Professor William Morrissette Checks in From London

Dr. William Morrissette, Department Chair of the Criminal Justice Program, and a group of Bay State College Criminal Justice students are currently on a Service Learning trip in London where they are researching foreign justice systems.  Professor Morrissette sent us his thoughts on their first several days.

It was an extremely good day today as we began our more formal research endeavors.  We went to Roehampton University and received lectures from a criminologist, a court prosecutor, and a police officer.

Reflecting on the day, the most amazing thing to me was that there came a point where I realized that we were representing the US Criminal Justice System and pioneering new ground relative to mutual understanding.  This was most apparent when we met with the criminologist who teaches at Roehampton University. 

She came in with a number of impressions and understandings of the U.S. system, and we proceeded to have a great discussion where we all came away with new awareness relative to our respective systems and how they interact and, at times, better one another. 

I have come to find that comparative criminal justice is not a strongly populated area by academics such that we, Bay State College Criminal Justice, were delivering new information to a professor who will be teaching the next generation of Criminal Justice professionals in the U.K.  Similarly, I have new understandings from this professor that I will take directly to our classrooms at Bay State.

I am extremely proud of the seven students that are representing Bay State as they did an exceptional job today.  I continue to look forward to our pinnacle visit tomorrow with the Superintendant at Scotland Yard.