What Social Work Uniquely Provides to Criminal Justice
Historically, social work has always had a place in juvenile and criminal justice. Julia Lathrop and Jane Addams, for example, were early reformers and social workers in the Progressive Era who helped establish the modern-day U.S. juvenile justice system. Additionally, many prominent reforms in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s also come from social workers exercising their voice in criminal justice. Yet, around the 1990s, for a variety of reasons, social work began to shift its focus away from broad systems reforms in the criminal justice system. Some would say that the shift in social work in general went from broad reforms to a focus on private practice and changing the individual to fit one’s environment instead of vice versa. Criminal justice as a specialization within social work today remains relatively uncommon. Only 22% of Master of Social Work (MSW) programs offer a course specifically in criminal justice and only 5% have a specialization in criminal justice.
This is one of the many reasons why I feel especially fortunate to teach an MSW course specifically on criminal justice, and that my university’s MSW program is one of the few that has a criminal justice field of practice specialization. The course I teach is on macro criminal justice, and so far I’ve taught it twice. This summer, I was accepted into a university-level program to help instructors redesign their courses online (or teach them hybrid), as well as to integrate the practice of “flipping the classroom” into the course. I’ve decided to take this as an opportunity not only to fulfill the required components of the university’s program (and to constantly remind myself time teaching prep takes!), but also to reflect on the unique contributions that social work makes to criminal justice and ways in which we can incorporate smarter justice solutions in the classroom as well as in practice, policy, and research. I don’t have all the answers, but I do know a couple of things about what social work distinctly provides.
Social work specifically is aimed at striving for social justice and advocating for vulnerable populations. (If you’re not already familiar with the National Association of Social Workers [NASW] Code of Ethics, here is a helpful link.) A person in the general population might argue that someone who has disobeyed the law is a criminal, and that therefore, he or she should serve their debt to society. I assert that social workers are not opposed to personal accountability for one’s actions, but through the lens of the person-in-environment perspective, they are able to recognize that a person committing a crime is part of a much larger environment, and one that is not always fair and just for each person in the system. People who become involved in the criminal justice system may be especially vulnerable due to abuses within the system, such as police shootings or unrealistic expectations with paying bail, fines, or court costs. Additionally, social workers acknowledge the impact that having a family member locked up or under criminal justice supervision can have on the rest of the family, including tangible outcomes such as income, employment, and housing as well as the emotional bonds that may be disrupted or shattered. The population of aging prisoners is an issue that social workers address as well, especially given their social isolation and increasing health issues.
Social workers are also adept at not only advocating for people impacted by the criminal justice system, but also in pushing for much-needed reforms. These include bringing attention to critical issues like mass incarceration and the overrepresentation of racial and ethnic minority groups. Social work also helps bring attention to emphasizing the need to decriminalize many social problems, such as poverty, addiction, and mental health issues.
In this age of alternative facts, budget cuts, and current criminal justice and other policy proposals, advocacy for vulnerable populations is especially necessary. To achieve smarter justice solutions, the need exists to recognize what social work brings to the table regarding criminal justice, and for social workers to acknowledge the expertise and knowledge that they possess to inform effective changes in criminal justice practice and policy that also include social justice outcomes.
