An experiential learning opportunity focused on wrongful convictions affirmed Fatima Noor\u2019s belief she is on the right career path.<\/p>\n
The fourth-year Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice (FPAC) student, who recently received the McCall MacBain Regional Award<\/a>, says she is even more excited to attend law school following an experiential education opportunity with Youth For Innocence<\/a>, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping inmates fight wrongful convictions.<\/p>\n The work she completed also ignited a passion for research.<\/p>\n At the end of her third year, Noor decided to try to pursue both FPAC\u2019s practicum opportunity and its thesis stream by taking on the experiential education component over the spring.<\/p>\n Noor\u2019s FPAC 4F92: Practicum instructor, Professor of Child and Youth Studies Voula Marinos, connected her with Youth For Innocence in California. Working remotely, Noor supported people seeking exoneration by accessing online databases and securing case documentation that could be shared with a lawyer.<\/p>\n She says completing the organization\u2019s initial training modules helped her understand the sensitive nature of her work as a volunteer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to miscommunicate that we\u2019re there for legal advice. We\u2019re just trying to help,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n For each case, Noor collected as many records as were publicly available.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the case intake process, we\u2019re given the individual\u2019s name, the year they were initially arrested and an inmate code we can use to search Getting Out, a secure platform for accessing information about people who are in jail in California,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n When she noticed a possible discrepancy or procedural error, Noor reached out to the individual involved to obtain consent to continue investigating. She could then ask family members for additional copies of records such as trial transcripts or parole board notes.<\/p>\n \u201cIn FPAC 4F92, we learned how transferable skills can help you in your career pathways,\u201d she says. \u201cOne of the skills I was working on was communication, not only trying to improve my active listening but also the empathy aspect, realizing that I need to earn the right to ask some questions.\u201d<\/p>\n This frame of reference helped Noor refine her approach, making a shift to asking open-ended questions and giving people space to share what they thought was important about cases.<\/p>\n In instances where the collected materials suggested a possible wrongful conviction, Noor referred the files to defence attorneys who volunteer their time for the organization.<\/p>\n Over the course of the internship, however, Noor noticed that in situations where cases crossed jurisdictions or crossed borders, there was no ready resource providing Canadian information.<\/p>\n So, outside of her regular internship hours, Noor collaborated with Miah Slater, another Canadian volunteer, to compile a list of Canadian lawyers across all provinces who are experienced in wrongful conviction cases.<\/p>\n Now approaching graduation, Noor continues to volunteer with the organization, though she can offer fewer hours while working on her honours thesis and preparing for graduate school.<\/p>\n In her thesis, which she is completing under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Political Science Danielle McNabb, Noor is studying disciplinary outcomes for Canadian law enforcement officers who have committed intimate partner violence.<\/p>\n With no existing public database of cases, she is deploying the research skills she developed during her internship to track down news reports and other public documents.<\/p>\n \u201cYouth for Innocence was a life-changing experience for me,\u201d says Noor. \u201cI went in with preconceived notions and assumptions, and that placement broke down everything I knew and rebuilt it. I\u2019ve just learned so much.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An experiential learning opportunity focused on wrongful convictions affirmed Fatima Noor\u2019s belief she is on the right career path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":107788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13793,1,38],"tags":[4811,522,15030,11111,15031],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107781"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107791,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107781\/revisions\/107791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}