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Empathy-Focused Learning: Teaching Criminal Justice Students to Care

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Abstract

Today’s students show very little appreciation for the importance of empathy in community-based correctional treatment. This descriptive mixed-method study reports on a pilot program designed to examine how and to what extent a criminal justice education program enhanced or fostered empathy. Over a period of 7 years (2007–2014), 52 students participated in an intervention class, while 97 attended a controlled course. The study utilized a two-stage measurement technique involving a pencil and paper test of empathy and actual interviews with students. A phenomenological analysis was conducted to investigate how students understand and transform experiences into perceptions both individually and as shared meaning. A Paired Two Sample for Means t-test was computed on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) pre- and posttest data to analyze change in the students’ perceived empathy. The intervention group scores from pretest to posttest indicated a statistically significant change in students’ empathy levels in all seven subscales. This program should serve as a model curriculum for criminal justice students.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Legal Studies, The University of Mississippi, 207 Odom Hall, University, MS, 38677, USA

    Linda Keena

  2. Department of Criminal Justice & Sociology, Southeast Missouri State University, 322 Brandt Hall, Cape Girardeau, MO, 63701, USA

    Laura Krieger-Sample

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  1. Linda Keena
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  2. Laura Krieger-Sample
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Correspondence to Linda Keena.

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Keena, L., Krieger-Sample, L. Empathy-Focused Learning: Teaching Criminal Justice Students to Care. Am J Crim Just 43, 389–410 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-017-9385-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-017-9385-7

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