Pursuing a career within the field of criminology can be a rewarding path to follow. A degree in criminology may be the right major to pursue if you’re curious about learning about crime and society. If you’re pursuing a degree in criminology, you may be curious about what employment options may be available to you once you graduate.
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In this article, we explore seven different jobs for criminology majors to consider pursuing, including their salaries and primary duties.
What is a criminology major?
A criminology major is a college or university student who’s pursuing a degree in the study of crime and why it’s committed. People pursuing this degree study criminal justice, social science, history, humanities and public policy to gain a holistic understanding of crime, why and how it occurs in different cultures and areas. Criminology majors typically often use their knowledge and education to work directly within the fields of law, law enforcement, criminology, criminal analysis and investigations. Within this discipline, students typically learn about the following:
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White-collar crime
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Crime analysis
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Public policy
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Statistics
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Social deviance
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Criminal investigations
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Procedures for investigating crime
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Data science
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Criminal justice
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Social factors related to crime
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Psychology of crime
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Criminal behavior
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Corrections
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Theories of social order
7 entry-level jobs for criminology majors
There are many job options available to those who earn a degree in criminology, including those that involve law enforcement and crime analysis.For the most up-to-date Indeed salaries, please click on the following links:
1. Probation officer
National average salary: $43,756 per year
Primary duties: A probation officer is a professional who focuses on ensuring that law offenders satisfy requirements outlined by a judge to move forward in a safe, healthy and self-sufficient manner. In this role, probation officers are members of the criminal justice system and meet with their probationers on a schedule, discuss their progress, schedule job interviews and other job-related activities for their probationers and arrange any treatment programs probationers may require.
Probation officers also write up detailed reports about their probationers and their progress, make revisions to probationers’ requirements as determined by judges, lawyers or other involved professionals and routinely meet with people involved in the probationer’s life to assess their community and surroundings.
2. Paralegal
National average salary: $51,317 per year
Primary duties: A paralegal supports lawyers at law firms and government agencies. Paralegals perform administrative duties that help their superiors prepare for various trials. Paralegals are responsible for organizing court-related documents, writing up reports on court cases, filing reports and preparing wills, contracts and closures.
Professionals in this role also help to gather court case evidence, such as formal statements from parties involved, review laws and regulations, collect affidavits for court cases and develop motions, case filings and legal arguments for their superiors to use in court.
3. Security officer
National average salary: $50,216 per year
Primary duties: A security officer is a professional who works to keep a company or organization, as well as their employees and assets, safe from break-ins. In this role, professional security officers patrol properties, handle alarm systems, monitor computer surveillance systems and programs and address any suspicious activity they encounter. Security officers typically inform employees of security protocols, prevent theft and break-ins and assume leadership roles in times of trouble or when activities, such as when a fire or break-in alarm goes off, or if they encounter a suspect attempting to harm the premises.
4. Fraud investigator
National average salary: $51,313 per year
Primary duties: A fraud investigator is a professional who specializes in reviewing insurance and credit card fraud allegations. In this role, professional fraud investigators, who typically work for banks or insurance companies, in the criminal justice system, for the government or for private companies, investigate both companies and individuals to determine if they’ve committed or attempted to commit financial fraud. Typically, fraud investigators create fraud analysis models and processes, implement fraud prevention systems at their places of employment, interview fraud suspects and write up reports detailing all components of their investigations.
Additionally, fraud investigators collaborate with financial institutions often to review fraudulent activities, identify potential risks or threats to these institutions and advise on best practices to reducing or destroying these risks or threats.
5. Police officer
National average salary: $53,523 per year
Primary duties: A police officer is a trained and certified law enforcement professional who’s responsible for keeping the area that they work in safe for citizens of the community by actively preventing and addressing crime. In this role, police officers typically respond to emergency situations, including those that are criminal or medical in nature, arrest criminals and transport them to appropriate places, such a jail or mental health facilities, investigate crimes and crime scenes, writing up detailed reports about the situations they respond to, prepare cases and testify in court when needed.
Additionally, professionals in this role also obtain warrants, process arrests, observe suspicious activities, interviewing criminals, suspected criminals and crime eyewitnesses and securing crime scenes.
6. Crime analyst
National average salary: $55,222 per year
Primary duties: A crime analyst is a law enforcement professional who specializes in analyzing all aspects of a crime, including reports and records, in order for police departments and agencies to make final decisions about different factors such as staffing, prosecutions and patrols. In this role, professional crime analysts are responsible for reviewing crime reports and arrest records, analyzing police calls, crime witness statements, interviews with parties involved with a crime and other official data in order to determine any patterns or items that particularly stand out.
Using this data and their own observations, these professionals write up detailed reports and deliver them to their departments so they can make decisions based on this highly researched data.
7. Information security analyst
National average salary: $82,445 per year
Primary duties: An information security analyst is a professional who specializes in emphasizing cybersecurity aimed at protecting company and organization’s computer systems from hackers, malware and viruses. In this role, professional information security analysts safeguard computer systems and networks so that all data on these systems are as safe as possible. Information security analysts monitor systems and networks to determine any risks or potential risk and install and update cyber security defense systems such as firewalls, data encryptions or other defenses.
Those in this role also typically create data protection plans, develop data recovery plans, inform coworkers and other employees of all security programs, test protection programs and research new malware or viruses and means of defending systems from them.
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