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Communication Insights

Human Communication in a Dehumanized Criminal Justice System

Allison Brannon

CMAT 495: Pre-trial Services Communication Internship

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Growing up with a heroin addict brother that always seemed to attract attention from the

police, I perceived the criminal justice system in a way that left me with more questions than

answers. I wondered what directed people to make bad decisions, what happened when they

were arrested, and what the outcome of each case would be. This childhood curiosity led to a

career field interest, which ultimately explains why I pursued the position of a pre-trial services

intern. The system primarily focuses on a person’s criminal history to determine their fate with

little consideration of personal details; furthermore, pre-trial services of the Carroll County

Sheriff’s Office is one of the few departments that puts in effort to understand and listen to the

offenders beyond their rap sheet. The crucial step to humanizing the criminal justice system is

the communication. By working in an environment with a constant flow of different individuals

and backgrounds, the internship with pre-trial services created numerous opportunities to

exercise a variety of communication skills. I applied the knowledge gained in the classroom to

better understand real world Court experiences and language through nonverbal behavior

analysis, interpersonal communication, and survey research.

The criminal justice system is mainly considered an umbrella field of study with

numerous departments coming together to function as a whole. Criminology studies crime and

criminals, forensics uses science to uncover evidence in crimes, and police officers are the famed

face of stopping crime. Underneath all the layers of the criminal justice system, communication

brings the different pieces together, but leaves the human aspect out. The expression “to make

mistakes is human” is true, but the processes within the system only focuses on the mistakes. In

Court, there is no emotional consideration, only factual. Therefore, throughout the course of the

internship, I ensured positive communication was present by talking to offenders as people,

understand their hardships, and offering resources to support them.

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The pre-trial services unit becomes involved in a criminal case once a bail review is set in

place for the offender and a criminal history report is requested. This is the first communication

about an offender between different departments of the criminal justice system. While presenting

the criminal history in Court, it is generally easy to tell the direction of the outcome for the

offender, either good or bad. Perhaps the greatest lesson learned at the internship is that first

impressions really do matter and the best hints are within nonverbal communication. Nonverbal

communication such as clothing, setting, and grammar creates an impression on the judge. A

bright orange jail jumpsuit is less attractive than clean Court clothes. A video intercom is less

personable than an in-person Court hearing. An offender with proper grammar and mature

vocabulary appears more refined than an offender who states, “I ain’t no criminal.” And yes,

people really do say that in Court.

The nonverbal communication expressed by offenders heightens the variability in the

decisions made by judges. A pre-decided bail does not exist for each charge, so the judge has to

consider any risk to the public or potential to skip Court in addition to their behavior during the

bail review. I was surprised at how large the differences in bail can be, and sometimes even

questioned the fairness of the situations. For example, a person with one charge of distributing

narcotics (cocaine) got a fully secured $25,000 bail while someone charged with attempted

murder in the first degree got $20,000 unsecured bail. Obviously, the details of the crimes must

be taken into consideration, but how they are presented in Court is a major factor in the final

decision. Interestingly, every communication class I was a student in explains the variability in

the bails. The well-known philosopher Aristotle suggested three principles of rhetoric; ethos,

logos, and pathos. In bail reviews, ethos is the most important of the three. Ethos is the

credibility of the speaker and how they present their message. Do they mean what they say? Will
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they show up to Court, or do past failure to appears suggest they won’t? Realistically, an

offender does not have the same credibility as an attorney. Their nonverbal communication

creates the impression and their credibility, which influences their bail.

One of the best ways to encourage positive and open communication is to take time to

listen to someone. In the criminal justice system, only the “what” of the situation matters,

moreover, not the “why.” This proclamation frustrates many offenders because it prevents others

from understanding their rationalization. When an offender is first assigned to pre-trial services,

an intake interview is required to gather their basic information. I quickly learned that going

deeper than their address and employment makes them more comfortable with their supervision.

When completing their intake interviews, I asked each person if they had any concerns or issues

that might prevent them from succeeding. This was their opportunity to tell me what was

weighing heavy on their shoulders. I received many different answers such as, “I will test

positive for every drug on that cup” or “I have stage 4 stomach cancer.” I have also heard

optimistic answers like, “I will be in the room when my niece is born, so I will call if I can’t

make it that day.” This open communication helps both sides in the long run.

The skills to conduct intake interviews came from a combination of Interpersonal

Communication 205 and Interviewing 308. The interviewing course prepared me to ask the right

questions and how to respond to their answers. Oppositely, interpersonal communication gave

me the emotional mindset to understand their answers. In pre-trial services, there has to be a

balance between sympathizing but realizing they are in their situation because of their actions.

This can be a difficult balance to keep and not everyone can handle the emotional toll. If the pre-

trial services unit does not do their part to understand their situation and aid in ways they can, the

offender will go right back to jail. Keeping offenders out of jail is the goal. Again, a good
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relationship between the case manager and the offender starts with the intake interview and goes

forward from there. I experienced this myself when I completed an intake of a male offender

previously mentioned that told me his niece would be born soon. A few weeks later he came in

looking like the happiest man alive, and proudly showed me pictures of his beautiful newborn

niece. By sharing that his niece was his motivation to get on the right track, I knew how to

support him on his way to success. Listening to offenders can be more than just hearing them

speak.

Any business or organization that wants to improve their effectiveness has to consider

what would benefit the customer. However, the organization cannot assume what the customer

wants to be changed, they must find out through research. At pre-trial services, the customers are

the offenders that are assigned to supervision. Therefore, a plan for survey research was

implemented and executed. Although the survey only applied to satisfaction with pre-trial

services, the offenders were more than willing and eager to share their thoughts. They were not

used to having a voice; attorneys speak for them in Court, their every action is controlled in jail,

and they are identified by a case number. Giving someone the opportunity to voice their opinions

makes them feel valued and heard. The survey was created to benefit pre-trial services, but it also

gave the offenders a place to vent their frustrations without being punished. Honest

communication is a goal that is difficult to attain when studying communication in the criminal

justice system.

The questions and formatting of the satisfaction survey were relatively simple to create.

Using skills learned in Communication Research 297, I made sure the survey was ethical, yet

effective. For an assignment for Communication Research, it was required that I became CITI

certified to ensure I researched responsibly, especially taking in to consideration extra

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precautions with private and confidential information of criminal justice system offenders. The

course as a whole and the individual assignments prepared me for real field-work research that

could actually impact how pre-trial services interacts with offenders. In fact, one of the most

noted weakness of the survey was the hours of operation. Pre-trial services took this into

consideration and changed their reporting hours. By asking the offenders for their input, then

acting upon their requests, pre-trial services showed that people do listen. Open communication

allows for adjustments where as suppressed communication keeps things the same.

When two Romanian men were arrested in Carroll County, it became very clear that their

bail review would not go as usual. To hold their bail review, a pre-certified translator was called

in to interpret both sides of communication. The rules with translators mainly require that only

one side of communication speaks at a time. For example, the judge speaks, then the translator,

then the state’s attorney, then the translator, then the public defender, and so on. This dragged

out the bail review to be a long process. The use of the interpreter hindered the flow of

communication, but the struggle to communicate the court jargon was also evident. The

interpreter, although very fluent, struggled to find the exact words in Romanian that exist in the

American Court system. At that point, it became clear how confusing the Court system is even in

English. For those who do not regularly familiarize themselves with the Court system beyond

basic understanding, it is an unknown world. Words like “noelle prosequi,” “habeas corpus,” and

“sub curia” have minimum context in a daily conversation outside of a Court proceeding.

Furthermore, this reemphasizes the idea that an average citizen will not be able to successfully

represent themselves against a trained attorney, despite the right to do so. The jargon in court

makes communication difficult in an already stressful environment.

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Classes such as Rhetoric and Public Presentation 218 and Small Group Communication

310 teach students how to avoid using jargon. However, they failed to explain how to handle a

situation from the listener’s perspective of not understanding the jargon being used. This points

to the idea that classes focus on sending the message and less on receiving. Fortunately, I worked

in a positive environment with wonderful coworkers that allowed me to ask numerous questions

or use Google to understand many of the Court terms that I was not familiar with. But, cell

phones and talking are prohibited during Court sessions, so I had to wait until afterwards to ask

my questions. This prevented me from understanding in real time.

Another aspect of communication that the court jargon and translator bring up is cultural

diversity in the community. During the entirety of the internship, I encountered many races,

sexualities, cultures, religions, and languages. Some situations were more difficult to handle, but

I feel that Salisbury University’s Communication curriculum that requires a cultural competency

course prepares students for diverse situations. Other areas of Salisbury’s offerings such as study

abroad trips, the foreign exchange program, and the link of nations hallway exposes students to

diversity. Gaining a sense of understanding and appreciation of diversity through experience and

education provides the skills to adapt to new cultural encounters.

Walking into pre-trial services on Friday the 13th in July, I knew my duties would follow

their typical pattern, but it would be far from a typical day. Following an alleged dispute with his

wife earlier in the week, my 27-year-old brother was arrested on a warrant for malicious

destruction of property, second-degree assault, and first-degree assault. I knew my brother would

have a bail review that morning, and it was my job to record the results. Fortunately, I made my

supervisor aware of the situation prior to reporting for work that morning, and he was
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understanding of the circumstances. To ensure there was no conflict of interest, Mr. Brewer and I

set guidelines as to what I could and could not be involved with throughout my brother’s case.

Because pre-trial services had no direct impact on the outcome of bail reviews, I was

allowed to attend my brother’s and others’ bail reviews for the day. The outcome was not what I

was expecting. Due to the severity of the crimes and his confusion with declining a public

defender, he was held without bail and a Court date was set in August. I was emotionally

distraught and rationally confused at the results. How could a man charged with first degree

attempted murder get released on a relatively small bail, but my brother was held? The answer is

within the nonverbal communication and misunderstanding of jargon. A common misconception

is that if an inmate denies a public defender at the commissioner’s hearing, they still have the

right to a public defender at the judge’s official bail review. The commissioner does not have to

explain this process at all, nor in basic terms. Not having a public defender stand in front of a

judge sends the message that the offender does not see the charges as serious and emits a sense

of arrogance that they can get themselves out of trouble without help. In reality, there is no way

that an inmate can say anything stronger or more convincing than a highly trained and prepared

state’s attorney, as in the case of my brother. Another issue that automatically lessened my

brother’s credibility was his visible tattoos. Although many people see tattoos as a form of art

expression, tattoos impact appearance in a negative way within the Court system. If tattoos are

subconsciously used as an indication of rebellion, the more likely they are to be seen as a threat

to the community. What really sealed my brother’s fate was a previous failure to appear on a

traffic ticket in which he was late for Court. It didn’t matter that he swore he would show up to

Court for the new case, his past dictated his credibility. In the moment, I couldn’t see the factors

as to why he was held.

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Once I got over the initial shock of my brother being held without bail, I was able to

assess my own emotions and evaluate the situation. Theoretically, I knew there would be a

possibility that I would encounter someone I knew during the course of the internship. But, I was

not expecting it to be someone so close to my heart. Suddenly, I once again became the young

girl that had more questions than answers. I questioned myself and my ability to emotionally

cope with difficult scenarios on a daily basis. I wondered how there could be so much variability

in outcome of cases. I doubted myself in being successful in a criminal justice system career.

With the support of my co-workers, I realized that I chose this internship to help people like my

brother. Going through the process from both a professional and personal viewpoint connected

me to the job more than I expected. Even if I just listened to how they became addicted to drugs

or how excited they are for their first niece to be born, I supported them through a confusing

process, which is something I am proud of. It was my job to provide stability and clear

guidelines in the system that works differently for everyone. Whether the offender follows the

guidelines and makes a positive out of the situation is up to them.

Throughout the internship, I met a LOT of people, got scared on a jail tour, shared some

laughs, and shed some tears, but I realized that I never failed to learn. This was one of the most

challenging experiences of my life and education, but I could not be prouder of myself for

stepping out of my comfort zone and learning something every day. I learned trivial things such

as eating a Cliff bar can create a false positive on the alcohol breathalyzer test. I learned big

things such as the processes of Court hearings. But where I disappointed myself the most, was

when I became attached to the ones I wanted to succeed more than others and was sad when they

failed. With time, I think I would have built up an emotional barrier and prevented myself from

becoming too attached. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the task and duties of the entire
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internship, I am not yet set on working in the criminal justice system. I would love to be a case

manager at pre-trial services, but for now, I plan to leave my options open which I have the

ability to do with a Communication Arts degree.

Overall, I used knowledge gained in the classroom to apply topics of communication to

an ever-evolving criminal justice system. People are judged more in this system than anywhere

else, and especially the judgements of nonverbal communication dictate their fate. However,

listening to what people have to say beyond their criminal charge allows them to open up and

express their concerns. This helps them decide their fate once they know someone else is on their

team. Similarly, anonymously asking for input to improve services provided to them allows

offenders to speak their truth without hindrance of backlash. Whether in English or another

language, the Courts are a confusing system to navigate, but with perseverance and help form

pre-trial services, offenders have the resources to be successful. Not only can offenders be

successful, but those working in the criminal justice system gain personal gratification by

helping someone better their life. I realized I made an impact in peoples’ lives in the nine short

weeks at the pre-trial services unit. This summer internship under the Carroll County Sheriff’s

Office was full of trials and tribulations, literally, but I learned more about myself,

communication, and the criminal justice system than I ever knew possible.