Criminologist Career Job  Degrees And Training Guide

You must be looking for the right place where you can find all the information related to the criminologists if so, you have landed at the right place. This article will give you descriptive information regarding the criminologist career. It will also give you details about the practical aspects of the job, which might help you become a criminologist.

Apart from this, this article will be much information about the educational degrees and training information of the criminologists.

What Is Criminology

Criminology is a branch of sociology which examines the crime, criminal behaviour, and the societal response to the crime. A criminologist would study the underlying reasons behind a crime and how a society responds to it. Once the reasons behind the crimes are identified, it becomes easier for the correctional officers to work on the criminals to improve their mindsets. The criminologists also study the effect of punishments and whether these punishments effectively curb a crime.

What Does A Criminologist Do?

First, every society has its norms, and it works according to them. A criminologist has to study these norms and identify the deviations within a community from these norms. The criminologists also study criminal behavior and their mindset so it can be improved.

The criminologists are:

1. Specialist in criminology
2. They research on criminology and analyze the societal norms.

To be specific about the job opportunities, there are numerous career paths that a criminologist can choose. In the later sections of the article, we will discuss the different career paths, so you’re your questions such as what criminologists do can be addressed, and you can choose the career that suits you the most.

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Duties Of A Criminologist

The duties of a criminologist are

• They will be compiling statistical data
• They will conduct surveys
• They will conduct surveys for different researches.
• They will formulate policy recommendations
• They will write research papers and articles on criminology
• Working with law enforcement and corrections personnel
• They will be Studying criminal behavior
• They will take part in formulating strategies to curb crime

Where Do Criminologists Work

Criminologists work in various settings. You might find a criminologist working in a university setting. He/she will have to conduct research on different topics or teach law enforcement students in subjects related to criminology. The second career path that a criminologist can choose is to work as an advisor for a law enforcement agency where he/she will have to advise them regarding the crime pattern and the ways to prevent them. The third opportunity is to work as a policymaker for a federal agency to formulate the policies revolving around crime and how they apprehend them. Some criminologists also choose to become a private consultant and assist the people who have indulged themselves into un-lawful activities.

The most common career paths in criminology are enlisted below.

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Common Career Paths In Criminology

Corrections –Choosing these criminology career paths will lead you to become a part of a correctional facility. You will spend your time analyzing the reasons behind the crime and improving an individual’s mindset.

Counseling –This criminologist career path will lead you to become an entrepreneur where you will be counseling the people to help them get rid of their habit of committing the crime. 

Criminal Investigation –In this career path, you will work as an investigation expert who will interrogate the criminals and look for why he/she committed a crime.

            Other criminologists careers are enlisted below:

• Diversion Programming
• Financial Fraud Investigation & Prevention
• Forensics
• Intervention Programming
• Insurance Fraud Investigation & Prevention
• Judicial / Courts
• Law Enforcement
• Medical Investigation
• Rehabilitation
• Research and Policy Studies
• Private Investigation
• Psychologist – Psychopathology Specialist
• Retail Investigation
• Special Agencies
• Teaching
• Women’s Studies
• Youth Programming & Counseling
• Additional Careers in Sociology

You can choose some career paths as a criminologist, but the students’ most asked question is to get employed. To address this question, we have come up with potential employers where you can get employment after completing your education. In case you have already completed it, you can start looking for an employment opportunity in these agencies.

So without any further due, let Jump to the list so that the potential employers can be identified.

Potential Employers Of Criminologists

Court Systems –To help in defining the crime patterns

Correctional Institutions –To help bring improvement in the offenders

Counseling Agencies –To provide counseling services for their clients.

Banks & Financial Institutions –To help the banks secure their system from Cyber and other criminal attacks.

Private Investigation Agencies –To investigate different cases in which criminal incidents had happened.

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) –To understand the reasons behind the use of drugs and how to prevent their usage

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) –To investigate different cases.

Homeland Security

U.S. Border Patrol

State Highway Patrol

Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

Youth Services

Public Safety

Local Police Divisions

Public Safety

Department of the Treasurer

Criminologist Education And Training

You might be wondering what criminologists study, well the sure and short answer to that question is, the criminologists study the courses related to crimes and criminal behavior. The courses that we recommend you to study at the undergraduate level are:

• Sociology
• Introductory psychology
• Criminal law
• Juvenile delinquency
• Constitutional law
• Forensics
• Abnormal psychology
• Criminal theory

Most of the degree programs by various law enforcement degree schools will include these courses, and most of the times they will be compulsory courses. However, if they are optional, you are advised to study them to have a firm grip on the subject.

Criminologist education typically includes four years of bachelor degree program followed by a two years masters master’s degree, the students who are willing to pursue their career as a criminologist tend to gain some work experience after their bachelor’s degree while the ones planning to choose their career path related to research go for higher studies including masters and PhD programs.

The best advice for you would be to complete criminologist education requirements by completing a bachelor’s degree and look for an employment opportunity. You can continue your education while being on the job, and it will help you advance in your career.

Criminologist Salary and earning potential

According to the bureau of labor statistics, a criminologist’s average annual income with a bachelor’s degree is between 30,000$ to 40,000$. The criminologists with a master’s degree can start their earning from 55,000$ and go upwards.

According to the bureau, the national average wage of criminologists is $94,650

Different jobs you can do with a criminology degree.

• Criminologist
• Police officer
• Detective
• Probation officer
• Scene of crime officer
• Prison officer
• Social worker
• Lecturer
• Counselling

The next section of the article will give you more details about the areas of specializations you can choose for your advanced educational degrees.

Area Specialization for criminologists

There are numerous areas in which the criminologists can focus on their advanced studies or for their research. These areas of specialization are discussed below.

Targeting a specific age group

The criminologists can choose a targeted age group for their work, for example, they can choose to work on the crime in elementary schools boys, or the crime in the males who are unemployed or targeting the crimes in aged people. You might ask what the schools young boys have to do with a crime. The truth is that the crime has its roots deep down, affecting the school going. Therefore, it is essential to study the pattern of crime in these infants to be apprehended.

Targeting a specific crime                                    

The criminologists can also choose to work on a specific crime and the ways to prevent it, for example, a criminologist can decide to explore the reasons behind why people commit murder or robbery. Other examples of crimes can be rape, kidnapping, and smuggling. This will help the criminologist explore the reasons behind a crime and what can be done to prevent these crimes.

Criminal profiling

Criminal profilers are highly experts in criminal profiling. They make the profiles of different criminals so that various criminals’ age group attributes and appearance can be identified. For example, when a criminal is caught, the profilers conduct the profiling and make a profile that consists of the crime committed, the criminal’s appearance and habits. Based on profiles of different criminals, a Meta profile is being created to help law enforcement agencies identify a criminal involved in crime. A profiler will be able to point out the actual culprits after looking at the crime scene.

Skills that will be helpful for your criminologist CV

Studying criminology information will improve your understanding of the social aspect of the crime. This criminology info must be reflected in your CV, which will enhance your chances of employment and help you land at your desired position in law enforcement agencies.

• The skills that are going to be beneficial for you to add weightage to your CV are:
• The ability to generate and Evaluate the evidence 
• Making reasoned arguments and Ethical judgments
• The ability of problem-solving and critical thinking
• Collecting and analysing data
• Writing reports.

If you have these skills, it is perfect, but if you lack these, add them to your skillset. Once you have acquired them, you can add them to your CV to increase your employment chances.

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