Park University hosting roundtable empowering women in criminal justice field

By Joseph Hennessy

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    PARKVILLE, Missouri (KCTV) — An event empowering women in the criminal justice field is happening Wednesday morning at Park University.

11 women from the Kansas City region in criminal justice-related fields are gathering from 9 a.m. to noon at the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel on campus for an open discussion Park University is calling “Women Transforming Criminal Justice.”

Individuals expected to participate in the roundtable discussion include:

Kaitlynn Donnelly, J.D., assistant prosecuting attorney, Platte County, Mo. Regina Funk, treatment court manager, 7th Judicial Circuit Court, Clay County, Mo. Carol Getty, Ph.D., professor emerita of criminal justice administration, Park University, and former chair of the U.S. Parole Commission Sandy Karsten, director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety Sgt. Bobbie King, administration bureau operations, Kansas City, Mo., Police Department Tiffany Leuty, J.D., 7th District defender, Missouri State Public Defender C. Ann Mesle, J.D., retired 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County, Mo., judge and former member of Park University’s Board of Trustees Anne Precythe, director of the Missouri Department of Corrections Zim Schwartze, chief of the Missouri Capitol Police Maj. Kari Thompson, commander of the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department’s Community Engagement Division Sgt. Savana Watkins, Missouri Department of Corrections, and Park University junior majoring in criminal justice administration/corrections

The program is for open communication from women who quote “broke the rules” to become successful within a culturally and socially non-traditional career field. The hope is to educate attendees about the underrepresentation of women in this field.

Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Tamara Jenkins said is important because everyone has a voice and story. She said they want to have them answer some questions if they can like is the field facing cultural strongholds preventing women and others to get into it or ongoing systemic issues they need to address.

“We really thought the best people to ask these questions to are to those who have navigated this field and can better help us and our students to understand how they can prepare to enter criminal justice and be successful themselves,” she said.

They reached out to agencies about getting involved with this first annual event and anticipated maybe 3-4 women agreeing, but that list grew to 11. She said several others wanted to come so there could have been even more women in the field speaking about their experiences, but they were unable to attend this time around.

It helps with educating the students who may see themselves in those types of shoes after graduation, but it’s also a recruiting tool for these agencies who signed up.

“They’re going to get a better sense, I think, of these women more than just having them come in say with a prepared lesson, ‘and today, we’re going to talk about this subject.’ They’re going to get to see them in a different element interacting with their peers,” she said.

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