Working with ‘Offenders’: Developing Empathy and Trauma Awareness in University Students

Many students decide to embark on criminology studies due to the media they have consumed, such as podcasts or true crime documentaries. University academic staff of criminal justice programmes often have to spend considerable time disabusing students of what they think they know about crime, violence, justice, and offending in order to help them understand that the causes and effects of crime are rarely as presented in the media. Although the development of critical thinking skills is crucial, empathy must also be developed concurrently in criminology students. The undergraduate unit ‘Working with Offenders’ (WWO) at a regional university in Australia is a third-year core unit for criminology majors and a second-year elective for social work students. Other students studying policing studies, law, and psychology also choose this unit as an elective. The unit focusses on the theory and practice of professional boundaries, trauma-informed practice, harms of incarceration, risk assessment, and restorative justice. This chapter presents the analysis of students’ pre- and post-unit reflections, examining how their understanding of offenders, the justice system, and trauma has developed over the unit. It highlights the potential of such learning in training the next generation of justice practitioners who are aware of social injustices and can drive social change.