Is a Criminology Career Right for You?

Melissa Steele, EducationGuys.com Writer --

Criminologists study society and try to establish patterns at the root of crime. These trained professionals conduct research at crime scenes, jails and prisons, and then compile reports about their findings.

Are you looking to earn a criminal justice degree? Attendance at criminal justice schools is on the rise partly due to the recent exposure of this field on exciting television programs such as “CSI”. One of the exciting fields in criminal justice is criminology.

Criminologists study society and try to establish patterns at the root of crime. These trained professionals conduct research at crime scenes, jails and prisons, and then compile reports about their findings. This is a highly intellectual and competitive field. Criminologists are trained to see the big picture as well as the fine details. They work with and often for law enforcement offices on both the local and federal scale. Being a criminologist often involves going to crime scenes, attending autopsies, and questioning potential suspects, and coming up with psychological profiles of the suspect for that crime.

To earn a criminology degree, you need to take courses from areas such as sociology, psychology, and statistics. While attending criminal justice schools students learn theories about why crimes transpire and why people commit them. Brain patterns and behavior of criminals is another part of your studies. You also learn about the various segments of the criminal justice system. Other parts of you course work will include learning about police, parole, probation and the system of the courts. The largest aspect of you studies is learning to prevent crime from happening in the first place.

To be a criminologist, you need to obtain a bachelor's degree, preferably in sociology or psychology. There are presently about 100 four-year schools offer bachelor's degrees in criminology. Typically you receive a bachelor's degree in criminology in four years. Most community colleges offer two-year programs in criminology that can be transferred to a four-year college or university. There are also a variety of online criminology degree programs.

Many get degrees in criminology before they study to become police officers. With a degree in criminology, you can work as an entry-level court administrator, in police departments, in social work, or as a parole officer. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics ( http://www.bls.gov/ ), the average salary for entry-level criminologists was $43,941. Well-trained criminologists will always be in demand as our population continues to grow. Now is a great time to start a career in criminology. There will always be a need to control and prevent crime – and to protect society. Students majoring in criminology are prepared for careers in the criminal justice field as well as for entry into law school. You will find that there are many options with your criminology career.

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