Once you have graduated with your criminal justice degree, you will have the option of searching for a career in the legal field. A criminal justice degree can help you in several legal careers, including legal secretary, paralegal, court reporter and legal nurse consultant.
A legal secretary generally works for attorneys or administrative law
examiners, scheduling court hearings and managing calls and files. Paralegals work for lawyers, researching laws and helping to investigate cases. It is the court reporter's job to copy down verbatim statements made in court. This way spoken word can be kept on record. A legal nurse consultant is a nurse hired by an attorney to look over medical records and make sense of medical jargon. As well as knowing the legal field, a legal nurse consultant must understand the health care system and jargon.
If you choose to work in law enforcement once you've graduated with a criminal justice degree, you will have several career paths to choose from. You could become a police officer, work for the FBI, become a private investigator, a security guard or a criminologist.
If you get a job as a police officer, your duties will include stopping or investigating crime, helping with car accidents and traffic control, ticketing speeders and more. Working for the FBI, you could execute police duties or you could become a special agent, issuing warrants, searching and investigating cases. A private investigator is hired by an individual or company to uncover truths about a case. As a security guard, you could work to prevent break-ins or crime. Lastly, a criminologist studies the mindsets and rehabilitation of criminals.
If you're a fan of murder investigation television shows, you may have seen forensics personnel investigating body tissue to find out how a person died. A criminal justice degree can help point you in the direction of the forensics field, including forensic science technician and forensic psychologist.
Forensic science technicians gather physical evidence at a crime scene. They examine and test evidence such as body tissue and hair follicles to detect DNA as well as check for fingerprints on weapons and important objects in a crime scene. Forensic psychologists determine legal insanity in courts.
The average salaries of jobs requiring a criminal justice degree vary greatly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the legal field, the average salary for a legal secretary is between $40,000 and $60,000 per year. The average salary of a paralegal is similar, between $50,000 and $70,000. A court reporter makes an average of $50,000 per year, but this wage can vary between $35,000 and $90,000 per year. The legal nurse consultant on average makes $125 to $150 per hour.
In law enforcement, a police officer makes an average wage of $55,000. Starting FBI agents can make an average salary of between $60,000 and $70,000 per year, with advancement opportunities. Management and supervisory positions can yield a wage of between $90,000 to $100,000 per year. The private investigator can make an average of $47,000 per year. The wage of a private investigator depends on whether or not they are self employed, and how many companies need investigations made. The security guard makes an average of about $30,000 per year, while the criminologist makes an average of about $50,000 per year.
In the forensics field, a forensic science technician can make an average of about $55,000 per year, while a forensic psychologist can make an average of between $40,000 and $70,000. A highly experienced forensic psychologist can make over $100,000 per year.