Abstract

This work explores the extent to which the death of George Floyd in May of 2020 and the COVID-19 crisis affected criminal justice students’ perceptions of career commitment and motivations toward public service. A survey was administered to a cohort of criminal justice majors at one Michigan university who were between their junior and senior years, once in the spring semester of 2020, before Floyd’s death and the civil unrest that followed, and again at the end of the 2020 summer semester. The results suggest that career commitment remained unchanged between the two time points, as did the students’ COVID-related attitudes. Contrary to expectations, public service motivation increased (rather than decreased), and this change was significant. The results are more encouraging than might be expected in such a tumultuous time of history, and they may help inform educators about how students view such turmoil relative to their career choice.

摘要

这项工作探讨了 2020 年 5 月乔治·弗洛伊德 (George Floyd) 的去世和 COVID-19 危机在多大程度上影响了刑事司法学生对职业承诺和公共服务动机的看法。在 2020 年春季学期、弗洛伊德去世和随后的内乱之前以及 2020 年底再次对密歇根州一所大学的一组刑事司法专业学生进行了一项调查，这些学生的年龄介于三年级和四年级之间夏季学期。结果表明，两个时间点之间的职业承诺保持不变，学生与 COVID 相关的态度也是如此。与预期相反，公共服务动机增加（而不是减少），而且这种变化是显着的。在如此动荡的历史时期，结果比预期的更令人鼓舞，