Abstract
In the USA, persons of color as well as those from economically marginalized communities are over-represented in prisons and jails. This over-representation suggests the violation of justice-involved individuals’ rights to equality under the law. Field placement settings with justice-involved populations present opportunities for students to employ human rights-based practice approaches. This article will present teaching strategies currently used in the Joint Master of Social Work Re-entry Field Education Unit to provide social work students with a greater understanding of human rights issues so they can effectively intervene with individuals and advance a human rights practice approach. These strategies aim to enhance the cognitive, affective, skills, and values domains of student learning as outlined by the Council on Social Work Education. These strategies include a reentry simulation to foster student affective awareness (i.e., empathy) and a human rights intervention planning tool to promote a “rights-based orientation” via a shift to clinician-advocate mindset.