Take a break from busy midterm season, homework assignments, early Thanksgiving preparations or daily chores. If you’re interested in criminal justice topics and wish to explore them in a challenging but fun way, we’ve found a few online games for you to try. Note that we do not ensure or endorse that they are completely representative of a criminal investigative or legal career, but they’ll definitely get you thinking in an entertaining way.
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The First 48 Investigation Game
In this game presented by A&E’s The First 48, you are a detective that has a choice between four cases to solve. You must investigate the crime scene, retrieve evidence and examine it in the lab, conduct interviews, assist with the autopsy and perform other duties to solve the case before it goes cold (you must complete the investigation before the time runs out). Note this game is probably not suitable for juveniles. http://www.aetv.com/the-first-48/investigation-game/
iCivics
For those more interested in political science, public administration or law, iCivics offers five online games to choose from. For example, in the game “Do I Have a Right?” you are run a legal firm that specializes in constitutional law. In “Argument Wars” you get to argue a case in a Supreme courtroom. http://www.icivics.org/
CSI: Web Adventures
If you’re a fan of the CSI television series, you’ll love playing these Web Adventures presented by Rice University’s Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning, CBS Broadcasting Inc. and their partners. As a crime scene investigator you can work on five different cases that range from beginner to advanced. The first is rookie training where you will cover forensic biology, toxicology, firearms, ethics and medical examinations. http://forensics.rice.edu/
We hope you have fun playing some of these online games. But remember nothing can beat the real thing. So whether you are in the midst of taking a criminal justice degree or considering doing so, get out there and gain some hands-on experience through internships, volunteering, picking the brains of computer forensics experts, police officers, lawyers, etc, doing some research and more. But before you go out into in the field, we have one last challenge for you.
Online Scavenger Hunt
We want to see how fast you can answer these criminal justice questions by searching for the answers on the world wide web. Post your answers on our Facebook page or in the Comments section of this blog. We’ll give a shout out to the first person to complete the online challenge correctly. Let the games begin!
1. Name the first criminal justice school in our CJSI website’s list of Alaska’s campus schools.
2. What year was serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer convicted of 15 counts of murder?
3. Which Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery?
4. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, how many more paralegal jobs will there be in the year 2020 compared to the year 2010?
5. In how many U.S. states is it illegal to carry out capital punishment?
6. Which U.S. Federal prison is known as having some of the most or THE most dangerous prisoners in the country, including the Unabomber?
7. “Citizenship and Immigration Services” is one example of Homeland Security’s Component Careers. Can you name TWO more?
8. What is the Latin legal term that means “at first face” (accepted as true until proven otherwise)?