December 1, 2017 | UHCL Staff
When Helen Jin was in high school, she joined a criminal justice club led by a police
officer. She began learning about the justice system, the role of the police, the
way victims participate in the investigation, and the interaction of all those elements
in the courtroom. That’s when she decided that she would make the study of criminal
justice and forensic psychology her career path.
Jin, who is an assistant professor of criminology and in her first year at University of Houston-Clear Lake, began her life on the other side of the world before finding her way to Texas. “I was born in South Korea and our family moved to Los Angeles when I was 9,” she said. “There is a very strong Korean culture in Los Angeles — so much so that my father thought it was almost too much. We weren’t learning English and the American culture. So we moved to Phoenix, Arizona. That’s where I went to high school and found my academic and career interests.”
During her undergraduate studies at Arizona State University, she volunteered with the local police department’s special investigations unit. “I worked with state and federal level agencies and it’s when I began working with the Drug Enforcement Administration,” she said.
“I still keep in touch with the agents I worked with, but now I have the best of both worlds. I’m teaching, but I still work with them.”
Jin said that during her undergraduate experiences working with federal agents, she became interested in studying the psychology of perpetrators and victims and in combining the studies of psychology and criminal justice.
“By double majoring in psychology and criminal justice, I learned about the impact of trauma on victims, mental status of defendants, and jurors’ perceptions of forensic evidence.”
Talking to victims and perpetrators about trauma can be very stressful, and Jin said that she had taken a year off between receiving her master’s degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “I was getting very burned out,” she said. “I was lucky my parents supported my decision to take time off. I taught as an adjunct professor and continued my involvement in research during that time by working on a federal grant. It was a helpful year for me, because I didn’t have a great work-life balance at that time.”
After receiving her doctorate from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, she arrived in Houston in June in anticipation of starting her academic career at UH-Clear Lake. “I haven’t yet had a chance to explore Houston very much because of Harvey,” she said. “I was not prepared to deal with the aftermath of a natural disaster. We have been focusing on our students and ensuring they receive the resources and supports they need... I have hit the ground running since I got here, but I have great mentors helping me.”
One of the things that keeps her “running,” Jin said, are the lively and insightful discussions she has with her students. “I always run out of time because students have so many great questions that promote interactive class discussions,” she said. “I have truly enjoyed my first semester at UH-Clear Lake and I am so glad I have such wonderful colleagues in the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences and the Criminology program.”
She continues to actively pursue her areas of research interest, which include victimization on college campuses, bystander intervention, violence against women and sexual minorities, and intimate partner violence. “Research shows that victims often do not seek help,” Jin said. “Awareness of resources is very poor and victims are too frightened or reluctant to disclose their victimization experiences. That’s why I bring resource advocates and criminal justice professionals to my classes to educate students about the available resources on campus and in the community. In addition, this provides my students opportunities to network with those in the field and to prepare for the job market upon graduation.”
Jin said that as one of the new members on the UHCL faculty, she has been happy to find so many helpful colleagues and wonderful students. “I’m so new here and still learning about UHCL, but my door is always open,” she said.
For more information about the Criminology program, visit www.uhcl.edu/human-sciences-humanities/departments/social-cultural-sciences/criminology.
