What Can I Do with a Criminology Degree?

The field of crim­i­nol­o­gy has always been a fas­ci­nat­ing indus­try in which to work. How­ev­er, recent tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tions and advances have opened many new facets into the world of crim­i­nol­o­gy. If you have career objec­tives with­in the crim­i­nol­o­gy or crim­i­nal jus­tice in gen­er­al, you have like­ly pon­dered these questions –

• How do I get a job in criminology?
• Is a crim­i­nol­o­gy degree useful?
• What can you do with a crim­i­nol­o­gy degree?

The Unit­ed States’ crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem is orga­nized into large, broad divi­sions that include:

• The law enforce­ment division
• The court system
• The cor­rec­tions system

If you have a pro­found inter­est in a career in one of these crim­i­nal jus­tice divi­sions, the answer to the ques­tion – is a crim­i­nol­o­gy degree use­ful? is an emphat­i­cal yes!

What is the Difference Between Criminal Justice and Criminology?

Many peo­ple remain con­fused as to the rela­tion­ship between crim­i­nol­o­gy and crim­i­nal law. The dif­fer­ence between crim­i­nol­o­gy and crim­i­nal jus­tice is dis­tinct and explained below.

Crim­i­nol­o­gy

Crim­i­nol­o­gy delves in-depth into the many facets that com­bine to make up the anato­my of a crime. Crim­i­nol­o­gy focus­es on –

• The crime’s cause
• The crime’s consequences
• The crime’s costs

The dif­fer­ence between crim­i­nol­o­gy and crim­i­nal jus­tice is that crim­i­nal jus­tice is a direct ref­er­ence to the estab­lished fed­er­al, state, and local sys­tems of jus­tice. These sys­tems include:

• Han­dling crim­i­nal matters
• Detect­ing crimes
• Appre­hend­ing and detain­ing criminals
• Crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion and the result­ing penalty/ punishment

With­in the crim­i­nol­o­gy field, a crim­i­nol­o­gist may:

• Work a crime scene
• Inter­ro­gate wit­ness­es or suspects
• Pro­file crim­i­nal cases
• Par­tic­i­pate in the autop­sy process
• Help to reha­bil­i­tate those con­vict­ed of crimes
• Become research experts

Crim­i­nol­o­gists are ana­lysts. They are respon­si­ble for appro­pri­ate­ly col­lect­ing and ana­lyz­ing data in sup­port of those who work in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. Their jobs entail gath­er­ing data accord­ing to accept­ed stan­dards and then ana­lyz­ing the infor­ma­tion for those respon­si­ble for pros­e­cut­ing the crime. A crim­i­nol­o­gist con­sid­ers oth­er fac­tors that include –

• Eco­nom­ic Data
• Envi­ron­men­tal Factors
• Psy­cho­log­i­cal Perspectives
• Socioe­co­nom­ic Variables

What is the Dif­fer­ence Between Crim­i­nal Jus­tice and Crim­i­nol­o­gy? Read on to learn the dif­fer­ence between crim­i­nol­o­gy and crim­i­nal jus­tice by under­stand­ing what crim­i­nal jus­tice is about.

Crim­i­nal Justice

The dif­fer­ence between crim­i­nol­o­gy and crim­i­nal jus­tice is that the field of crim­i­nal jus­tice is an inte­grat­ed sys­tem that fol­lows a set of rules and laws set forth by a soci­ety or cul­ture. On the oth­er hand, crim­i­nol­o­gy is a crim­i­nal jus­tice spe­cial­ty that ana­lyzes crim­i­nal behav­ior and rel­e­vant fac­tors. Mem­bers of the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem include –

• Fed­er­al Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion (FBI) Agents
• Law Enforce­ment offi­cers and detec­tives, etc.
• Mem­bers of the US Drug Enforce­ment Agency (DEA) or the US Mar­shall Service
• US Immi­gra­tion & Cus­toms Enforce­ment Agents (ICE)

When some­one has been arrest­ed, they then enter the court sys­tem. The pri­ma­ry pur­pose of the court sys­tem is to deter­mine, through due process, the guilt/innocence of sus­pect­ed crim­i­nals. The court sys­tem employs:

• Attor­neys
• Bailiffs
• Clerks
• Judges

The real­i­ty is the dif­fer­ence between crim­i­nol­o­gy and crim­i­nal jus­tice is dis­tinct enough that the two terms should NOT be freely used inter­change­ably. If you intend to pur­sue a degree in crim­i­nal justice/criminology, it is a good idea to know the answer to the ques­tion — What is the dif­fer­ence between crim­i­nal jus­tice and criminology?

Accreditation from Criminology Schools and Programs

The process by which uni­ver­si­ties, col­leges, and pro­fes­sion­al schools earn an indus­try-sanc­tioned val­i­da­tion – prin­ci­pal­ly, a stamp of approval — is known as accred­i­ta­tion. The accred­i­ta­tion process is gen­er­al­ly admin­is­tered by a gov­ern­men­tal agency (or a third-par­ty neu­tral pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion) that oper­ates with indus­try approval.

The accred­i­ta­tion agency is tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of assess­ing school/course con­tent against a pre-estab­lished set of pro­fes­sion­al stan­dards, to deter­mine if the mate­r­i­al eval­u­at­ed meets the pro­fes­sion­al cri­te­ria. Accred­i­ta­tion is grant­ed at sev­er­al lev­els. These lev­els are dis­cussed below.

Accred­i­ta­tion at the Region­al Level

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion is grant­ed by the fed­er­al government’s Region­al Agen­cies – a group of agen­cies with­in the Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion (USDE.) The USDE- approved agen­cies man­age the country’s accred­i­ta­tion process­es and stan­dards. Because region­al accred­i­ta­tion is grant­ed by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, it is gen­er­al­ly con­sid­ered the most exalt­ed accred­i­ta­tion type.

Accred­i­ta­tion at the Spe­cial­ized Level

Under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­grams seek fur­ther accred­i­ta­tion offered by an indus­try that has cho­sen accred­i­ta­tion over­sight agency. This process is strict­ly voluntary.

Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Accreditation

The Acad­e­my of Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Sci­ences (ACJS) is a pro­fes­sion­al crim­i­nal jus­tice orga­ni­za­tion that works to sup­port the crim­i­nal jus­tice field in any way pos­si­ble. The Acad­e­my of Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Sci­ences, as an inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tion, accom­plish­es this by offering –

• Accred­i­ta­tion of Crim­i­nol­o­gy degree programs
• Per­form­ing Crim­i­nol­o­gy Research
• Crim­i­nol­o­gy Education
• Crim­i­nol­o­gy Pol­i­cy Analysis
• Net­work­ing
• Stu­dent Resources

It is not­ed that the Acad­e­my of Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Sci­ences accred­i­ta­tion is a sig­nif­i­cant cre­den­tial, so not many schools can meet the incred­i­ble rigid standards.

What is a Criminology Degree?

If you have begun to con­sid­er a career in crim­i­nol­o­gy seri­ous­ly, it is cru­cial for you to start a com­pre­hen­sive analy­sis of the best crim­i­nol­o­gy col­leges and learn the answers of some ques­tions you have begun to ask yourself –

Are there crim­i­nal jus­tice schools near me? If so, how do I find the crim­i­nal jus­tice schools near me?
Are there free accred­it­ed crim­i­nol­o­gy cours­es avail­able near me?

Or, where can I find:

• The best crim­i­nol­o­gy colleges
• The best under­grad­u­ate crim­i­nol­o­gy programs
• Online crim­i­nol­o­gy degrees

If you are inter­est­ed in an online bach­e­lor degree in crim­i­nol­o­gy, it is like­ly you have con­sid­ered the answers to these ques­tions regard­ing an online crim­i­nol­o­gy degree:

Where can I find the best crim­i­nol­o­gy col­leges with online options?

What About Online Criminology Degrees?

The good news for peo­ple seek­ing a degree in crim­i­nol­o­gy online is that col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties have heard you. Most peo­ple look­ing for online crim­i­nol­o­gy degrees are already work­ing in the field, so they real­ly ben­e­fit from the flex­i­bil­i­ty and con­ve­nience of an online crim­i­nol­o­gy degree. Maybe you’re a police offi­cer who wants to advance to detec­tive or a foren­sic tech with an associate’s degree who wants a pro­mo­tion. An online crim­i­nol­o­gy degree can help you do that — as long as it’s accred­it­ed and reputable.

The options can be very afford­able as well. The real­i­ty is, while there are free crim­i­nol­o­gy cours­es online (and of qual­i­ty con­tent), they only offer the knowl­edge and not col­lege cred­it unless you choose to pay for tak­ing (and pass­ing) the course. A sim­ple Inter­net search will quick­ly reveal:

• Many online crim­i­nol­o­gy degree pro­grams avail­able on-cam­pus, online, or as a hybrid format
• Top crim­i­nal jus­tice col­leges near­by and in your region­al area
• The best crim­i­nol­o­gy col­leges that meet your career goals

The best under­grad­u­ate crim­i­nol­o­gy pro­grams offer a wide vari­ety of dif­fer­ent online for­mats and approach­es for dif­fer­ent learn­ing styles, and should be built on real-world knowl­edge and expertise.

Specialized Certifications in Criminology

Crim­i­nol­o­gy cer­tifi­cate pro­grams tend to require few­er cred­its earned that an asso­ciate degree or bac­calau­re­ate degree in crim­i­nol­o­gy. While there are free online crim­i­nol­o­gy cours­es with cer­tifi­cates, the most rep­utable cer­tifi­cates will have tuition fees. If you choose to attend a free online crim­i­nol­o­gy pro­gram, make sure you’re only doing it for your own per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment — not for trans­fer­able col­lege credits.

Top­ics of crim­i­nol­o­gy cer­tifi­cate cours­es include:

• Foren­sic sci­ence and investigation
• His­to­ry of the crim­i­nal jus­tice system
• Juve­nile delinquency
• Pri­vate investigation
• Race and crime
• Research skills
• Social and psy­cho­log­i­cal caus­es of crime
• Spe­cial vic­tims and spe­cial populations
• Women and crime

A cer­tifi­cate in crim­i­nol­o­gy focus­es on the essen­tial aspects of crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion pro­ce­dures, foren­sic sci­ence, as well as pro­vid­ing an intro­duc­tion to the basic aspects of crim­i­nal jus­tice as defined by US law. Many crim­i­nol­o­gy cer­tifi­cate online pro­grams can be attend­ed as either a part-time or full-time stu­dent. On aver­age, an online crim­i­nol­o­gy cer­tifi­cate can be earned in about two semes­ters or approx­i­mate­ly one school year.

Remem­ber to check with your state to deter­mine the exact criteria.

Work­ing pro­fes­sion­als in crim­i­nol­o­gy can also ben­e­fit from get­ting a spe­cial­ized cer­ti­fi­ca­tion from a crim­i­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion. Crim­i­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tions include:

The CLEA — The Cer­ti­fied Law Enforce­ment Ana­lyst Certificate

The Cer­ti­fied Law Enforce­ment Ana­lyst cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is offered by the Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Crime Ana­lysts (IACA) to its pro­fes­sion­al mem­bers. Appli­cants for the Cer­ti­fied Law Enforce­ment Ana­lyst Cer­tifi­cate cre­den­tial must pos­sess at least three years of pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence in the fields of cor­rec­tions, law enforce­ment or intel­li­gence, and any oth­er relat­ed industry.

The CFCS — Cer­ti­fied Finan­cial Crime Inves­ti­ga­tion Certificate

The pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion that is known as Cer­ti­fied Finan­cial Crime Spe­cial­ists offers the Cer­ti­fied Finan­cial Crime Inves­ti­ga­tion cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. This spe­cial­ty cre­den­tial pre­pares stu­dents with the knowl­edge to work across the many finan­cial crimes.

The CCJP — The Cer­ti­fied Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Addic­tion Pro­fes­sion­al Certificate

The state prison pop­u­la­tion, on aver­age, is filled with those con­vict­ed of drug offens­es. The Cer­ti­fied Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Addic­tion cer­tifi­cate is not avail­able in every state; how­ev­er, it is an extreme­ly fast-grow­ing field where the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem works along­side health­care-addic­tion indus­try spe­cial­ists. Many cur­rent CCJP belongs to a rec­i­p­ro­cal arrange­ment of at least 27 states.

The CIAC — The Crime and Intel­li­gence Analy­sis Certificate

The Crime and Intel­li­gence Analy­sis Cer­tifi­cate (CIAC) pre­pares grad­u­ates with extreme­ly spe­cial­ized train­ing that includes — how to sta­tis­ti­cal­ly ana­lyze crime trends and issues as a tool to cre­ate tac­ti­cal strate­gies that mit­i­gate crim­i­nal behavior.

When cer­tifi­cate can­di­dates grad­u­ate, they receive the autho­riza­tion to ref­er­ence them­selves as a Cer­ti­fied Crime and Intel­li­gence Analyst.

The Crime and Intel­li­gence Analy­sis Cer­tifi­cate requires can­di­dates to com­plete 188-course hours study­ing eight approved crim­i­nal jus­tice, relat­ed classes.

Jobs with a Criminology Degree

What jobs can you get with a crim­i­nol­o­gy degree? Crim­i­nol­o­gy degree jobs vary wide­ly based upon the job type, loca­tion, and the edu­ca­tion of crim­i­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als. Most indi­vid­u­als inter­est­ed in entry-lev­el jobs with a crim­i­nol­o­gy degree begin by ask­ing them­selves — Are there crim­i­nol­o­gy jobs near me?

Are there crim­i­nol­o­gy jobs near me? Absolute­ly; every town, city, coun­ty, and state has crim­i­nol­o­gy jobs, and they are often under­staffed. How­ev­er, it is essen­tial to note that many entry-lev­el jobs for crim­i­nol­o­gy majors are found in areas with a large pop­u­la­tion, or that have a high con­cen­tra­tion of state and fed­er­al agency oper­a­tions, like Wash­ing­ton, DC, for example.

The fol­low­ing list details entry-lev­el crim­i­nol­o­gy degree jobs:

Crime Scene Investigator

A pro­fes­sion­al crime scene inves­ti­ga­tor facil­i­tates the work done by detec­tives and police offi­cers dur­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion. A crime scene inves­ti­ga­tor is tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of gath­er­ing (and ana­lyz­ing) the data sam­ples and evi­dence col­lect­ed at a crime scene.

FBI Agent

Some view a job as an FBI (Fed­er­al Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion) Agent the pin­na­cle career posi­tion for crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­fes­sion­als. FBI Agents can work domes­ti­cal­ly or in a for­eign coun­try. They are tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ty and chal­lenge to:

• Inves­ti­gate Cybercrime
• Inves­ti­gate Fed­er­al Crimes
• Inves­ti­gate Ter­ror­is­tic Threats
• Inves­ti­gate Orga­nized Crime

Addi­tion­al­ly, FBI Agents must be 23 years old to apply for a posi­tion with­in the Fed­er­al Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion and have a doc­u­ment­ed his­to­ry of rel­e­vant work his­to­ry for the past 36 months. FBI Agent appli­cants must pass through intense inter­views, per­son­al­i­ty pro­file test­ing, and a phys­i­cal stan­dard test.

Social Work­er

Pro­fes­sion­al social work­ers are employed in many indus­tries; the crim­i­nal jus­tice indus­try is one of these indus­tries. A Social Work­er with a crim­i­nol­o­gy back­ground has pro­fes­sion­al skills that allow them to be valu­able and help­ful with:

• Assist­ing low-income families
• Pro­vid­ing food assis­tance and child­care pro­grams to eli­gi­ble recipients
• Admin­is­ter­ing drug abuse pre­ven­tion programs
• Coun­sel­ing minors cur­rent­ly in jail

Foren­sic Accountant

Crim­i­nol­o­gy foren­sic accoun­tants act in the capac­i­ty of a finan­cial detec­tive. A foren­sic accoun­tant is respon­si­ble for –

Mon­i­tor­ing and Man­ag­ing finan­cial account records.
Devel­op­ing time­lines of rel­e­vant finan­cial trans­ac­tions.
Cal­cu­lat­ing the val­ue and total of assets held, among many oth­er accoun­tan­cy tech­niques.
The infor­ma­tion derived from these foren­sic audits help cre­ate evi­den­tiary infor­ma­tion that is used by attor­neys in mat­ters regarding –

• Bank­rupt­cy
• Embez­zle­ment
• Insur­ance Fraud
• White-Col­lar Crime

Cor­rec­tions Manager

Cor­rec­tions Man­agers are tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of over­see­ing and super­vis­ing the cor­rec­tions offi­cers that are man­ag­ing the prison pop­u­la­tion. A crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­fes­sion­al who is employed as a Cor­rec­tions Man­ag­er inter­acts with –

• Upper-lev­el Prison Management
• Cor­rec­tions Super­vi­sors and Officers
• Sup­port Staff members
• Prison Inmates

A Cor­rec­tions Man­ag­er is gen­er­al­ly con­sid­ered a mid-man­age­ment posi­tion respon­si­ble for the secu­ri­ty of the facil­i­ty, the admin­is­tra­tion duties, and the safe­ty of work­ers and inmates.

Emer­gency Man­age­ment Coor­di­na­tor (EMC)

Those who hold pro­fes­sion­al posi­tions of Emer­gency Man­age­ment Coor­di­na­tors work for the local, the state, or the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. Emer­gency Man­age­ment Coor­di­na­tors have respon­si­bil­i­ties that include:

• Plan­ning for Nat­ur­al Disasters
• Prepar­ing for Nat­ur­al Disasters
• Devel­op­ing and Imple­ment­ing Emer­gency Response Plans
• Lead­ing the Response to a Nat­ur­al Disaster

How­ev­er, many Emer­gency Man­age­ment Coor­di­na­tors find employ­ment in non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, nurs­ing facil­i­ties, and hos­pi­tals. An Emer­gency Man­age­ment Coor­di­na­tor is gen­er­al­ly viewed as a mid- to senior-lev­el crim­i­nal jus­tice position.

Para­le­gal

Para­le­gals are the fun­da­men­tal sup­port staff for attor­neys and the legal sys­tem in gen­er­al. Para­le­gals work under the super­vi­sion of the licensed attor­ney and facil­i­tate the legal process by:

• Draft­ing Documents
• Research­ing Case Law
• Orga­niz­ing com­plex legal files
• Con­duct­ing Legal Research

A Pri­vate Investigator

Those who choose to become a Pri­vate Inves­ti­ga­tor (PI) with a crim­i­nal jus­tice bachelor’s degree work vary­ing types of cas­es for both defen­dants and plain­tiffs in law­suits. A Pri­vate Inves­ti­ga­tor is capa­ble of:

• Con­duct­ing an infor­mal back­ground profile
• Search­ing for miss­ing people
• Research­ing pub­lic records for long-lost rel­a­tives and friends
• Eval­u­at­ing finan­cial mat­ters of peo­ple or companies
• Con­firm per­son­al data dis­closed by a per­son for the company

How to Get a Job in Criminology

There are many types of crim­i­nol­o­gy jobs, but almost all jobs to do with a crim­i­nol­o­gy degree have the same basic qual­i­fi­ca­tions. First and fore­most, you will need a degree or cer­tifi­cate in crim­i­nol­o­gy, earned from an accred­it­ed, rep­utable institution.

That’s real­ly only the start, though. If you’re won­der­ing how to get a job in crim­i­nol­o­gy, the answer isn’t as sim­ple as walk­ing in and ask­ing to speak to HR. The crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem is high­ly pro­fes­sion­al and rather closed; it’s a high secu­ri­ty, high respon­si­bil­i­ty career, after all.

Much of what you need to get a job with a crim­i­nol­o­gy degree you will do along­side your degree:

• Take crim­i­nol­o­gy intern­ships to gain expe­ri­ence and make connections
• Devel­op rela­tion­ships with your cohort
• Get an added cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in some in-demand crim­i­nol­o­gy specialization

Of these, mak­ing con­nec­tions is cru­cial. The class­mate you study with might get a job before you and bring you along; the agency you intern with may make a posi­tion for you. You need to know how to get a job in crim­i­nol­o­gy, and your pro­fes­sors might not be able to tell you.

Crim­i­nol­o­gy stu­dents will need strong com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills, crit­i­cal think­ing, and prob­lem-solv­ing skills in addi­tion to their knowl­edge if they want to make the most of their job oppor­tu­ni­ties. Exper­tise in many areas is useful:

• men­tal health
• pub­lic safety
• crim­i­nal activity
• social work
• social sci­ence
• pub­lic policy
• polit­i­cal science
• home­land security

Career options for crim­i­nol­o­gy grad­u­ates, such as crim­i­nal pro­fil­er, foren­sic psy­chol­o­gist, or parole offi­cer, require a real mul­ti-faceted knowl­edge. Career paths in gov­ern­ment agen­cies and pri­vate sec­tor can be demanding.

Criminology Jobs Salary

One of the most impor­tant when select­ing the direc­tion of your crim­i­nol­o­gy career is — How much can I make in crim­i­nol­o­gy? Ful­ly under­stand­ing if a crim­i­nol­o­gy jobs salary will meet a student’s future needs is a crit­i­cal com­po­nent of a career analy­sis. So before mak­ing final deci­sions, under­stand just how much a crim­i­nol­o­gy major salary brings.

Careers in crim­i­nol­o­gy salary and crim­i­nol­o­gy salary per hour varies and is con­tin­gent upon the spe­cif­ic crim­i­nol­o­gy job, the loca­tion, and the pro­fes­sion­al’s expe­ri­ence. For instance, crim­i­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als work­ing in man­age­r­i­al posi­tions will make much more than tech­ni­cians, while cor­rec­tion­al treat­ment spe­cial­ists will make a dif­fer­ent salary than crime scene inves­ti­ga­tors due to demand and expertise.

Careers in Criminology: Salary Expectations

Detec­tives
The crim­i­nal jus­tice salary per hour for Police Offi­cers & Police Detec­tives is $30.47/hour, which trans­lates to $63,380/year. In 2018, there were more than 800,000 Police Offi­cers & Police Detec­tives earn­ing a medi­an annu­al crim­i­nal jus­tice salary that exceeds $63,000. Detec­tives make more than police offi­cers, of course.

Foren­sic Sci­ence Tech­ni­cians
The crim­i­nal jus­tice salary per hour for Foren­sic Sci­ence Tech­ni­cians is $27.99/hour, which trans­lates to $58,230/year. In 2018, there were more than 16,000 Foren­sic Sci­ence Tech­ni­cians earn­ing a medi­an annu­al crim­i­nal jus­tice salary that exceeds $58,000.

Pro­ba­tion Offi­cers and Cor­rec­tion­al Treat­ment Spe­cial­ists
The crim­i­nal jus­tice salary per hour for Pro­ba­tion Offi­cers & Cor­rec­tion­al Treat­ment Spe­cial­ists is $25.49/hour, which trans­lates to $53,020/year. In 2018, there were more than 91,000 Pro­ba­tion Offi­cers & Cor­rec­tion­al Treat­ment Spe­cial­ists earn­ing a medi­an annu­al crim­i­nal jus­tice salary that exceeds $53,000.

Pri­vate Detec­tives & Inves­ti­ga­tors
The crim­i­nal jus­tice salary per hour for Pri­vate Detec­tives & Inves­ti­ga­tors is $24.08/hour, which trans­lates to $50,090/year. In 2018, there were more than 33,000 Pro­ba­tion Offi­cers & Cor­rec­tion­al Treat­ment Spe­cial­ists earn­ing a medi­an annu­al crim­i­nal jus­tice jobs salary that exceeds $50,000.

Para­le­gals & Legal Assis­tants
The crim­i­nal jus­tice salary per hour for Para­le­gals & Legal Assis­tants is $24.49/hour, which trans­lates to $50,940/year. In 2018, there were more than 33,000 Pro­ba­tion Offi­cers & Cor­rec­tion­al Treat­ment Spe­cial­ists earn­ing a medi­an annu­al crim­i­nal jus­tice jobs salary that exceeds $50,000.

Social Work­ers
The crim­i­nal jus­tice salary per hour for Social Work­ers is $23.79 hour, which trans­lates to $49,470/year. In 2018, there were more than 700,000 Social Work­ers earn­ing a medi­an annu­al crim­i­nal jus­tice jobs salary that exceeds $49,000.

Criminology Professional Organizations

Like oth­er indus­tries, crim­i­nal jus­tice and crim­i­nol­o­gy has pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions that bring peo­ple in the field togeth­er for mutu­al ben­e­fit. Most indus­tries sup­port and depend upon an indus­try-approved pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion that offers its mem­bers ben­e­fits that include:

• Edu­ca­tion­al resources
• Job boards
• Men­tor­ing by indus­try experts
• Net­work­ing events

Because of the many and var­ied crim­i­nal jus­tice jobs and indus­tries, there are many pro­fes­sion­al crim­i­nol­o­gy orga­ni­za­tions to serve each slice of the far-reach­ing crim­i­nal jus­tice indus­try. One of the more well-known crim­i­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions is the Acad­e­my of Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Sciences.

The Acad­e­my of Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Sci­ences (ACJS)

The Acad­e­my of Crim­i­nal Jus­tices Sci­ences was estab­lished in the ear­ly 1960s. The ACJS focus­es on the fol­low­ing crim­i­nal jus­tice issues:

• Accred­i­ta­tion services
• Edu­ca­tion
• Pol­i­cy Analysis
• Research

Oth­er pro­fes­sion­al crim­i­nol­o­gy orga­ni­za­tions include:

• ASCLD — The Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Crime Lab­o­ra­to­ry Directors
• NCJA — The Nation­al Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Association
• ASC — The Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Criminology
• NAFI — The Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Fire Investigators
• AJA — The Amer­i­can Jail Association
• ACA — The Amer­i­can Cor­rec­tion­al Association
• ASCLD — The Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Crime Lab­o­ra­to­ry Directors
• IACA — The Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Crime Analysts
• NAFC — The Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Foren­sic Counselors
• IAFC — The Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Foren­sic Criminologists
• NACOP — The Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Chiefs of Police
• HTCIA — The High Tech­nol­o­gy Crime Inves­ti­ga­tion Asso­ci­a­tion (HTCIA)Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Bach­e­lor’s Degrees

15 Best Online Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Degrees

10 Fastest Online Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Degrees

10 Most Afford­able Online Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Degrees