What it’s about:

The major in criminal justice and law enforcement administration focuses on how society responds to criminal behaviour. Areas of study include policing, the courts, and the sentencing of both adult and juvenile violators. Don’t confuse this major with criminology, which is primarily concerned with the sociopathic and psychogical based of criminal behaviour.

What the study of this major is like: 

Course work in criminal justice includes the behavioural sciences, especially sociology, psychology, and social work. You examine theories about the causes of crime, as well as ways to organize public agencies for both crime prevention and crime control. Courses in research methods and criminal statistics are often required.

In most programs, you can concentrate in either law enforcement (policing) or corrections (including probation, prisons, and parole), but you must still take courses on a wide variety of subjects related to the administration of justice. All programs emphasize effective communication skills: the ability to speak well is essential, because there is extensive public contact in the criminal justice profession; you must know how to write well because written reports are an integral part of the work.

Since the discipline of criminal justice is actually a blend of sociology, psychology, and public administration, colleges may vary in the emphasis they place on these areas. Programs that developed out of sociology tend to stress theories of crime causation that focus on the problems that plague society. In contrast, programs that emerged from psychology tend to see crime primarily in terms of individual background, motivation, and behaviour. And degree programs that evolved out of public administration are usually more interested in issues of law enforcement than in crime causation itself.

All program required students to explore the constitutional and legal aspects of the administration of justice. However, some colleges place less emphasis on these courses than others. Those that do so tend to focus on the scientific study of crime causation and require students to take more courses in research methods and in statistics.

In general, courses involve classroom lectures, supplemented by out-of-class reading and other homework assignments. Many programs deliver some of their course work online, and some even offer complete degree programs through non-traditional, Web-based methods. Many programs will also allow you to accumulate academic credit through internships with criminal justice agencies, in which you work under the supervision of a professor as well as a criminal justice agencies, in which you work under the supervision of a professor as well as a criminal justice professional. Some programs provide the opportunity to travel to foreign countries to examine the cross-cultural and international issues facing criminal justice professionals around the world.

Career options and trends:

Police officer*; security officer, probation officer*; parole officer*; correctional counsellor; federal law enforcement agent (FBI, Secret Service, etc.).

Special certification is usually required for positions involving “special-need offenders”, such as youthful, drug- and alcohol-addicted, and mentally challenged violators of the law. Often, your college course work can be counted as partial credit toward such certification.

The field of criminal justice has become increasingly professionalized-college degrees are required where high school diplomas would once have been enough. It is also becoming more globalized, as professionals from all over the world cooperate on significant issues and cases. Job applicants who are bilingual or multilingual, or who have military experience, have a competitive edge.

Employment opportunities in law enforcement are mostly determined by the level of government spending, so the number of job opportunities can vary from year to year. Layoffs are rare, but trained law enforcement officers who lose their jobs because of budget cuts usually find jobs quickly in other agencies.

Source: CollegeBoard 2012 Book of Majors