Author Info
Kim Schnurbush has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of New Hampshire and a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Fitchburg State College. She is nearing the completion of her Ph.D. at Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice. Her primary research interests are the death penalty, wrongful convictions and mental health issues within correctional institutions. Kim has extensive professional experience as a police officer and as a civil investigator. She also has several years of experience as both a college and a University instructor. While living in Texas, Kim worked on a Department of Justice grant where she coordinated trainings for law enforcement throughout the Western U.S. on the handling of DNA evidence at crime scenes. Because of her experience with the Department of Justice grant, she conducted research regarding DNA policies and their implementation at the local law enforcement level across the State of Texas. Her article was published last fall in the TELEMASP journal which has an audience of not only Texas law enforcement, but various law enforcement agencies and personnel throughout the world. Kim also worked for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as an Investigator while working on her Ph.D. studies. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, formerly known as the Texas Department of Corrections, is known by many in the correctional field as the “flagship” of correctional systems because of their successful history, size, management structure and programs offered to offenders within the correctional system. Her current research interests surround the perception of wrongful convictions within the United States, women’s mental health issues in jails and prisons and Security Threat Group (STG) Gang Renunciation and Disassociation (GRAD) programs across the United States.
As part of the Spring 2009 semester at the University of Tampa, a “test” of the use of blogging was initiated by Kim to see whether or not students at UT find internet blogging a useful tool, and whether or not blogging is a positive and fun way for students to increase their knowledge about the field of criminal justice. Initial student survey results from the Spring semester show internet blogging to be well received by the majority of students and a positive way to engage students in various topics in the criminal justice field. A full study of results will be conducted at the end of the Fall 2009 term.
Note: Both blogs and responses to blogs are in no way representative of the views of the University of Tampa. News stories are copy/pasted from websites and appropriate citations are noted within each post. Any blog created by the author represents the opinion of the author and in no way is tied to the University of Tampa. All posts generated by University of Tampa students are done so as part of a semester-long assignment and in no way represent any type of authority in the subject area and are merely student opinions.
