Is criminal justice a more employable degree than psychology?
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Getting a BA in psych or CJ will pretty much land you the same job. Is it required for a lot of law enforcement jobs, no but it doesn't hurt either. There are far more useless degrees than CJ or psych.
I would say that having a Masters in psych gives you way more opportunities than a Masters in CJ.
I live in a metro area where the largest employers of police and correctional officers (and also with the most openings) don't care about internships. The correctional agency is not competitive. Anyone who can pass all of the testing will be hired. You also have to work in the jail before you can move to patrol, but the other agency chooses people based on written exam scores. They do add points to your score for military experience, education, and current licensure as an intermediate police officer or higher. We only have two agencies that will sponsor, and you need a bachelor's in anything. One of those agencies will hire those who are already licensed over those who need to be sponsored. Most of the agencies pay more for degrees, but again, these degrees can be in anything.
For all of our other small agencies that don't sponsor, they go by scores on the civil service exam and/or experience. Many self-sponsored officers here get their experience by working for free as reserves; and, I would say most of them don't have college degrees. Some of them still have trouble finding jobs with the small agencies because so many people are applying to them. They get bombarded by applicants who can't get into the large agencies or even some of the other small agencies that require a physical agility test. They graduated from the community college academy that has no physical training, and their graduates often don't care about getting in shape.
Here in Florida its competitive for law enforcement jobs, so internships are just one of the ways to cut out the BS of the usual hiring process and get on with a department that already knows you and has an idea you can pass all of their steps (if you haven't already). Its basically a mini "try before you buy" thing. The catch is that you have to be in the right place at the right time to get hired straight from an internship. Sometimes even the Feds, state agencies, and more obscure ones hire from internships.
I agree though that the internship on paper does little if you are applying for a completely different agency. It does give that applicant a much better understanding of law enforcement work though compared to the straight off the street applicant with no knowledge.
Getting a BA in psych or CJ will pretty much land you the same job. Is it required for a lot of law enforcement jobs, no but it doesn't hurt either. There are far more useless degrees than CJ or psych.
I would say that having a Masters in psych gives you way more opportunities than a Masters in CJ.
Yeah, I would say that psych and CJ majors have mostly the same opportunities at the undergraduate level with psych majors having more a little more flexibility, though. They can possibly move into human resources, market research, educational testing, social service jobs that often don't list CJ as an acceptable degree, or ABA therapy. Psych majors definitely have more opportunities at the masters level if they obtain licensure as counselors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by USMCPOG
Here in Florida its competitive for law enforcement jobs, so internships are just one of the ways to cut out the BS of the usual hiring process and get on with a department that already knows you and has an idea you can pass all of their steps (if you haven't already). Its basically a mini "try before you buy" thing. The catch is that you have to be in the right place at the right time to get hired straight from an internship. Sometimes even the Feds, state agencies, and more obscure ones hire from internships.
I agree though that the internship on paper does little if you are applying for a completely different agency. It does give that applicant a much better understanding of law enforcement work though compared to the straight off the street applicant with no knowledge.
I responded to the internship issue in the other thread, so I'll be brief here. One doesn't need a degree in CJ in order to land CJ internships. Degrees in the other social sciences are often acceptable for CJ internships. Also, there is the option of working as a security guard to gain related experience. Anyone who's breathing and doesn't have a criminal record can land a job as a security guard. Dispatchers also get pretty cozy with the officers they dispatch for.
I responded to the internship issue in the other thread, so I'll be brief here. One doesn't need a degree in CJ in order to land CJ internships. Degrees in the other social sciences are often acceptable for CJ internships. Also, there is the option of working as a security guard to gain related experience. Anyone who's breathing and doesn't have a criminal record can land a job as a security guard. Dispatchers also get pretty cozy with the officers they dispatch for.
One doesn't need the degree, but a large part of the internship is dependent upon the college and program of study. Some majors make you take an internship in their field to graduate, so for the average student it might be hard to take on multiple internships or get one outside of theirs for credit. And for the average student with no knowledge of law enforcement, it maybe a daunting task to apply for internships in CJ when they have not the slightest idea where to begin. I know my teacher and program had good connections with all the agencies in my area which is why I was able to land the internship I wanted. Those outside of CJ had a harder time obtaining them because they were "outsiders." It varies so much from area to area though.
Yes, there aren't a lot of benefits to a CJ degree, but there are benefits like some of the ones I listed previously. How useful any degree is largely depends upon your college, program of study, the economy of the area you're in, networking/connections, and most of all, you.
One doesn't need the degree, but a large part of the internship is dependent upon the college and program of study. Some majors make you take an internship in their field to graduate, so for the average student it might be hard to take on multiple internships or get one outside of theirs for credit. And for the average student with no knowledge of law enforcement, it maybe a daunting task to apply for internships in CJ when they have not the slightest idea where to begin. I know my teacher and program had good connections with all the agencies in my area which is why I was able to land the internship I wanted. Those outside of CJ had a harder time obtaining them because they were "outsiders." It varies so much from area to area though.
Social services in a correctional facility and parole/probation are not outside fields for sociology, psychology, substance abuse counseling, and social work majors. That is what I'm trying to get across. It is perfectly acceptable for a sociology major to do an internship for a corrections or community corrections agency and receive credit. It directly relates to what they study. Honestly, the CJ majors aren't that much more prepared than other majors to do anything in CJ. Unless they are working in some kind of lab, they are going to be stuck observing and performing administrative tasks anyway. A few of my CJ students have gotten internships in law offices. They didn't know anything about the criminal code or how to prepare legal documents, but the law offices didn't seem to care. They ended up mostly just running errands.
Social services in a correctional facility and parole/probation are not outside fields for sociology, psychology, substance abuse counseling, and social work majors. That is what I'm trying to get across. It is perfectly acceptable for a sociology major to do an internship for a corrections or community corrections agency and receive credit. It directly relates to what they study. Honestly, the CJ majors aren't that much more prepared than other majors to do anything in CJ. Unless they are working in some kind of lab, they are going to be stuck observing and performing administrative tasks anyway. A few of my CJ students have gotten internships in law offices. They didn't know anything about the criminal code or how to prepare legal documents, but the law offices didn't seem to care. They ended up mostly just running errands.
Guess we can just agree to disagree. Again, I think a lot of it is down to your college and its degree program and internship program. Some colleges dont even have internship programs and others vary in what you can and can't do. I know with my college the internship program was primarily geared towards the CJ majors and minors. If you weren't a CJ major or minor, I dont believe you could sign up for the program. So again, it can vary from college to college.
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