Undergraduate Internship Opportunities

About the Office:

The Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (“CEOS”) and its forensic High Technology Investigative Unit (“HTIU”) are the nation’s experts in investigating and prosecuting high-technology federal child exploitation cases and crimes. CEOS Trial Attorneys and HTIU Digital Investigative Analysts lead the Department of Justice’s efforts to improve the enforcement of federal child exploitation laws and prevent the exploitation of children. CEOS and HTIU investigate and prosecute all federal child exploitation cases including those involving the production, sale, and trafficking in child pornography, the sex trafficking of minors, and United States citizens who engage in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. In addition, CEOS and HTIU perform other vital functions within the Criminal Division, including providing advice and training to other federal child exploitation prosecutors, law enforcement personnel, and government officials, and participating in national and international meetings on training and policy development. CEOS also works to develop and refine proposals for prosecution policies, legislation, government practices, and agency regulations.

Job Description:

Interns will assist paralegal and attorney staff in performing legal and factual research and other closely related duties of a complex nature in support of the investigation and prosecution of complex criminal matters. This includes: digesting substantive materials and transcriptions of trial testimony or witness interviews; compiling, indexing, duplicating, and collating documents; reviewing and analyzing information, including statistical data, relevant to criminal cases and matters; preparing memoranda, discovery and other documents for attorneys; conducting factual research for a variety of purposes; preparing tables of contents, indexes for legal briefs, memoranda, and other such documents; specific problems and issues raised in litigation or correspondence; and performing a variety of other duties which may be assigned.

Commitment:                                                   

Spring and fall applicants must be available to work at least 24 hours per week (across at least 3 days) for a minimum of 10 weeks. This requirement is not negotiable, and availability must be confirmed with the applicant and their educational institution before an interview can be conducted. The summer internship is full-time (at least 32 hours across 5 days per week). This is a fully in-person internship.

Qualifications:

Only junior and senior students may apply. Students must be enrolled either full-time or part-time in a college, university, or comparable educational institution. Students must be in good standing academically and eligible to continue as an enrolled student during the internship. The ideal candidate thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative work environment, possesses strong writing and communication skills, demonstrates proficiency dealing with Internet and computer technologies and produces high quality academic results, evidenced by a “B”/3.0 (or better) Grade Point Average. All offers require obtaining a proper security clearance after a review conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. citizenship required and applicants must have resided in the U.S. for at least 37 of the last 60 months.

Salary: These positions are volunteer (uncompensated).

Application Process: Applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, current transcript, and writing sample via email to ceos.interns@usdoj.gov. The cover letter should be addressed to Eduardo Palomo and McKenzie Hightower, Internship Coordinators. All documents should be in PDF format; a single, combined PDF (rather than multiple) is preferred.

We review applications on a rolling basis. Candidates are strongly encouraged to apply early as positions may be filled before the deadline. CEOS hires one undergraduate student to work full-time as an intern each spring, summer, and fall. This position is volunteer (i.e., uncompensated position for course credit) and is open until filled. Submission deadlines for each semester are as follows:

• Fall internship position: June 15
• Spring internship position: October 1
• Summer internship position: February 1

For more information, visit our website: https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos