Finding Passion in Criminal Justice: Recent Grad Talia Parente ’21 on Her Career Goals

Talia Parente ’21, originally from Cranston, Rhode Island, began her time at URI as a psychology major. She noticed that the classes she enjoyed most focused on themes of criminal justice and other social issues, and she found herself wanting to learn more. “As I started to learn more about how the criminal justice system operates, criminological theories that help explain criminal activity, and the many social issues and issues of racial discrimination that stem from the system, I became much more passionate about [the field of criminology and criminal justice] learning how to fight for social justice,” she says.

Talia became particularly fascinated with the intersection of psychology and criminal justice (CCJ), which led her to declare a double major in both fields. As she looks to her future career, she notes that she’s most passionate about social justice and combatting racial inequality and discrimination within the criminal justice system, saying, “My dream job would be to become a lawyer who fights to exonerate the wrongfully incarcerated. I am especially passionate about the abolition of the death penalty, so I would love to be able to influence that policy change as well and be able to ensure that innocent people are not executed.” Talia’s passions have also led her to explore a career in law, and she plants to attend a dual degree program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City where she can earn a master’s degree in forensic psychology and pursue a law degree through CUNY Law School

Upon her graduation in May 2021, Talia was awarded the prestigious University Academic Excellence Award for the Criminology and Criminal Justice Program. “I think it reflects my passion for criminal justice issues and the hard work that I have put into my degree during the past four years,” she says of the honor. As for advice Talia would give students looking to study criminal justice, she says, “I would strongly encourage anyone thinking of studying Criminology and Criminal Justice to do so! The topics that you will be studying are extremely relevant to social and racial issues within our society today. They will definitely lead you to understand the criminal justice system through a completely different point of view and teach you how aspects of the criminal justice system intersect with other functions of society as well.” 

~ Written by Taylor Petrini ’21, English major