What Kind of Jobs Can You Get With a Bachelors in Criminal Justice
With the toll of a higher pedagogy having increased exponentially in contempo decades, selecting a college major is no longer only a affair of which subject field area happens to pique a student's interest. What proficient is majoring in your favorite discipline when graduation is followed by unemployment, underemployment or poverty level wages?
Blithely tripping through four years of a liberal arts education without whatsoever definite goals is largely a thing of the past. These days, it makes sense for prospective higher students to take a long, hard look at their career prospects earlier incurring tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. The stark realities of the American economic system have students flocking to STEM and business organization programs as a fast track to lucrative careers in Silicon Valley or on Wall Street. But where does this get out students who may not be inclined to major in the sciences, mathematics or finance?
Unlike many degree programs in the humanities and social sciences, the bachelor's in criminal justice is a course of study that focuses on real-world applications and is therefore in need by employers in both the public and individual sectors. Students in criminal justice programs study theory at the aforementioned time equally they larn applied skills that allow them to hit the ground running when they land that first crucial job.
Amidst the hallmarks of today's criminal justice college studies is the opportunity to participate in internship programs that give students a gustation of the work earth. For-credit experiences in law enforcement, social services, security, state and federal agencies and with the justice organization have become commonplace and are even graduation requirements at many colleges. It can exist a lot easier to land a job right out of higher when a potential employer sees practical experience far beyond the classroom on an applicant's résumé.
A concern shared past many criminal justice students is how to achieve a satisfying and reasonably paid career without the necessity of attending graduate school and thereby going more than securely into debt. Although many criminal justice majors ultimately decide to attend police school to go licensed attorneys or go on to pursue a master's degree to teach higher-level courses, there are enough of opportunities in the field for those with a bachelor's degree.
So, is it difficult for a higher graduate with a newly minted bachelor's degree in criminal justice to find a job? Not at all! More than three million people are employed in the field of criminal justice in the United States today. And that doesn't count the many adjunct and related professions to which criminal justice graduates lend their talents.
In terms of need and bounty, the following are the all-time bachelor level criminal justice jobs available today.
Law Enforcement
Last year, the U.Due south. Bureau of Labor Statistics cited the hateful annual wage of police officers and sheriff's deputies at $58,720. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that starting salaries for police officers typically range between $26,600 and $49,500 annually (compare to the $45,327 average starting salary for all graduates last twelvemonth).
If you want to work close to where yous live, promise to return to the town where you grew up or program to settle nigh family unit, a career in law enforcement has the advantage of beingness available almost everywhere. In nigh parts of the United states, individual counties, towns and cities have their ain municipal police forces to staff. And with aging infant boomers retiring at an unprecedented rate, there is a steady demand for replacing outgoing officers with new ones who accept the right education and background. Nonetheless, what y'all earn as a police officer directly out of college may vary greatly depending on where you are located and whether you are willing to relocate to another part of the nation where salaries may be college. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that mean annual salaries of police officers on the west coast, in Chicago and in the New York metropolitan surface area are currently between $60,130 and $88,220. Past dissimilarity, police salaries are often significantly lower than the mean in places such as the rural South.
Many local police departments do not crave candidates entering the police academy to hold a bachelor's degree. With the increasingly competitive task marketplace, however, applicants with a bachelor'south in criminal justice may take a meaning edge in landing that beginning task over their peers with only a high schoolhouse diploma. Furthermore, law section internal regulations oft crave a bachelor'south degree for advancement to the levels of lieutenant and sergeant. And if yous detect that you want to move over from beat officer to detective, chances are the department is going to cull someone with courses in criminology, sociology, forensics and statistics over a graduate of the local high school.
An additional fiscal benefit of employment every bit a state trooper, county sheriff'due south deputy or local police officer is that regular bacon increases are more often than not specified under commonage bargaining agreements. Over the years, this can represent a huge advantage over employment in the private sector, where annual salary increases and even toll of living allowances may be tiny or nonexistent.
But college graduates with a criminal justice degree are finding satisfying work in diverse areas of police enforcement that go far beyond the ubiquitous patrol officer. A available's in criminal justice can open the door to employment with federal law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Agency of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. These public servants provide such vital services every bit protecting our borders, ensuring the safety of air travel and fifty-fifty serving on hostage rescue teams and intercepting coded messages. If you are excited by the prospect of working to fight terrorism, cybercrime, human being trafficking, public corruption and organized crime, then a career with our federal authorities may be for you.
Corrections Officer or Probation Officer
Many criminal justice graduates choose employment in the specialized branch of constabulary enforcement that staffs our prisons, jails and federal, state and canton probation agencies. In colleges across the country, criminal justice classes study patterns of deviance, shifting community norms and legal theory. Whether you believe that our laws established criminal penalties primarily for deterrence, retribution or correction and reintegration of offenders into society, corrections staff and probation officers are on the forepart lines of the criminal justice system every day.
The corrections system is at a crossroads today. While some states are revisiting criminal penalties for increasingly acceptable social behaviors such equally possession of marijuana, our state and federal prison populations have never been higher. The media blares out dire warnings about prisoners who are being granted early on release due to overcrowding or speedy trial concerns. Inmates are suing departments of corrections civilly for alleged constitutional violations. Y'all may be conducting a parole hearing, writing an incident report, holding a pre-release counseling session with an inmate, participating in a jail cell extraction or testifying in court. A career as a corrections officer or probation officer offers unparalleled diverseness and tin represent the culmination of your years of college report in the field of criminal justice.
Opportunities for entry level correction and probation officers take been increasing in recent years due to the construction of new prisons and equally a effect of hiring past private companies that are taking over facility contracts from municipal governments. Average salaries are in the $xl,000 range, with considerably greater compensation enjoyed by experienced officers, particularly on the east and westward coasts.
Instructor or Trainer
You may remember of a teacher as someone who has to control unruly elementary, middle school or high schoolhouse kids all day. Such a prospect may seem about as far as one tin can go from a criminal justice degree. And yet, each year many undergraduates studying criminal justice too complete their country teaching credential. Amidst skills gained by criminal justice majors that are valuable to teachers are the ability to brand coherent presentations, decision making skills, appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism, an understanding of ethics and moral values, and calculator literacy.
Although teaching in a public schoolhouse commune or a private school has the geographical advantage of being available most anywhere you lot choose to call home, today's opportunities in the field of instruction extend far beyond the pedagogy of children. The field of adult learning is booming in both the public and private sectors, making a career as a trainer or instructional designer among the all-time jobs for a college graduate with a bachelor'south in criminal justice.
Opportunities to combine teaching with law enforcement exist in many land and federal authorities agencies. For instance, among the careers listed past the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on its website are instructor, curriculum specialist and program analyst. Fifty-fifty the CIA is advertising for education and training specialists — at an annual salary of $63, 673 to $97,333!
Across government piece of work, major companies such as Ford, Kraft, Sprint and Apple tree regularly advertise vacancies for college graduates with leadership ability to fill positions such as "learning manager" and "grooming coordinator."
State and Federal Courts
It happens every day at a court near you lot: A thick packet arrives in the post; it turns out to be a writ of habeas corpus handwritten on lined paper torn out of a screw notebook by an inmate who has already served years at a state prison and at present claims that there is new bear witness to exonerate him. A woman walks into the courthouse in tears (her two young children in tow) and explains to the clerk in broken English language that her boyfriend has just beaten her upward, stolen her auto and threatened to take her kids abroad if she tells anyone. A local resident comes to court to complain that a warrant has been sworn out for his arrest on a misdemeanor citation that does not belong to him. "I'm a victim of identity theft and I'm going to get fired if I go to jail!" he tells you in a panic.
Criminal justice graduates are in a unique position to help our friends and neighbors who may be angry, confused and upset over their entanglements with the legal system. And indeed, many who consummate college with a bachelor'south in criminal justice want to be right where the activity is — in the courthouse. Fortunately, a career in the federal or country courts does not require the many years of graduate report undertaken by attorneys and judges. Amongst the available roles for criminal justice majors are bailiff, courtroom assistant, court clerk, criminal constabulary supervisor, court manager, example administrator, court operations specialist, pretrial services officer and family law mediator. Salaries vary greatly by position and geographic location. A quick cheque of the federal courts site reveals electric current bounty rates of $38,000 to more than than $100,000 annually. Y'all can check it out for yourself at http://www.uscourts.gov/Careers/SearchJobVacancies.aspx
Forensics
Popularized by such prime fourth dimension Idiot box shows equally "CSI: Miami" and "The First 48," jobs in forensic scientific discipline are amid the more "sexy" options available to graduates with a bachelor'southward in criminal justice. Hither's a brief list of just a few of the job titles available today at the intersection of law and scientific discipline:
- Ballistics specialist
- Blood spatter analyst
- Crime scene investigator
- Criminologist
- DNA annotator
- Fiber technologist
- Forensic odontologist
- Homicide detective
- Psychological profiler
While a bachelor's in criminal justice serves every bit excellent preparation for these types of positions, well-nigh of them also crave all-encompassing coursework in the sciences, particularly biological science, chemistry and physics. Forensics is one part of the criminal justice organization in which the scientific method is as important as proper police procedure. Work in this surface area requires equal familiarity with a microscope and an interview room. Expertise in forensics tin hands lead to six-figure salaries and is likely some of the most fascinating piece of work available to criminal justice graduates. If forensics is your goal, however, be sure to put in your fourth dimension in those bio and chem lab courses aslope your preparation in sociology and criminology.
Private Security
Television and movies frequently depict the epitome of the solitary security guard standing lookout man or pacing his alone rounds at the midnight hr. The romance of this popular notion notwithstanding, the role of private security is in fact infinitely more circuitous than simplistic generalizations may suggest. In fact, the undergraduate coursework in sociology, criminology and psychology completed by criminal justice majors is platonic preparation for private security work.
Regime agencies and private businesses akin depend on their security forces to handle emergencies and forbid crime and economic loss. The various situations encountered by security guards are every bit varied as human nature itself. Although private security officers are derisively referred to equally "rent-a-cops" by some, the fact remains that they perform many of the aforementioned duties as law enforcement. Investigating a suspicious bundle, assisting with a medical emergency, providing directions, intercepting a shoplifter or purse snatcher and writing reports are all in a day's work for security forces. Private security plays a very visible role in such environments equally courthouses, office buildings, department stores, shopping malls, banks, hospitals, hotels and casinos.
The adept news is that the need for individual security guards has been increasing in contempo years. In fact, the Agency of Labor Statistics reports that more than than a million Americans are at present employed in the security field. Then security work may exist one of the easier types of jobs to find direct out of college. There is a long tradition of employment as private security while attending college or graduate school to prepare for a more lucrative or interesting position. This makes sense in that private security positions tend to be more poorly compensated than many other types of jobs. Every bit of 2012, the boilerplate salary of a private security guard was $thirteen.10 per hour or $27,240 annually, with salaries in some areas of the state trending beneath $twenty,000.
Social Services
Criminal justice majors spend much of their college careers studying the social forces at work in our communities and the causes of criminal offense. This serves equally wonderful preparation for such careers in public service as social worker, guidance counselor, public benefits interviewer, human services assistant, family police force mediator and child custody recommending counselor. The increment in single parent families in recent years has made this type of piece of work vital to both adults and children. Whether serving equally an ombudsman for poor families seeking cash aid or food help, presenting drug abuse prevention programs in the schools or counseling minors incarcerated in juvenile detention facilities, employment in the social services can exist a rewarding career path for those with a criminal justice background.
In addition, criminal justice graduates should not overlook the many staff services and policy analyst positions available with land agencies such as the Department of Children and Family Services and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Paralegal / Legal Assistant
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an 18% increment in paralegal and legal assistant jobs by 2020. This has become an increasingly popular career path for criminal justice majors who cull to avert the time and expense of attending law school. Simultaneously, the availability of recent college graduates who have immersed themselves in law and folklore has provided extraordinary benefits to police force firms that require skilled technicians to handle documents, perform legal research, maintain files and assist clients with routine paperwork.
Some legal assistants elect to formalize their credentials past pursuing additional coursework to earn a paralegal certificate. While this may better earnings capacity, many police force firms do non require it of those with a bachelor's in criminal justice. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the median bacon for legal assistants equally $22.59 per hr or $46,990 annually and predicts growth of 40,000 in the number of legal assistant/paralegal positions within the next eight years.
Compliance Managing director
All businesses, and manufacturing firms in particular, must give time and attention to complying with a plethora of federal, state and local laws and regulations. Financial incentives to cut corners, inadequate policies and procedures, outdated modes of performance and ignorance of the well-nigh recent changes in statutory and case law are among the sources of danger of legal liability faced by businesses on a daily footing. A compliance manager with a bachelor's in criminal justice can serve as a counterbalance to these forces and may ultimately salve the visitor millions of dollars in unnecessary fines and litigation costs.
The duties of a compliance manager may include writing standard operating procedures and task risk analyses that meet federal and state standards, conducting safe studies, performing legal research, examining contracts and other legal documents, engaging in policy development and conducting staff preparation. The Agency of Labor Statistics reports salaries for compliance managers as ranging from $35,730 to $97,760, with a median salary of $62,020 and the high end of the range primarily concentrated on the east declension.
Human being Resources Generalist
The field of human resources has been experiencing explosive growth in contempo years, due at to the lowest degree in role to an increase in exposure of businesses to legal liability surrounding employment issues. Higher graduates with a bachelor'due south in criminal justice tend to exist well suited to this blazon of work due to their ability to understand and interpret federal and country law also as due to their familiarity with modernistic social problems and ethical considerations.
Human resources generalists are typically involved in the processes of recruitment, hiring, promotion, bailiwick and termination, all of which crave careful compliance with contract and anti-bigotry laws. They may exist involved in enforcing the provisions of a code of ethics or ensuring the visitor's compliance with collective bargaining agreements. 60 minutes generalists are often involved in the preparation of task application forms and employee handbooks, may assist in mediations and arbitration hearings, and may play a atomic number 82 role in developing and updating company policies.
The employment website glassdoor.com reports that Hour generalist salaries vary widely among major American corporations, from $32,000 to more than than $100,000 annually. The Agency of Labor Statistics places the hateful hourly wage at $29.60 per 60 minutes or $61,560 per year.
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