by Lauren McCartt<\/p>\n
Let me preface this by saying that I wasn\u2019t really looking for an internship this semester; I didn\u2019t need one for my major and I was already the proud owner of four jobs.\u00a0 I was looking to get through the semester with my sanity and maybe a little bit of free time.\u00a0 But this opportunity sort of fell into my lap and I would have been crazy not to take it.\u00a0 I was also probably a little crazy to take it, since that put my count at five jobs, but I digress.\u00a0 It was important to me that I do this.\u00a0 It seemed like something that really mattered.<\/p>\n
This semester I worked with the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic at their Expungement Help Desk in the city county building.\u00a0 It was, and I say this without exaggeration, perhaps one of the best experiences of my life.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always been interested in the criminal justice system, and my internship gave me such a diverse perspective on law and justice.\u00a0 My dad is a police officer, so I\u2019ve always heard about his work.\u00a0 I, like many other people, indulge in TV shows about crime and the police officers who solve it.\u00a0 But I was also interested in the justice system from another angle.\u00a0 Through my sociology classes and a general awareness of the problematic ideals on which our country was founded, I knew that criminal justice didn\u2019t always equate to real justice.\u00a0 I wanted to help people who were dismissed or condemned by our system and learn about the ways we could fix it.<\/p>\n
My internship gave me exactly what I wanted.\u00a0 My job was to work directly with people who were trying to clear their criminal records.\u00a0 Essentially, the expungement help desk fills out the necessary paperwork for people to submit to the prosecutor, asking that their record be expunged.\u00a0 Everyone I talked to was so kind and grateful, and it was wonderful to feel them get so excited about their future prospects.\u00a0 So many people were able to go back to school or advance their careers, and that was amazing to see.\u00a0 It felt like I was doing something that mattered, something that made a difference.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been fairly vocal about how I feel about the criminal justice system as a whole, and I have had a pretty critical stance on many things.\u00a0 Being able to work with the NCLC put action behind my words; I was no longer shouting into the void about injustice.\u00a0 I was helping real people.<\/p>\n
The tail end of my internship did not end how I expected.\u00a0 Unfortunately due to COVID-19, the help desk closed and I had to work remotely from home.\u00a0 My boss was able to send me client information that had been given to us before the outbreak, and I was able to do paperwork for these people, but I did not get to interact with them.\u00a0 I\u2019m very grateful I was still able to work, but I certainly miss the interpersonal part of the job so much.\u00a0 I love hearing the stories of the people who came to the desk, and being able to laugh and joke with them was amazing.\u00a0 I can only hope that the desk opens up soon, because I would love to continue to volunteer my time there.\u00a0 I am also considering creating a simple website with some clarification on Indiana expungement matters.\u00a0 The forms to file for expungement have just been made public online, but they can be pretty confusing at first, and I would love to give people a guide on how to fill everything out and assemble the forms so they can go through this process themselves.\u00a0 Even with the complications that arose because of the pandemic, I loved working with the NCLC.\u00a0 It was truly a life-changing experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Lauren McCartt Let me preface this by saying that I wasn\u2019t really looking for an internship this semester; I didn\u2019t need one for my major and I was already the proud owner of four jobs.\u00a0 I was looking to get through the semester with my sanity and maybe a little bit of free…<\/p>\n