The courses may be taken in either order by high school juniors and seniors. Students who take the justice systems course may earn three college credits in addition to their high school credit. Both courses emphasize reading, writing, and interpersonal communications skills. Extracurricular activities include participation in law enforcement exploring through the Hiawatha Council of the Boy Scouts, field trips, internships, police ride-alongs, and firearm orientation. This course is intended as an overview of the whole criminal justice system.
Crime is examined from a historical, philosophical, legal and contemporary viewpoint.
Students are also introduced to criminology, the federal and state court systems, the U.S. Constitution, juvenile justice, private security, corrections, and criminal justice procedures. An exciting anticipated change in this course in the fall will be the addition of two new modules. Once a student completes the fire services module they will eligible for their first responders certificate that will allow them to work for a fire department. Meanwhile, the EMT module will permit students who successfully complete the covered material, to work with an ambulance corps. Participants in these modules may also take advantage of expected additional internship locations.