class is a hands-on class that helps students not only learn but see and feel how things are in the real world of criminal justice. Instructor Erik Larson shows students how to properly fingerprint a suspect and use that information to search crime scenes for evidence.
Dyersburg High School has been offering Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes for decades. CTE courses use hands-on education and engage students with activity-based learning.
The criminal justice program is a CTE class open to all students from any grade at the high school. The course came to DHS in the fall of 2020 and is currently taught by Erik Larson, who is passionate about making his class fun and engaging for students. Larson spent several years as an officer with the Dyersburg Police Department, which gives him the knowledge and background to be an expert at the subject matter.
“I want my criminal justice classes to be fun and interesting. For this to happen, active participation is a must,” Larson said.
In the criminal justice program, the class will cover topics concerning the procedures and history of law enforcement, the correction system and court system. It encourages the students to see how beneficial the system is and the importance of law enforcement.
“The most important thing that I teach in criminal justice is that 95% of law enforcement, correction officers and court officers are good people and officers, but there is that 5% that is not good. The 5% get all the press and shine negatively on the 95% of those who serve and protect on a day-to-day basis,” Larson said.
The class is mostly project-based. Students participate in mock trials, where they act out what a civil or criminal case would look like in court. They also perform and demonstrate field sobriety tests as both officer and suspect using DUI goggles. In addition, they are taught how to process crime scenes and draw a crime scene sketch.
“I try to do hands-on projects as much as possible, but there are still lectures and tests that lay the foundation,” Larson said.
The project that is most well-received by the students is the fingerprint module. The assignment involves learning how to fingerprint a subject and collect evidence. Participants must wear rubber gloves throughout the entire process. This keeps their own prints off of the evidence collected and fingerprint ink off of their hands. Students tend to take these procedures very seriously because they understand the importance of accurate results, but also because these activities are an engaging and fun way for the students to be hands-on in learning.
Enrolling in the criminal justice class is beneficial to students who plan to major in a criminology degree. Criminal justice also pertains to interests in psychology, science, and law. This class has encouraged many students to pursue careers in the criminal justice system.
Class of 2022 graduate Ellie VanDyke was enrolled in the class last school year and is using it to get a jump start on her degree in Applied Behavior Sciences at Murray State University.
“I already had a desire to go into the field of psychology and criminal justice, but taking the high school introduction class as a senior really fueled my love for the study. I see in my college classes that I already know quite a bit more than my peers and that’s really made it easier for me to catch on to new concepts we are learning,” VanDyke said.
Dyersburg High School is proud to offer courses that instill leadership skills and ethical values in its students. The criminal justice class is dedicated to inspiring students to be successful and serve their community in the future.
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