Donna Roxbury discovered her interest in criminal justice
when she was working as an office assistant. She decided
she wanted to go to law school. To get started, she got
a job as a legal assistant and went to school part time.
While Donna was still in school, she got a well-paying
job as a corrections officer in an all-male prison. She
worked there for 5 years, learning about prison life and
the criminal justice system. When she got her Bachelor's
Degree, Donna got a job as a parole officer and was promoted
to senior parole officer after just one year.
As a senior parole officer, Donna usually handles 85 to
100 cases at any given time. She meets with 3-12 clients
every day. She makes visits to their homes to see if they're
making progress or violating their parole.
Sometimes, she gives clients drug tests and checks with
their employers to see how things are going. Donna has to
take clients to prison or drug rehab programs if they violate
parole. She also completes paperwork for arrest warrants
and records violation reports.
The job can be dangerous. "If you're afraid
of being hurt or you feel nervous around guns," she
says, "This isn't the job for you. It is if
you care about fighting crime and helping people."
To be successful, Donna needs to have a strong background
in law and criminology. She works hard to get more professional
and educational experience "Each time I finish a certain
level of school, I decide I need a new and better job,"
Donna says. Now she's working on a Master's
Degree in Clinical Psychology. She hopes to become a criminologist
or crime scene investigator.
Donna
Roxbury
