Aryn Chartock

My internship this summer was at my local county’s District Attorney’s Office. At this internship, I primarily worked with the Economic Crimes Unit. I got to contact victims, outline medical records, create exhibits for future juries, research, and more. I also had the opportunity to observe countless court motions, hearings, pleas, and trials. In addition, I was able to go on many field trips that shaped my perspective on the justice system today. We went to the county correctional facility, the juvenile center, coroner’s office, evidence room, and other places in the county that the DA’s Office often works with.

Something I wasn’t expecting was how much I would really love learning and working on cases in my division. Before the internship, I had no idea what an economic crime was, and I was confused as to why I was assigned to that specific division. However, throughout this summer of learning and working on Economic Crime material, I genuinely learned to love it. I had a misconception that in order to involve myself in economic crimes, I would need to be good at or have a sense of understanding when it comes to economics or numbers. This wasn’t the case, and I can actually see myself working in Economic Crimes for my career! After my experience at the DA’s office, I would also like to look into the way cases are distributed to behavior health courts. During my internship, I saw a case where a defendant with mental health issues was mishandled through the court system and her cases didn’t end up in behavioral health court when they should have. As a mental health advocate, I want to look into what methods can be implemented to enhance this process to better help defendants with mental health related issues.