Criminal Justice Majors...

Drakeon

Well this is my first time posting here, I hope its the right forum for it to go in...

Anyways, I was wondering if there was anyone out there who could help me out. I'm majoring in criminal justice and plan to go into that field, but I haven't actually found any jobs that say a bachelors degree in Criminal Justice would help me get into. I'm very interested in the criminal justice field, but I don't seem to know where to start or where a Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice would help me get into. Any help or information on the subject would be appreciated.

Muramasa18

Well, what kinda thing would you like to do? Police officer? Lawyer? I'm planning on doing Criminology myself at some point with the intention of becoming a police officer afterwards.

Drakeon

Nothing like a lawyer, I had looked at ATF, FBI, and such, organizations like that.

Muramasa18

To be honest I don't know much, I haven't actually entered college yet. What school are you at? You could check with counselling, or ask your professors about their experiences in the field and see if you get any ideas that way.

GiantRobo

have you thought about starting in the juvenile probation field? That might be an easy area to start in.

Descendant X

I've got a Bachelor's in Criminology and I'm now working for the Correctional Service of Canada. In my fourth year I completed a practicum placement that put me pretty much where I am today. You could always get a job with the California DoC as a Parole Officer or something, but you're definitely going to want to ensure that you want to work with offenders on a one-to-one level before you get into it. It's not for everyone, and it's definitely not people who don't believe that change is possible.

kaliyama

er, why not be a cop?

Steel Angel

Drakeon wrote: »

Nothing like a lawyer, I had looked at ATF, FBI, and such, organizations like that.

FWIW, an acquaintance of mine who majored in Criminal Justice is now working for the Secret Service. Not sure if he did anything between graduating and that though.

Some FBI positions, like their agents, require a few years of professional working experience on top of a degree. Others don't, like some of the analysts they have.

Drakeon

Steel Angel wrote: »

Drakeon wrote: »

Nothing like a lawyer, I had looked at ATF, FBI, and such, organizations like that.

FWIW, an acquaintance of mine who majored in Criminal Justice is now working for the Secret Service. Not sure if he did anything between graduating and that though.

Some FBI positions, like their agents, require a few years of professional working experience on top of a degree. Others don't, like some of the analysts they have.

Yea, I know they usually do. I was curious because my book for my introduction to Criminal Justice listed qualifications needed to apply to certain jobs and I noticed that a bachelors in Criminal Justice was needed in none of them, so it had me wondering what exactly was it for? For example, the FBI took foreign language majors and several other majors, but not criminal justice.

I'm just wondering if it's a waste of my time to pursue the bachelor's or should I try to get into the CJ field without one now?

Peeps Chicken

I graduated criminal justice in 2001, and if I had it to do over again, I would have chosen virtually any other major. There are very few positions I've ever seen that require (or even list as preferable) a CJ degree, and most of those will taken related experience in lieu of the CJ degree. If I didn't follow up my undergraduate studies with law school, I would probably be stuck in retail or a similarly unrelated field.

In retrospect, I would have gotten a bachelor's degree in Spanish, and then pursued my law degree. A law degree is usually seen as a more than adequate substitute for a CJ degree, and the ability to speak Spanish is a golden ticket into law enforcement in a lot of small-to-mid size towns. It also provides a good doorway into federal service.

Thanatos

Yeah, what exactly do you want to do for the ATF or FBI?

You may end up having to be a cop for awhile in order to do it, though being a cop is a pretty sweet gig, especially the CHP.

Drakeon

Peeps Chicken wrote: »

I graduated criminal justice in 2001, and if I had it to do over again, I would have chosen virtually any other major. There are very few positions I've ever seen that require (or even list as preferable) a CJ degree, and most of those will taken related experience in lieu of the CJ degree. If I didn't follow up my undergraduate studies with law school, I would probably be stuck in retail or a similarly unrelated field.

In retrospect, I would have gotten a bachelor's degree in Spanish, and then pursued my law degree. A law degree is usually seen as a more than adequate substitute for a CJ degree, and the ability to speak Spanish is a golden ticket into law enforcement in a lot of small-to-mid size towns. It also provides a good doorway into federal service.

Yea that's what I was worried about. From where I had looked, noone actually listed a CJ degree as something necessary and they hardly ever listed them at all.

I've definitely been considering trying out for the CHP (California Highway Patrol, our state police), they do seem to have quite a sweet setup.

Thanatos

Drakeon wrote: »

Peeps Chicken wrote: »

I graduated criminal justice in 2001, and if I had it to do over again, I would have chosen virtually any other major. There are very few positions I've ever seen that require (or even list as preferable) a CJ degree, and most of those will taken related experience in lieu of the CJ degree. If I didn't follow up my undergraduate studies with law school, I would probably be stuck in retail or a similarly unrelated field.

In retrospect, I would have gotten a bachelor's degree in Spanish, and then pursued my law degree. A law degree is usually seen as a more than adequate substitute for a CJ degree, and the ability to speak Spanish is a golden ticket into law enforcement in a lot of small-to-mid size towns. It also provides a good doorway into federal service.

Yea that's what I was worried about. From where I had looked, noone actually listed a CJ degree as something necessary and they hardly ever listed them at all.

I've definitely been considering trying out for the CHP (California Highway Patrol, our state police), they do seem to have quite a sweet setup.

Ridiculously sweet. And if you wanted to go into the FBI or ATF, it'd be a great bunch of experience.

kaliyama

Peeps Chicken wrote: »

I graduated criminal justice in 2001, and if I had it to do over again, I would have chosen virtually any other major. There are very few positions I've ever seen that require (or even list as preferable) a CJ degree, and most of those will taken related experience in lieu of the CJ degree. If I didn't follow up my undergraduate studies with law school, I would probably be stuck in retail or a similarly unrelated field.

In retrospect, I would have gotten a bachelor's degree in Spanish, and then pursued my law degree. A law degree is usually seen as a more than adequate substitute for a CJ degree, and the ability to speak Spanish is a golden ticket into law enforcement in a lot of small-to-mid size towns. It also provides a good doorway into federal service.

To be ATF or FBI, 3 more years for a law degree is way overkill. Spanish? Sure - but if you want the Feds i'd do arabic, or maybe pashtu or urdu.

Raggaholic

Drakeon wrote: »

Yea, I know they usually do. I was curious because my book for my introduction to Criminal Justice listed qualifications needed to apply to certain jobs and I noticed that a bachelors in Criminal Justice was needed in none of them, so it had me wondering what exactly was it for? For example, the FBI took foreign language majors and several other majors, but not criminal justice.

Yeah, Criminal Justice is kind of the "misc" degree. It's not the step up into being a federal agent that most people expect it to be.

I wanted to go into the FBI and I talked to a few special agents and they all said the same thing. If there was something to major in to get into the FBI, it would be accounting. I couldn't believe it when the first agent said it, but later I was told the majority of agents spend their days working bank fraud, corporate mismanagement, etc.

The question shouldn't be what can you do with a Crim Justice degree. The question should be what do you want to do, and how can your Crim Justice degree get you there.

Muramasa18

Also, languages would be a great help for the CIA if you're at all interested. My AP Comparative Politics teacher last year spoke 7 or 8 languages including Arabic, Urdu, and Hindu, and was approached by the CIA and asked to work for them.

Peeps Chicken

kaliyama wrote: »

Peeps Chicken wrote: »

I graduated criminal justice in 2001, and if I had it to do over again, I would have chosen virtually any other major. There are very few positions I've ever seen that require (or even list as preferable) a CJ degree, and most of those will taken related experience in lieu of the CJ degree. If I didn't follow up my undergraduate studies with law school, I would probably be stuck in retail or a similarly unrelated field.

In retrospect, I would have gotten a bachelor's degree in Spanish, and then pursued my law degree. A law degree is usually seen as a more than adequate substitute for a CJ degree, and the ability to speak Spanish is a golden ticket into law enforcement in a lot of small-to-mid size towns. It also provides a good doorway into federal service.

To be ATF or FBI, 3 more years for a law degree is way overkill. Spanish? Sure - but if you want the Feds i'd do arabic, or maybe pashtu or urdu.

Law used to be one of the four paths (Law/Accounting/Languages/Misc Experience) into the FBI back when I was in college (pre-9/11). They've rearranged everything in recent years, and I've heard of law school graduates having a bitch of a time to get in, whereas disciplines like computers and foreign languages have become much more favored.

MattDante

You may also think about options that aren't directly linked to law enforcement, but are supported by a CJ degree. I got my degree in '04 and have had no job involving law enforcement since then. Right out of college I was hired by State Farm as an auto claims investigator. I left there after about a year and I now work for the state of NY investigating Medicaid fraud. I suggest you augment your classes with accounting as well, as it is will get you just about any job.

When I was in school they required us to not only have a minor of our choosing, but also a concentration that went along with CJ. We could choose from Constitutional Law, English, Psychology, and a few others. When i was done I almost had enough Psychology credits for a double major. Psychology and CJ is a really good combination.

DasUberEdward

I am kind of in the same situation. However, I am one hundred percent positive that if I could have any job I would like to work in judicial affairs, possibly as a judge. So i'm wondering if starting the career path to law school as a Justice Studies major would help.

kaliyama

DasUberEdward wrote: »

I am kind of in the same situation. However, I am one hundred percent positive that if I could have any job I would like to work in judicial affairs, possibly as a judge. So i'm wondering if starting the career path to law school as a Justice Studies major would help.

Law schools don't really care what your undergraduate education has been in. If anything, criminal justice/pre-law types get a bad rap because A) their coursework is seen as essentially vocational - much less challenging and rigorous than what a literature, history, hard science or polisci person goes through, and you're seen as one-dimensional and lame for not having a wide variety of interests. Starting the career path to law school consists of 1) getting a really really good LSAT (your terminology makes me think you're canadian? That behooves you to go to UofT) and 2) getting good grades in an interesting and diverse major.