Forensic Social Work: Practice with the criminal justice involved client

Catalog description

S​ince its inception, the social work profession has provided front line services to the criminal justice field, becoming instrumental in forensic policy and practice. During this class, students will learn the philosophies of forensic social work and discover the diversity of social work practice opportunities within the forensic field. Students will be introduced to social work with a mandated client population; including work with victims of crime and offenders. Characteristics of specialized offender populations will also be discussed, from perpetrators of sexual crime, to extreme violence, domestic violence, and beyond. An understanding of the intersection and overlap between mental health and criminal behavior will be developed and students will become familiar with the evidence based social work techniques currently used in the forensic social work field.