Friday, January 13, 2012

Choosing to Go With a Criminal Justice Degree

You are not limited to one option when it comes to a criminal justice degree. Here, the certificate degree is actually the lowest one on the pole. Typically, a certificate is given after a completion of a specific training program, such as crime scene photography.

You will be able to find several schools that offer these criminal justice certificate programs which come with general field courses. These certificates can be used for employment purposes in a specific area or as stepping stone to a higher degree. Apart from skills improvement, it is also possible to utilize these certificates if you want to get into a new field.

There was a time when all that was required for a career in law enforcement was a diploma in high school but this is no longer the case for police groups are now looking for applicants that have an associate’s degree in criminal justice. What you have here is due to the fact that the criminal justice system is no longer as basic as it once was. When it comes to this, getting someone who is not knowledgeable about the field is useless to employers.

If you intend on pursuing an associate’s degree, your need 24 months to complete it. Such courses focus on the promulgation of criminal justice skills while educating the students when it comes to criminology, sociology, and psychology. Depending on your career path, you can choose to get into associate’s degree programs that concentrate on technicalities.

For someone with a bachelor's degree, this shows how committed he or she is to a particular field and this is what employers are looking for and a degree like this is what will get you a criminal justice job. When it comes to law enforcement positions, roles as investigators or private detectives are really popular these days and if you have a degree, you can be an investigator or detective yourself. From mysteries to suspicious injury claims, there are a lot of things that private investigators look into for their employing companies.

The thing about individuals who are bachelor’s degree holders is that they can engage in different forms of employment from agency work to administrative positions in the judicial system. Such a program comes with similar topics of discussion like the associate’s degree but unlike a bachelor's degree, these topics are not discussed fully by the educational instructors. This is the reason degree graduates can assume more complex job roles in the field.

The thing about a bachelor’s degree is that it takes 4 years to complete. There are several institutions including the John Jay College for Criminal Justice that provide courses in deviant behavior, criminology, criminal justice, forensic psychology, and forensic science. If work is what you are interested in, you can get an entry level job the minute you get a bachelor’s degree but if you want to enroll in a high level degree in the same field, this can also be done.

For those who are able to graduate with a masters in criminal justice, they will be able to work effectively in administrative and corrective fields of justice. The thing about a masters in criminal justice is that this will enable you to work as court officers and social caseworkers or you can enter the academia. Advancing in their profession is one of the things that criminal justice graduates consider while some study to engage in social work.

Universities that offer criminal justice programs have professors that are all criminal justice doctoral degree holders. A doctoral degree in criminal justice is more intense and comprehensive compared to a masters program. The course work is truly laborious and every student needs to have great oral and written skills and aside from exams, there is a final dissertation too.

If you want to pursue a career in criminal justice, you need a criminal justice degree. You may join the sheriff, local police force or gang task force at the local level while at state level you can work for a crime lab, a prison, a state police department or in the courts. There are a number of insurance agencies or security companies that hire degree workers who want to work for the private sector.



When in need of reliable info about criminal justice careers , do not hesitate to hit the link and you'll be helped.