From Classroom to Courtroom: A 4D Fridays Criminal Justice Practicum
A working professional in the legal field discussing career paths with a DU student. Photo by Cindy Garcia-Magaña.
This spring, Fridays are becoming portals to your future. The College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHSS) continues to expand the University of Denver’s 4D Experience, integrating intellectual growth, character, well-being, and career readiness into every CAHSS degree. Faculty members are dedicating Fridays to the 4D student experience, beginning with courses that help students channel their passions into careers and lives of purpose.
Our emerging CAHSS 4D Fridays curriculum offers professional exploration, real-world experience, and for-credit classes and internships that prepare students to graduate as adaptive, skilled professionals ready to thrive in today’s evolving workplace.
Students in Professor Lisa Pasko's CAHSS 4D Fridays course, “Research Practicum Experiential Learning: Understanding the Criminal Legal System,” do more than study the justice system. They observe real courtroom proceedings, analyze legal processes as they unfold, and gain immersive experience that strengthens law school applications and prepares them for careers in law, public service, and criminal justice.
“I personally learn best through doing,” Pasko said. “Getting students into the courtroom — either through livestream or in-person — is the exact learning experience I want them to have. They are experiencing the difference between law in books, law discussed by scholars, and law in action, and they get to do it in a self-directed, flexible way.”
The course enhances students’ understanding of the criminal legal system, including arraignment, sentencing, probation and parole hearings, continuances, and bail hearings, by immersing them in the roles and work of legal professionals involved. Students observe the courtroom both online and in person, deepening their legal insight while practicing skills applicable to various legal careers.
Student Delaney Healy, a double major in socio-legal studies and political science, currently enrolled in Pasko’s course, said the experience has confirmed her determination to become a lawyer while illuminating the need for close observation.
“You can’t just watch what’s happening; you must analyze the events from different lenses and points of view. I have also learned how to turn these observations into field notes, which helps me see patterns and themes.”
Grace Lanigan, a double major in socio-legal studies and criminology, values the opportunity to observe “such a vast environment of cases and hearing types” in this course.
“I am learning what it means to be professional as well as the expected etiquette in the courtroom and how attorneys speak not only with their clients and each other but also to judges and clerks.”
Through observing courtroom interactions, she realized that while all courtrooms, attorneys, and judges have different ways of doing things, all share “the same goal of getting justice for their clients. It’s been an amazing opportunity as an undergraduate to see what I might be doing someday.”
Pasko designed this course so “students can learn to recognize the pace and precision of courtroom proceedings and how challenging it can be if someone or some factor derails the process.” Even the most ordinary hearings can seem exciting, “as students consider the real-world effects on the defendants and clients they witness.”
Healy sums up her experience in this course like this:
“I knew that injustices happened, but I did not understand the extent of discrimination in the justice system. Most people think of court as being for criminals, but most of the people on the stand are just going through hard times. This really changed the way I look at the system, helped me see how unfair it can be, and made me want to work to make it better.”
Interested? Talk to your advisor about signing up for Pasko’s spring quarter 4D Fridays course today!
