• CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE

     

     

    LAW ENFORCEMENT: Training in police academies includes learning about duties such as patrol, narcotics and vice investigation, and other routine functions. Criminal justice careers are available in administrative procedures, human relations, analysis of crime patterns, information storage and retrieval, police organization and management, criminal investigation, and criminal evidence and procedures.

     Career options are listed below in local, state, and federal areas:

                                  Attorney General administrator

                                 Border patrol

                                 Code enforcement officer (local)

                                 College campus security, investigator, and director

                                 Community relations officer

                                 Community services officer

                                 Constable

                                 Coroner

                                 Customs agent

                                 Federal Agencies (ATF, CIA, DEA, DER, FBI,    

                                 IRS)

                                 Fish and Game enforcement

                                 Homeland security special agent

                                 Highway patrol or state police officer

                                 Law enforcement administrator

                                 Law enforcement personnel administrator

                                 Military police and investigator

                                 Narcotics officer

                                 Police dispatcher or 911 communications officer

                                 Police officer (local or state)

                                 Police officer (federal-capitol, mint, and parks)

                                 Police officer- juvenile/youth

                                 Sheriff’s deputy

                                 State criminal investigator

                                 U.S. Marshal

                                 U.S. or State Park Ranger service

     

    FORENSICS OR CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION: The application of criminal investigation to secure scientifically evaluated evidence, confirming chemical analysis of drug seizures, DNA profiling, processing biological evidence such as: hair, blood, semen stains, saliva residue, and bite marks to individualize a possible offender; applying principles and techniques of chemistry, physics, biology, and geology to the identification and comparison of crime-scene evidence, ballistics or the examination of firearms, discharged bullets and cartridges, handwriting or document analysis, and photographing evidence at a crime scene.

     Career options include:

                                 Ballistics examiner                           

                                 Biologist

                                 Biochemist

                                 Crime scene analyst

                                 Crime scene photographer

                                 Crime scene technician

                                 Crime lab administrator

                                 Criminalist

                                 Digital forensic specialist

                                Document examiner

                                Evidence custodian

                                Evidence technician

                                Fingerprint examiner

                                Firearms and tool mark examiner

                                Forensic scientist

                                Forensic Accountant

                                Polygraph examiner  

                                   

                     

    COURT SERVICES: Include pre-sentence investigation, communicating with potential jurors, maintaining official records, certifying records of court orders and establishing court calendars.

    Career options include:

                                 Bailiff

                                 Court administrator

                                 Court or law clerk

                                 Court stenographer

                                 Law librarian

                                 Paralegal

                                 Pre-law

                                 Pre-sentence investigator

                                 Pre-trial intervention officer

    CORRECTIONS: Covers correctional institutions, rehabilitation programming, probation and parole, and community-based facilities such as half-way houses, drug treatment centers and alcohol detoxification centers at local, state, and federal levels.

    Career options include:

                                 Correctional administrator

                                 Correctional educator

                                 Correctional industry administrator

                                 Correctional officer (county, state, or federal)

                                 Correctional recreationist

                                 Correctional counselor

                                 Detention center administrator

                                 Parole administrator (county, state or federal)

                                 Parole counselor (county, state or federal)

                                 Parole officer (county, state, or federal)

                                 Pre-release work center counselor

                                 Probation administrator (county, state, or federal)

                                 Probation counselor (county, state, or federal)

                                 Probation officer (adult: county, state, or federal)

                                 Work-study program counselor

                                 Youth worker

    JUVENILE SERVICES: Personnel receive juveniles after arrest, contact relatives, investigate charges, prepare cases for adjudication, transport juveniles to correction facilities, and supervise detention or handle aftercare services. They also work with community projects such as teenage hot lines, half-way houses, or alternative schools.

    Career options include:

                                 Aftercare service counselor

                                 Children, youth, and family services counselor

                                 Children, youth, and family services administrator

                                 Juvenile corrections counselor

                                 Juvenile detention center administrator or officer

                                 Juvenile intake service worker

                                 Juvenile services administrator

                                 Probation officer (juvenile: county, state, or federal)

                                 Teenage hotline program counselor

                                 Youth service bureau officer

             

    PLANNING AND RESEARCH: Involves such tasks as analyzing needs, evaluating programs, writing grants, preparing and analyzing statistical data for public information, building databases and doing crime-specific planning.

    Career options include:

                                 Corrections planner

                                 Criminal justice doctoral study

                                 Criminal justice planner

                                 Criminal justice records specialist

                                 Criminal justice researcher

                                 Information systems specialist

                                 Juvenile services planner

                                 Police planner

                                 Public information officer

    CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATION: Requires qualified instructors in criminal justice academies, agency training programs, high school technical education programs, community colleges, and universities.

    Career options include:

                                 College and university educators

                                 Correctional educators

                                 Criminal justice academy instructors

                                 High school technical education program teachers

                                 Junior college educators

                                 Juvenile school teachers

                                 Technical school educators

     

    PUBLIC, PRIVATE, OR CORPORATE SECURITY: Can involve loss prevention in a retail store, investigating employee theft, providing plant security through patrol, securing buildings, electronic surveillance, providing personal protection as a bodyguard for corporate executives, politicians, or entertainers, hotel, resort, cruise line, or casino security, transportation industry security at airports, security on train or bus lines, or security officer for any of the public utility companies.

    Career opportunities include:

                                 Airport security officer

                                 Casino security, investigator or director

                                 Conrail railroad police or security

                                 Corporate security guard, investigator, or director

                                 Hospital security officer or director    

                                 Loss prevention officer or director

                                 Personal executive protection agent

                                 Private agency security guard or director

                                 Public security officer (county, state, or federal)

                                 Public utilities security investigator or director

    OTHER CAREER OPTIONS INCLUDE:

                                  Alcohol and drug abuse program counselor

                                 Criminal justice training literature writer

                                 Crisis intervention center counselor

                                 Professional association administrator

                                 Suicide prevention center counselor

                                 Volunteer services administrator

                                 Writers and editors