Student Staff Update: So Heon Park

My name is So Heon Park. I am a second year student at Regent University School of Law. The Center for Global Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law (Center) was the primary reason why I chose Regent. I am privileged to work for the Center as a student staff member to help human rights victims and bring justice to corrupt legal systems.

I am a part of the team working on a project for International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is an organization dedicated to rescuing human rights victims, bringing criminals to justice, and strengthening justice systems in many countries. Our project focuses on police accountability in East Africa. Specifically, we are working on drafting a memorandum to suggest how governments can effectively hold police officers accountable to the law with the goal that innocent victims will not suffer under corruption and the abuse of police powers.

My primary responsibility for this project is to research cases in the United States where police officers are prosecuted for violating the law. I have to provide summaries of these cases, explaining the procedural aspects of how the United States holds police officers accountable and how effective the justice system is in the United States. I learned that the United States tries to uphold the principles of justice by holding police officers accountable and tries to emphasize the importance of bringing justice in society because pubic corruption undermines national safety, the public trust, and confidence in the government.

Although ending public corruption seems to be an endless process to achieve because human beings are sinful in nature—and it is happening everywhere—I am hopeful that our team members’ work can bring a small change, which can impact entire societies so that there are less and less victims who suffer from injustice.