Criminal Justice: The Unethical Cash Cow

[sanantone]

LOL, Yahoo story on "degrees that pay off", you will love #3 6 Degrees With The Best Bang For Your Buck - Yahoo Education

Those Yahoo articles are always junk. One can become a police officer with a degree in underwater basket weaving. Only 8 or 9% of law enforcement agencies require an associates degree or higher. Only 1% require a bachelors degree or higher. Out of the law enforcement agencies that require a degree, there are hardly any that exclusively require a degree in CJ. Most will take a degree in anything.

[publius2k4]

This is very true. In my field, there is little practicality to a criminal justice degree. In fact, many law enforcement practitioners (myself included) tend to loath criminal justice majors because they tend to think that studying the system for 4 years has earned them the rank of expert in my field. They are the same people who think that you have to read Miranda warnings to every person you arrest (which you do not have to do unless you plan to question the person).

When people ask what they should study if they want to get into law enforcement, I tell them to base it off of what they want to do in the field of law enforcement: If they want to be a crime lab tech, hard science coursework and forensics would be most helpful. If they want to become a criminal investigator, courses in psychology and critical thinking would be extremely helpful. If they'd like to get into leadership roles, Management or Public Safety Admin. would be quite beneficial.

A CJ degree prepares you for work in law enforcement about as much as a degree in biology prepares you for neurosurgery.

[sanantone]

It's always nice to hear from someone who has actually worked in the criminal justice field. They know the deal. Police officers will be the first ones to tell you not to major in CJ because you think it'll give you an advantage. You have to think about what you're going to do with the degree if you can't meet the requirements of law enforcement agencies, if you become injured early on in your career, or if you end up hating the job. A lot of police officers burnout within 10 years.

It annoys me to no end when people criticize those studying psychology and sociology and present criminal justice as the more practical option for employment. The vast majority of jobs one can get with a CJ degree one can also get with a sociology or psychology degree. Probation and parole will happily take psychology and sociology majors. They are often listed as preferred degrees along with CJ. Over 90% of law enforcement and corrections jobs only require a high school diploma or GED. CJ majors have to go through the academy like everyone else. There are very few jobs in which criminal justice majors have an advantage over psychology and sociology majors.

[publius2k4]

It's always nice to hear from someone who has actually worked in the criminal justice field. They know the deal. Police officers will be the first ones to tell you not to major in CJ because you think it'll give you an advantage. You have to think about what you're going to do with the degree if you can't meet the requirements of law enforcement agencies, if you become injured early on in your career, or if you end up hating the job. A lot of police officers burnout within 10 years.

It annoys me to no end when people criticize those studying psychology and sociology and present criminal justice as the more practical option for employment. The vast majority of jobs one can get with a CJ degree one can also get with a sociology or psychology degree. Probation and parole will happily take psychology and sociology majors. They are often listed as preferred degrees along with CJ. Over 90% of law enforcement and corrections jobs only require a high school diploma or GED. CJ majors have to go through the academy like everyone else. There are very few jobs in which criminal justice majors have an advantage over psychology and sociology majors.

Exactly. In my agency, all that matters is your certification. They could care less about your education.

If there is an open position, they weed through the applications to see who is already certified for that position because it means the agency will not have to invest any money to send that applicant to their respective academy (police or corrections). If one applicant has a masters degree in criminal justice, and another applicant has a GED and is already certified, the agency will hire the individual who is certified first.

[ShotoJuku]

Wow.... that's just sad. That people can be so naive and do no research for there potential career choices.

And then there are those who enroll in a CJ degree program that already have a criminal history too believing that the attainment of the degree will wash away their previously attained felony and misdemeanor (sins) records after (if) they graduate.

[Bibby]

That's the problem. Most of the undergraduate students are not like you. They don't want to hear about the court cases that affected due process and use of force policies. They don't want to learn about how the Broken Windows Theory has been applied to patrol functions. They want to go to a gun range, drive patrol vehicles, and learn how to whack someone with a baton. Learning about the programs used to rehabilitate offenders and policies created to prevent crime is boring to them.

So true. It's also part of why American crime rates are so high and why we hear about police abuse of power so frequently.

[sanantone]

Exactly. In my agency, all that matters is your certification. They could care less about your education.

If there is an open position, they weed through the applications to see who is already certified for that position because it means the agency will not have to invest any money to send that applicant to their respective academy (police or corrections). If one applicant has a masters degree in criminal justice, and another applicant has a GED and is already certified, the agency will hire the individual who is certified first.

I've seen cases where agencies willing to sponsor those with degrees will also state they have a preference for those who are already satisfied. I did come across an agency that had no preference for certified applicants, military experience, or education. They just chose the highest scorers on the written test and interview. It was interesting to see that everyone who was chosen to go forward in the process had degrees. It might offend some, but I wasn't surprised. One of our police academies said they had to deal with cadets who could only read at the 3rd grade level. I thought they had to get an acceptable reading score in order to enter the academy. Anyway, one cannot get through an accredited bachelor's degree program without being able to read. So, that's why I'm not surprised the college-educated applicants scored so high.

Some agencies will give bonus points on civil service tests for military experience, licensure, and education. It's common for police and correctional departments to give educational incentive pay and even bump you up the career ladder for degrees. Texas gives credit toward higher levels of certification for degrees. This reduces the amount of time to become an intermediate, advanced, and master peace officer or jailer. Agencies pay more for higher levels of certification too. However, your education could be in cryptozoology in all of these cases.

And then there are those who enroll in a CJ degree program that already have a criminal history too believing that the attainment of the degree will wash away their previously attained felony and misdemeanor (sins) records after (if) they graduate.

I had a student with warrants. They weren't for anything major, but they would prevent him from being hired.

So true. It's also part of why American crime rates are so high and why we hear about police abuse of power so frequently.

I think it's important for police officers to be well-educated, but it doesn't necessarily have to be in criminal justice. CJ is just a hodgepodge of other fields and doesn't really go in depth on any of them. If you read about the history of criminology and CJ, you'll learn that it's just sociology-lite. Police officers should know more about how to talk to people, culture diversity, and mental health issues. These are required continuing education courses in my state, but many police officers cheat on them. Even when they have to take them in class, there are either some instructors who will hand out the answers or all of the officers will cheat off of whomever completed the coursework first. I have seen it with my own eyes for an ethics course! There is really not much you can do when the supervisors are in on it.

[publius2k4]

I've seen cases where agencies willing to sponsor those with degrees will also state they have a preference for those who are already satisfied. I did come across an agency that had no preference for certified applicants, military experience, or education. They just chose the highest scorers on the written test and interview. It was interesting to see that everyone who was chosen to go forward in the process had degrees. It might offend some, but I wasn't surprised. One of our police academies said they had to deal with cadets who could only read at the 3rd grade level. I thought they had to get an acceptable reading score in order to enter the academy. Anyway, one cannot get through an accredited bachelor's degree program without being able to read. So, that's why I'm not surprised the college-educated applicants scored so high.

Some agencies will give bonus points on civil service tests for military experience, licensure, and education. It's common for police and correctional departments to give educational incentive pay and even bump you up the career ladder for degrees. Texas gives credit toward higher levels of certification for degrees. This reduces the amount of time to become an intermediate, advanced, and master peace officer or jailer. Agencies pay more for higher levels of certification too. However, your education could be in cryptozoology in all of these cases.



I had a student with warrants. They weren't for anything major, but they would prevent him from being hired.



I think it's important for police officers to be well-educated, but it doesn't necessarily have to be in criminal justice. CJ is just a hodgepodge of other fields and doesn't really go in depth on any of them. If you read about the history of criminology and CJ, you'll learn that it's just sociology-lite. Police officers should know more about how to talk to people, culture diversity, and mental health issues. These are required continuing education courses in my state, but many police officers cheat on them. Even when they have to take them in class, there are either some instructors who will hand out the answers or all of the officers will cheat off of whomever completed the coursework first. I have seen it with my own eyes for an ethics course! There is really not much you can do when the supervisors are in on it.

Interpersonal communications, cultural diversity, and mental health are not required in Georgia, but it is required by my agency.

As far as an entrance exam to get into the police academy in my state, they use college entrance exams, but they don't require applicants to score on a college level.

http://www.gapost.org/pdf_file/ee_scores.pdf

If these scores were all an applicant could produce to get into college, they would be placed in remedial courses.

[PonyGirl93]

*cringes*

*steps in*

It's all true. Where the heck were you guys years ago? Just kidding, kidding. I accept the blame for my own situation.

Relatively speaking, my degree is worthless. I wish I could really explain, but I can't. I went into it thinking I wanted to either be a prosecuting attorney or work in investigations. I don't want to be a cop. These jobs that every school, every person that I talked to, every website I read, assured me existed in criminal justice? No. No no no no no.

No.

No.

[sanantone]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Every time I hear one of my students say they aren't interested in becoming a police or correctional officer, I become concerned about what they're going to do. For those who want to work in social services, they have to compete with people with more experience and a half a dozen other majors. Have you taken the LSAT and tried applying to law schools?

The criminal justice LinkedIn group is filled with people saying they can't find a job. Yes, there are those who thought they could go straight to being an investigator.