Colleges and universities across the country are using high-tech simulators and other emerging technology trends to give students hands-on experience when earning a criminal justice degree. However, many students earning an online criminal justice degree will have the opportunity to learn the inner workings of law enforcement departments. Many current law enforcement departments often require individuals to receive their criminal justice degree before becoming security personnel or a law enforcement officer.

A technical college in Bismarck, North Dakota, lets students act out real-life hostage situations with a CO2 gun that recoils when it fires. This simulator gives students the opportunity to handle investigations, while giving them the confidence of having on-the-job experience. There has been a national trend of officials urging changes in a state’s criminal justice system.

For example, in Florida, several groups are pushing for changes in the criminal justice system, and formed a group called the Florida Smart Justice Alliance on October 2. Students studying or working in this state can benefit from learning about this organization and what they are trying to accomplish.

This group is making strides to enhance public safety, reduce costs and prevent low-level offenders who are released from returning to their previous ways. Florida isn’t the only state making these kinds of efforts, either. Nationwide, many groups are forming that center around the fact that many low-level criminals are imprisoned at the cost of taxpayers.

“Our goal is to identify productive alternatives to incarceration on the front end and better transitioning efforts for those prisoners who are released back into their communities,” Mark Flynn, Smart Justice president, told The Florida Current.

According to the publication, the state spends roughly $2.1 billion annually to imprison 100,000 inmates. Since 1992, the population of prisoners has nearly doubled, and two-thirds of inmates that have been released are arrested again within three years.