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What is a criminologist?
Criminologists study crime and criminal law. They analyze criminal behavior patterns and criminal laws, and provide theoretical explanations for criminal and delinquent behavior.
What do criminologists do?
Primarily involved in research and teaching, criminologists supply a great deal of knowledge to the study of policing, police administration and policy, juvenile justice and delinquency, corrections, correctional administration and policy, drug addiction, criminal ethnography, macro-level models of criminal behavior, radical criminology, theoretical criminology, and victimology. In addition, they evaluate various biological, sociological, and psychological factors related to criminology. Some criminologists may also engage themselves in community initiatives and evaluation and policy projects with local, state, and federal criminal justice agencies.
Where do criminologists work?
Some criminologists may conduct their own research while teaching legal studies, criminology, sociology, and law at a university. Some may work for state and federal justice agencies as policy advisors or research officers. And, some may work in private practices where they provide consulting services for various issues such as crime statistics, juvenile justices, adult corrections, and law reform.
What kind of criminology training will I need?
In order to become a criminologist a minimum two-year master's degree in criminology is required. However, university employed criminologists typically have a PhD. Generally, criminology programs focus on crime and deviant behavior as found in psychology and sociology. Students enrolled in such programs will learn about design and systems analysis, and how it pertains to crime and criminal justice.
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