MSU-Meridian criminology students gain firsthand insight of night court

Contact: Marianne Todd

MERIDIAN, Miss.—Judge K. Dustin Markham donned his black judicial robe when he approached a group of Mississippi State University-Meridian students in his courtroom—immediately garnering their full attention.

“Let me explain what just happened here,” he said as he detailed the trial that had just taken place in municipal court, where the students witnessed a defendant charged with murder and out on bond return to Markham’s court after he was found in possession of an assault rifle.

The group’s presence was part of a hands-on initiative led by MSU-Meridian Associate Professor of Criminology Amanda Cox, whose students take part in MSU’s Quality Enhancement Plan—titled Bulldog Experience—a universitywide effort to provide immersive, experiential learning.

Expectations for her students to witness valuable, real-world insight were exceeded, Cox said.

“The students were fascinated,” she said of the spring semester experience. “The judge introduced them to the prosecutor and the chief public defender. They met police officers and the bailiff. All these people spent time talking to them. They told them, ‘This is what I do on a day-to-day basis.’”

During breaks in court proceedings, Judge Markham answered students’ questions and provided additional context.

Since 2016, Cox has tracked data for Meridian’s municipal court and helped develop data-driven strategies to improve court appearance rates for misdemeanor cases. She said court officials demonstrated their work to the students with passion.

“I want my students to get their hands on every part of the system,” she said. “I want them to see the people working in these positions, to talk to them, to get to know them. I want them to learn what you can do with a criminology degree—that you can be in law enforcement, go to law school, work in victim services, be a paralegal or a public defender.”

Students also visited the TAME community treatment center, where offenders participate in court-mandated programs such as anger management and substance abuse counseling.

“There is a technique of neutralization, where the men who are prosecuted in domestic disturbances will blame the women and the system instead of themselves,” said Jesse Knight, a first semester criminology student. “In one particular moment, one of the offenders stated that he believed the system would believe only the women. The other fellows there spoke up and agreed with that sentiment. We had studied this in class, and it actually did happen. It was like seeing the textbook come to life.”

David Buys, MSU-Meridian associate vice provost for health sciences and interim head of campus, said Cox’s approach is a great example of what a Bulldog Experience should be through the university’s QEP.

“Textbooks and classrooms, of course, provide the basis for learning, but this real-life experience, the chance to observe different professions in a field, ask questions and even participate, provides students with an acute awareness of their chosen fields,” he said. “From that grows limitless expansion opportunities. This experiential learning is something we really strive to provide all of our students at MSU-Meridian.”

To learn more about the MSU-Meridian educational programs, visit www.meridian.msstate.edu.

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