Pioneer softball utility player enjoying hands on experience in court room

Platteville, Wis.-University of Wisconsin-Platteville softball junior Elisa Versetto was drawn to criminal justice from watching criminal style shows on television and aspired to be like them.  Now the Glendale Heights, Illinois native is seeing first-hand what actually happens in court during her internship at the Grant County Court House in Lancaster, Wisconsin.

Versetto works closely with Grant County Treatment Court Coordinator Kristin Schier in the alcohol and other drug abuse program and learned right away that everything you see on television isn't exactly what you see in real life.

 "I was surprised to see how open and involved the court was involved in the participants lives and well-being; everyone was involved," Versetto said. "In the TV shows I have watched they portray the court as being this very structured environment and not a lot of personal involvement.  I was surprised to see it, but also think it helps the participants feel important and not just another case number.  Everyone in the courtroom–the judge, the prosecutor, and the probation officer–are very encouraging and wants the participants to succeed."

Versetto knew she always wanted to help people, whether it was becoming a doctor, a firefighter or a career in criminal justice.  She has two cousins who are in law enforcement for the city of Chicago, one works in the drug unit, and the other is a patrol officer.  After choosing criminal justice as a major and psychology as a minor; she chose UW-Platteville specifically for the reputation of the criminal justice program. 

Versetto's internship is a newer program for Grant County and is set up as an alternative for jail sentence for drug and alcohol offenders.  "Instead of offenders going to jail, they enter a rehabilitation probation situation," Versetto said.  "They go to court every two weeks; they come into court and have their progressed checked by the judge.  I get to sit in on court which is a highlight of the internship."

Grant County Courthouse has had a long run of interns from UW-Platteville, but just recently started working specifically with Schier the past four years.  "With interns in the past; I was always looking for a third- or fourth-year criminal justice major," she said.  "They would have some background on the criminal justice system, Elisa had the background and fit in pretty well."

Versetto will work two or three days a week with Thursday's being mandatory since it is court day. "Court days are big, I get a chance to observe court proceedings," she said.  "After court I will record in my computer what happened, what the judge said, what the defendant said, if they were sanctions for a violation, I will mark that.  Say they failed a drug test or missed an appointment with the psychologist they will get a sanction, it could be community service or resetting their sobriety date."

What Versetto finds interesting during the court proceedings is the encouragement and incentives the court system uses to help the defenders.  "They try to have more incentives; they try to give them one incentive every time they come to court," she said.  "An incentive can be a round of applause for good behavior, paying their fines and just doing really well in the program. They can get gift cards and a token as a praise for reaching a targeted sobriety date."

"Elisa puts in a lot of data, and we put a lot of data into a computer," Schier said.  "All our data goes to the Department of Justice, because they oversee our programs and fund most if not all the treatment programs throughout the state.  Putting data in can be time consuming and that is one thing Elisa learned right away was what information needed to inputted."

Versetto is minoring in psychology; which is playing a big role during her internship.  "Physiological psychology is a class that is helping," Versetto said.  "I learned how different things affect the brain and how drugs and addiction affect people.  It gave me the knowledge of addiction; especially working with the participants who are going through addiction and how they deal and cope with it.  Seeing the reward and incentives handed out in court ties into my behavior and psychology class I am currently taking.  We are learning about their behavior and how to change it.  Seeing behavior modification through rewards or punishments and how that can increase or decrease behavior and how it works.  It is pretty interesting."

Student-athletes are used to showing up, working hard, following instructions, having good time management skills and taking criticism when criticism is needed. "It is one of the things I noticed about her and what has been true with other student-athlete interns I have had," Schier said.  "She is always on time, she is organized, she is studious, takes instructions well and I have had to critique her on some things and she takes that well, just like an athlete would from a coach on how to improve things."

The shift from being a student-athlete to an intern was easy for Versetto.  "I was use to a schedule, so it wasn't hard to get used to another schedule, but also having to report to a supervisor; it was just like reporting to a coach," she said.

What does Versetto want to do with her criminal justice and psychology degree?  "I want to work for the FBI and hunt serial killers as a special agent," she said.  "I would be getting into the minds of the serial killers with the psychology and using my criminal justice degree at the same time."