Frustrated by attacks on their campus, a couple of University of Washington students decided to take matters into their own hands and created a vigilante group to protect areas around the campus where attacks have occurred over the past year.  The group is led by Luis Garcia (left) and Stanley Luong (right) who both were victims of assault themselves on the campus. They put up a page on the social media site Facebook to recruit members, but it was quickly pulled down by the social media company.

They both got concealed license permits and bought handguns and now essentially walk the campus every night as “bait” for would-be criminals.  According to the UW Daily Newspaper, there have been ten assaults and robberies in the campus area in just two months, so Luong and Garcia are correct in identifying the problem.  The only issue is that of legality.  It is definitely illegal to carry a concealed handgun on college campuses in Washington.  So given that there is a problem and the students can’t legally protect themselves with their 2nd amendment right to bear arms, what is the solution?

It would be ideal for the University of Washington to step in here and beef up the security patrols and/or the local police.  While the students are doing what comes fairly natural to them, in fact, they are putting themselves in grave danger.  Some may consider this to be courageous, unfortunately it is probably more just dangerous.  They aren’t really just putting themselves in harm’s way.  They may potentially cause a situation to escalate more than necessary and there are lots of possible ramifications of that.

We hope that the law enforcement officials in the area will step in and take care of this situation before it gets further out of hand.  While in some cases vigilantes are necessary, it doesn’t seem like a college campus should be one of those cases.

You can see a video by their local news station here.

CJU spends a lot of time talking about criminal justice careers and everything that prepares someone for a criminal justice job including a great education. Sometimes it is hard for people to envision the types of classes that someone would take in order to graduate with a criminal justice degree. We thought we would put together a list of some of the really cool classes that most criminal justice majors take as they earn their degree (and possibly some just really fun extra courses):

Intro to The Criminal Justice System – Okay, this is not so cool or exciting but is a foundation class that most programs will start with. Generally this is a study of all of the agencies that exist in our court system including: the courts, the police, prosecutors, public defenders, and corrections (officers and facilities). This one is sexy, but just makes sure everyone was paying attention in their civics classes in high school.

Retail Security – Well this is starting to sound more fun, but wait are we talking about mall cops (not that there is anything wrong with that at all)?  In fact, it is about loss prevention and general tactics used to make sure that shoplifting and other theft does not occur.  This is a much maligned career (partially due to the recent Mall Cop movie starring Paul Blart), but is a HUGE problem challenging our retail industry.

Crime Prevention – Now we are getting to some law enforcement work, we are probably starting to get your attention. This class talks about different times of crime prevention strategies that can be deployed by police departments, community organizations, or any other group looking to reduce the crime rates around them (local businesses, etc.).  So again, the focus here is really on avoiding a crime, not investigating crimes.

Forensic Biology – This sounds like some CSI stuff (very cool).  In fact, this is exactly about crime scene investigations and different techniques for collecting evidence.  This course covers topic like ecological, entomological, and biotechnological techniques used by law enforcement personnel across the country.

The typical criminal justice program will offer somewhere around 20 to 50 different classes for a student to choose from to fulfill their degree requirements.  It is important to take a look at the classes that are offered before you plan your class schedules to make sure that you are getting exactly what you are interested and/or need to learn to advance your criminal justice career.

We can’t cover all of the programs offered by every university in this one blog article but did want to wet your whistles and to let you know that the criminal justice field is complex and full of lots of specializations.  So it’s not normally as easy as the criminologists make it look on TV.

So we know that there are many top 10 lists that people would love to be on, this is not one of them.  This is a list reserved for the worst of the worst and people that are tied to organized crime of some sort (gangs or mob), tied to drug trafficking, or other horrible crimes.  This is the list of the top 10 American Fugitives (people that are wanted by the U.S. government).  The ultimate resource for this list is located here: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm.  We were going to cover this list to try and bring it to your attention but it’s actually a federal crime if you don’t reproduce the list properly so it seems safest to just point you in the direction of the official list.

But we think it is interesting to ask yourself if you could name any of the top 10 people without going to the site first to check it out.  I would guess that most Americans would identify Usama Bin Laden as one of the top 10, but I would guess that most Americans could not name another person on this list.  That seems to be something that we should try to address as a society.  These are people that are extremely dangerous and that we need to assist the authorities in any way possible with apprehending.

Do you know what you should do if you do spot one of America’s most wanted?  Here is a list of your options:

1) You can fill out the tip form on the FBI site: https://tips.fbi.gov/

2) You can call the FBI at: 1-800-CALLFBI

3) You can visit or call your local FBI office which you can lookup here.

4) You always have the option of calling 911, but please be sure that this is a real emergency before you do that.  If it is not, you can just contact your local authorities at your earliest convenience.

Please give this a little more than a passing thought.  You came to CJU because you are either interested in a criminal justice career or you saw something closely related.  Stay aware of these top criminals and stay alert as you never know when you may possibly cross paths with one of America’s most wanted.  In any event, you now know what to do if you do spot one of these fugitives.

Our judicial system does an amazing job day after day, but even the best of systems can be flawed.  Given the number of crimes committed in the U.S. and the number of people convicted every year it does seem like there are very few cases that get over-turned.  With that said, it is hard to say exactly how many more people that are in prison are actually telling the truth when they say they didn’t commit the crime.  Another debate which is actively being raised is how much should we compensate people that have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned.  It’s a tough call for sure.  It seems to us that there should be some level of compensation and I do think it is important to raise the level of awareness as to why these people were falsely convicted.  As you can see from the table below, eyewitness misidentification was a factor in most of these cases.  It’s also true that there were a few cases that the forensic scientists appear to have gotten wrong.  Here is the list of people that have been exonerated after 14 or more years (that is what the Years column in the table below represents… how long it took for them to be exonerated):

More information on all of these cases can be found at: Innocent Project.

We bring this issue up to remind everyone currently in the criminal justice profession how much we can impact the lives of people (mostly in a positive way, but sometimes not so much).  These types of reminders help to make sure that we apply good critical thinking on our jobs every day.

We wish all of these people the best as  they adjust to life after prison and after being exonerated.

Well there are some things that as a nation, you just don’t want to lead the World in and one of those things is number of crimes committed on an annual basis.  The U.S. repeatedly finds itself at the top of that list.  Unfortunately, we lead the World in many kinds of criminal activities. This is partially driven by the sheer number of people we have in the U.S., but given just how much distance there is between the U.S. and the rest of the World there must be more to it than that. Let’s focus on the top 10 most concerning facts about crime in the U.S.  Many of these may come as a surprise to you although based on how many people are impacted by crimes every year in the U.S., you may not be surprised in the slightest.

1. The United States has nearly 12 million crimes committed every year.  This is the most in the World with the runner-up having only 6 million crimes.  That’s two times worse than the runner-up nation!
2. The United States currently is holding over 2 million prisoners.  This means that we have the highest percentage of prisoners relative to our population in the World.  Combine this with #1 and you can see we have a lot of minor criminal offenses and a lot of people on probation and parole.
3. Almost 100,000 rapes occur in the United States every year.  This is also the highest number for all countries in the United Nations.
4. There are nearly 500,000 robberies in the United States every year, this is the second highest number for all countries in the United Nations.
5. There are approximately 1,000,000 police officers in the United States (the highest in the World).
6. There are over 16,000 murders in the United States every year (this is second worst in the World).
7. There are over 1.2 million car thefts every year in the United States (this is the highest in the World).
8. One out of every five people will be a victim of a crime every year in the United States again this is the worst in the World.
9. Even with the worst crime rates in the World, 82% of the U.S. population feels safe walking the streets at night and this is the 2nd best rate in the World.  Isn’t that interesting?
10. The software piracy rate is 20% in the United States.  This is the LOWEST in the World out of 107 countries in the survey!

As you can see, the United States is in an ominous position.  We have a monumental task ahead of us to control criminal activity and improve on several of these numbers.  The best way we can see to do that is to have more people aware of these problems and to encourage them to pursue criminal justice careers and to support our law enforcement officers in general.  Let’s hope that in the next decade we see ourselves falling behind other nations in terms of criminal activities because that is just one category we don’t want to be number one in any longer.

One of the most unique programs we have seen is a Fast Track program being offered by Hartnell College in Salinas, CA (Associate of Science Degree in Administration of Justice).  This online criminal justice degree can be completed in just three semesters or one year if you take classes through the summer!  This is an excellent program that we find to be incredibly creative and valuable for people just starting their criminal justice career (whether this is your first career job or a second career).  This degree prepares students for quick entry into law enforcement careers and in addition is a great service to the public as it helps students attract even more people into the criminal justice field.

If you are looking for a great start to your career and are motivated to start as soon as possible, we can’t honestly recommend a better option than going to Hartnell College to get your associate’s degree.  After completing that you can continue your studies there or pursue other online degree programs offered here at Criminal Justice University (like Kaplan’s advanced start bachelor of science in criminal justice degree and then the Master of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati).  In theory you could possibly (with a lot of hard work) go from an associate’s to a master’s degree in three action-packed years.  That’s amazing!  NOTE:  we have not talked to each of these schools to test the viability of that education path, we are just using it as an example of what could be accomplished via online criminal justice degree programs.

Given the Hartnell example and the rest of the programs mentioned above, it is pretty easy to see why online colleges are doing so well now.  They are responding to the changing needs of society where time is of the essence and the ability to control your own schedule is critically important.

Another question we get emailed on frequently is “exactly how do I become a police officer.”  Well, the answer is that it really depends on a lot of different factors (where you live, what kind of officer you want to be, etc.).  With all of that said we will try to give a brief overview of what it takes to become a police officer.

Education – A high school diploma is required by most departments across the U.S. and preferential treatment is given to candidates with an associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree (not necessarily in Criminal Justice but that is helpful).  You can view several different criminal justice degree programs on this site, but let’s continue with the rest of the requirements for becoming a police officer.

Background – Police officers are subjected to background checks of course.  If you have a criminal record, this is most likely not the career for you.  Even if you just have excessive traffic violations (tickets) you should seriously consider what you are doing before you go down this path.  Assuming this is not problematic you can move to the next step.

Fitness – The perception of police officers being out of shape and eating doughnuts or Twinkies all day needs to be put out of your mind.  This is NOT the case!  You will need to be in a high state of physical conditioning to be accepted on the police force in most cities or municipalities.  The police academy will be an extreme shock to your body if you are not prepared for it so get into the best shape you can.

Exams – You will need to sit for a civil servant exam.  You should contact your local police department and/or city for information on how and where to take the exam in your area.  In addition to that you will be subjected to a physical exam and a series of interviews with police.  You need to be physically AND mentally tough to take up a career as a police officer.

Post Education – You should go into a career as a police officer realizing that you are committing to a continuous education career path.  Most police officers have a certain number of continuing education hours that they must take on an annual basis to help keep them ahead of the criminal element.  So don’t expect that you won’t have to crack a book or two after becoming an officer.

Becoming a police officer can be very rewarding but it is a challenge.  While there is a shortage of officers in nearly every State in the U.S., they will not or cannot take just any applicants for the job.  Make sure you are dedicated to becoming an officer and then get the right education and get prepared both physically and mentally for a career in law enforcement.

Hey, let’s be careful out there…

We are constantly trying to find good scholarships for students going into a criminal justice career.  We have a short list of some listed below.  Don’t forget to visit our finance page to find more.

StraightForward Media Law Enforcement Scholarship – This is a $500 scholarship that is only available to students pursuing a career in law enforcement.  You can find out more information here: here

R.C. Hentges Scholarship – This is another $500 scholarship for criminal justice students pursuing fire service, legal, insurance investigation, or law enforcement.  You can find out all the details here.

Correctional Association of Massachusetts (CAM) Scholarship – This $500 scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students majoring in Criminal Justice or a very closely related field.  You can find out more about the program by going to the CAM website.

Monster Scholarship for Government & Public Service -  This truly is a monster scholarship as they are awarding $2500 for students that are majoring or intend to major in government or public service.  This has an essay requirement and you can go to their website for more information.

Alphonso Deal Scholarship Award – The amount of this scholarship varies and it is only available to graduating high school seniors who plan to attend a two year college to study law enforcement or a related field.  In order to get the details you need to go to the sponsor’s site.

David E. Whitmire Scholarship Fund – This is our final $500 scholarship for this article and it is available to juniors, seniors, and graduate students with majors in criminal justice, criminology, police science, police administration, or a related field.  To find out more you can go to the David Whitemire website.

We hope that you will send us the name and contact details for any criminal justice scholarship programs that you are aware of so we can post them on our website for others to see and hopefully take advantage of to launch their criminal justice career.

We get questions frequently regarding which criminal justice jobs pay the most.  It’s a great question and one that surely everyone seeking a career in criminal justice should be asking.  Now, in general it is pretty safe to say that most people pursuing a criminal justice career aren’t necessarily in it for the money.  Whether it is a family tradition, a sense of civic duty, or some other time-honored tradition… We have found that rarely is it to make the most money possible.  With that said, there really are some very high paying jobs in criminal justice.  I’ll list the MAXIMUM for each career just to make it easier to rank them:

1. Forensic Accountant – The pay for a forensic accountant can top $100,000 per year.  This position is difficult
2. DEA Agent – Agents for the Drug Enforcement Administration can make as much as $95,000 per year.
3. Forensic Science Technician – This is a tie coming in at $80,000 per year.
4. Juvenile Probation Officer – This is a tie with forensic science technician  with a maximum salary of $80,000 per year.
5. Parole Officer – Not to be out-done, the high end of the pay scale for this job is also $80,000 per year.
6. Baliff - This criminal justice job can pay as much as $65,000 per year.
7. Correctional Officer – The top annual salary for this position is also $65,000.
8. Paralegal – The high end of the pay scale for this job is also $65,000.
9. Police Officer – The national average high end of the scale is $60,000 per year.
10. NSA Police Investigator – The high end of the pay scale for this job is $50,000.

These are taken from examples of salaries across the country.  It’s possible that in your area the salaries could be a little higher or a little lower.  As you can see, these positions do allow for a very comfortable lifestyle (outside of the dangers of the job).

Hope this helps some of you out!  If you have a job you want us to research, just let us know.

So I like a good laugh as much as the next person and of course I saw the Saturday Night Live skit where SNL clearly picked on some of the largest online universities. If you didn’t see it, you can view it here. As usual, they did a good job of pointing out some down-sides of online colleges especially if you haven’t thoroughly researched their accreditations.  So it looks like they very closely copied some of the look and feel of the University of Phoenix website for their fake University of Westfield. They really didn’t spend much time talking about the education that you get at an online college they simply focused on the stigma that society places on online college degrees. They came up with four diversion tactics that the mythical University of Westfield taught them to use when they went on job interviews and questions came up about their degree. Here is a quick summary for you:

So these tactics and the jokes are actually just exceedingly lame to be brutally honest… The concept could have been funny but they really just didn’t pull it off due to comedy laziness (or some other excuse). They did have a couple of honorable mentions (runner-up tactics) like being vague about where you attended college. For instance respond to where you went to college by mentioning the word Michigan (in Michigan at home in my pajamas, not the University of Michigan). Now, that might work until the employer does the inevitable pre-employment education background check that most companies do (but probably ignore for the most part).

It’s definitely true that you need to think through what your best options are for you and your career.  It may be that either budget constraints or time restrictions make it really hard for you to get a degree from a traditional campus-based college (at least from their campus-based program). The reality is… many campus based colleges and universities across the country are joining the online college bandwagon and offering online degrees.  Even in the small town of Fayette, IA a small liberal arts college founded in 1857, Upper Iowa University, offers several amazing online degrees to compliment their campus-based programs.  While that  is a small and somewhat obscure college it’s just an example of how far-reaching the movement is toward online colleges and degrees.

The reality is that online colleges are a HUGE business and they are only going to become more prevalent.  The costs per student are far less than the traditional brick and mortar school as not only does the university get to avoid housing related costs (dorms), food related costs (cafeterias and commons, etc.), and anything else related to providing classroom  facilities, but they can greatly expand the number of students per class if they want to. While today some people still consider online colleges to be a joke (because they are stuck in the 1990′s mindset), they won’t be laughing at online degrees for long. The national average cost to attend a campus-based university in 2009 is $26,270/year*. The average cost to attend an online university is $13,540/year**. The national average for campus-based universities hasn’t been that low since the late 1980′s! It’s a viable option and as the costs keep diverging and more colleges start online programs, the more common it will be to graduate from an online college.

*Source: The College Board
**Source: Information directly collected from 100 online degree programs.