I feel like I've been here, at my internship, long enough to make a decision whether it was the right one or a major regret. Fortunately, it wasn't the latter. All in all, I'm extremely grateful to have chosen that internship. I mean, I honestly never imagined myself doing something that's down the same path as the career I'd like, so early on in life (and by that I mean getting the chance to have this experience before even getting to college).
Slight change of topics; the tasks we are given vary on a scale of difficulty. Based upon the letter we receive, we might just need to scan a few documents or perhaps right a letter to the inmate from scratch after reading their 14 page letter. There isn't a mandatory number of pieces of mail that we have to get through each day. It's also nice to keep in mind that we there's no guarantee that we'll be doing the same thing everyday. Like, last week we were helping out with inventory for the majority of our time. Not only was it fun*, but necessary as well. *I personally enjoy organizing stuff every now and then
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As briefly stated previously, CIP is all about clearing the name of the factually innocent. They try their best to take as many cases as they can (since they receive TONS of mail) with one goal in mind: for it to end in an exoneration. After reading various pieces of mail, I have come across letters in which the inmate indicates that they aren't factually innocent...so it does come in handy to have interns that can distinguish that (based off the knowledge and training that they've received).
Now, in order to get things done right, one must attain certain skills (don't need to be innate, if that's even a thing, since they can easily be developed after some practice): -Writing a brief/detailed summary whilst being extremely concise. -Proper grammar as well as using bureaucratese -Patience -A "strong" mind (considering all the tings we have to read) -General people skills/working well in a team I came in to the California Innocence Project yesterday, for an orientation/training session. Listening to them talk about the organization and hearing the impact that they've had so far, made me realize that I made the right choice in interning there. For those who are unaware of what I'm talking about; allow me to elaborate: the California Innocence Project takes the cases of those who were convicted in Southern California. Of course, we have to make sure that they weren't wrongfully convicted and receive certain paperwork to follow through with their cases.
I do think that it'll be interesting to work in an office, just because my internship from last year held a completely different environment. I also believe that I'll have to get used to the notion of answering the phone (it won't take too long, considering the fact that I took 4-5 calls today...and they went surprisingly well). I'm also gaining a lot of information in regards to the judicial system (it's crazy, but in a good way). My externship mentor could come in to visit any day of the week, between the hours of 10am-4pm. During my time there, yesterday and today, it seems like a rather busy place with everyone having a task to work on (so if my EM would like to see me, and/or the other interns at work, any day would be perfect for that). Now, to keep the title consistent, it's about time I make a confession. I am terrified of making a mistake in that workplace. Yes, I am aware that mistakes must be made in order to further progression; however, I feel as if the stakes are too high in this workplace. A mistake on my part could make a drastic change in someone's life... But I will do my best to prevent such errors (and that means that I'll be asking plenty of questions if I'm ever in need of help). |