Independent Component 1

LITERAL

• (a)  “I, __Samantha Villanueva__, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents _55_ hours of work.”
• (b) The instructor of the class "Administration of Justice" was Leonard Romero. He has actually worked in the forensic field, so I was able to ask him questions about that experience before class would start, which was pretty cool.
• (c) LINK
• (d) I took an Administration of Justice course for my first independent component. The class was located at the San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupation Program and Technical Center.  The instructor's name is Mr. Romero he has been a Forensic Scientist for most of his life, until he decided he wanted to start teaching. The classroom's instruction is very broad and detailed at the same time. By this I mean the topics covered vary greatly, however there is a flow, and for each topic the instructor talks about he goes into great detail providing as many examples as he can. In the class I learned everything about the police, prisons, court systems, and even some information from a unit on forensics. I  also took my own personal notes during class instruction. I also did handouts, and write-ups on the material being taught, which were like tests but he didn't count them as such. It was basically an assessment of what I have learned so far for each topic. In Admin of Justice I occasionally received homework , and it was generally based on what was taught that day.  
• INTERPRETIVE 
• The reason I took this course was because it related closely to my topic. I hadn't realised this until after a conversation I had with my mentor. In it she explained to me how essential it was that I understood the legal system as well as police work and detective work. This is because as a CSI you work with all these different fields, so it's good to have a great understanding of them, and how they work.  Also Crime Scene Investigators go to court and testify as expert witnesses, so it is imperative to know how the court system works.  This class really helped me understand these areas greatly, and I was able to talk about this experience with my mentor. As well as another CSI when we went on a mini field trip to the courthouse during mentorship. As proof, or evidence of 30 hours I have provided pictures of my notes, homework, and a fingerprinting activity we did in class. As well as a contract I typed up for the instructor to sign.

Notes

Activity and Homework

Contract signed by instructor since I wasn't officially enrolled in the course

This is the Center where I  completed my IC hours!

• APPLIED
• This component helped me  understand the foundation of my topic, because as I stated earlier knowing the police system, and court system is an essential part of being a Crime Scene Investigator. For example on 9/23/15 as recorded in my spreadsheet I learned about gangs, and sort of how they function, and work. This was very helpful during my experience at mentorship. It varies as a Crime Scene Investigator, but since my mentor works in Pomona it was very helpful because Pomona has a very large gang issue. At mentorship when I was introduced to all the different officials, and squads, I was able to meet the gang unit. It was very awesome to be able to talk with them and sort of understand what exactly they as a unit did. Irregardless of the geographical location of where a CSI works all of the knowledge I learned during my time in that class was later applied as a foundation. In which I was able to build off it and do more research to understand really what it's like to be a CSI.