by Josh Carpenter

Created on: January 18, 2009   Last Updated: March 17, 2009

Criminal justice outlook

In today's America, with a less than stellar economy catalyzing crime rates and national security being tightened since 9/11, the job market is rather hungry for those with degrees in criminal justice. The department of labor has predicted a 29% increase in law enforcement and security personnel by the year 2010, and with most 2 and 4 year colleges offering degrees, criminal justice is becoming a very popular major nationwide. For anyone obtaining a degree in criminal justice, your timing is perfect concerning employment opportunities, weather it be a small town police officer, or a well trained FBI agent.

Say you are a community college graduate who has just received an associates degree in criminal justice. College was sure great, but it's time to quit that part time job and search for a major career with your newly obtained degree. The most common job with this would be a police officer. With an average yearly income around $50,000 and several benefits, its certainly worth looking into. However, maybe you don't want to become a cop for some reason, another option would be security guard. thease are also in demand, and most of them are hired by private companies. However, the average salary of a security guard is around $25,000 a year. Say your looking for a more lucrative job, possibly a bodyguard. Bodyguards average a yearly salary around $78,000. These are all very tempting to you, and all have a great outlook. However, lets say you instead decide to go on a major 4 year college and get a bachelors in the same degree. This would open up even more opportunities for you.

All right, now your out of college again, only this time with a bachelors degree. Your no longer going to bother looking for a small time law enforcement job, instead you've decided to work in the big leagues. First thing you look at would be an FBI agent, with homeland security such an issue demand is on the rise, and the average starting salary for an FBI agent is $40,000 but 10 years experience can raise that to about $90,000. Say you want to be less in the field of fire, you can always become a criminologist. Starting salaries for this career tend to be about $28,000 and grow up to $50,000 with experience. One other option would be to become a paralegal, avg salary here is $44,000 year.

Other jobs for bachelors and associates range from airport security to immigration officers, as well as forensics experts and private investigators. Overall the outlook for this degree is currently looking better and better all the time.

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