| Municipal Court Community Service |
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Since April 2008, the Municipal Court of Brownsville and The UTB and TSC Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) have been collaborating on the “Municipal Court Community Service” (MCCS) project that helps non-violent defendants learn to empower themselves through service and volunteerism.
The MCCS project was developed to build capacity in community organizations while at the same time facilitating transformative experiences in defendants sentenced by the municipal court to community service. The MCCS project has four steps, as follows: (1) referral of a defendant to the CCE from the Municipal Court, (2) CCE interview of the defendant to ascertain the best “fit” or match between the defendant and our database of “certified” community partners, (3) After the interview the agency is contacted and the defendant is referred to the agency to complete his/her hours of service, and finally (4) the defendant returns to CCE for a debriefing and reflection on their experience.
MCCS CRIJ 4301 Internship
The internship allows upper-level criminal justice students to participate in 120 hours of service in an on-campus department. Intern duties include updating records, interviewing defendants, placing them in service agencies, visiting defendants at work sites, and establishing new service sites.