Senior lecturer and researcher in Criminology at ECU, Dr Nikki Rajakaruna, takes students through a session on investigative practice.
Of all the stories we hear about students who struggled to find a course that would lead to a career that clicked, this one is hard to beat.
It's not that Josh Venters didn’t have ideas.
He had plenty.
And he had a crack at many things before he found criminology.
Just to be clear, that’s not crime, it's the study of criminal behaviour.
Josh now works with the Department of Justice as a Senior Project Officer (Operational Policy, Corrective Services).
And while working with adults and young people in the criminal justice system isn’t always the easiest job, he loves it to the extent that he has happily returned to his university to speak to students in a Youth Justice unit.
"I’ll take any opportunity to educate the public (and potential Criminologists) about the benefits of diverting young people away from the criminal justice system," he says.
Josh and a Department of Justice colleague supporting Pride Week.
Thespian beginnings
From a young age, Josh loved acting.
He took drama classes during and after school, participating in school and church plays and competing in annual eisteddfod competitions from primary school in his native South Africa.
Between Year 11 and 12, and now living in Perth, Josh toured Scotland, England and Wales with a local theatre company run by his high school drama teacher.
Up until Year 12, all he wanted to do was get into WAAPA (the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) and become an actor.
However, under parental and other adult influences, he was dissuaded from this career path and enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts course at the University of Western Australia.
The student journey begins
At UWA, he completed a semester of linguistics, but it wasn’t something he wanted to pursue.
In fact, during his 18 months at UWA, Josh changed course many times.
He completed units in French, landscape architecture, communications, psychology, law, and English.
We did say he had a crack at many things!
After eventually withdrawing from UWA, Josh decided to apply for a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in accounting, at Edith Cowan University.
Surely this was it?
While Josh got very good grades in his first year, he just couldn’t see himself as an accountant for the rest of his life.
Now he was really lost.
Then one day in the university library he stumbled on an ECU course guide that included a Bachelor of Criminology & Justice degree.
"I had always been interested in becoming a detective but could not see myself being a very successful police officer first," he says.
He was excited by what he read. It was a lightbulb moment.
He did it! Criminology and Justice graduate Josh Venters resplendent in his graduation gown.
The best way to learn it is to live it
One of the good things Josh found about studying at ECU was having opportunities to be placed in the real thing as part of his studies.
In his third-year, Josh had a prac placement with Adult Community Corrections in Correctives Services.
He went out on home visits, attended prison with other Community Corrections Officers to interview remandees and offenders, and sat in on hearings in the Drug Court, the Family & Domestic Violence Court, and the Children’s Court.
Josh also loved that his ECU lecturers were working in the industry.
One of his lecturers was a forensic psychologist who interviewed offenders and remandees and submitted specialist psychological reports to the courts to inform the judiciary during the sentencing process.
He was also pleasantly surprised by how connected the teaching team were with the WA Police Force and the Department of Justice.
"It might be just another day at work for you, but it could be the worst day of their life."
This advice from one of Josh’s ECU lecturers, Associate Professor Natalie Gately, is something Josh carries with him in his new career.
“It’s easy to get annoyed, upset, or take abuse personally when you work in the justice system,” says Josh.
“But my course prepared me for this new life better than I could have imagined.”
