Archive for the ‘Criminal Justice News’ Category
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:
- Forensic Accountant – The pay for a forensic accountant can top $100,000 per year. This position is difficult
- DEA Agent – Agents for the Drug Enforcement Administration can make as much as $95,000 per year.
- Forensic Science Technician – This is a tie coming in at $80,000 per year.
- Juvenile Probation Officer – This is a tie with forensic science technician with a maximum salary of $80,000 per year.
- Parole Officer – Not to be out-done, the high end of the pay scale for this job is also $80,000 per year.
- Baliff - This criminal justice job can pay as much as $65,000 per year.
- Correctional Officer – The top annual salary for this position is also $65,000.
- Paralegal – The high end of the pay scale for this job is also $65,000.
- Police Officer – The national average high end of the scale is $60,000 per year.
- 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:
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Tactic #1: Change the Subject
They said to change the subject, cleverly pointing to a picture on the wall or an interesting plant located in the office. Interesting choice, I don’t know how many times I have interviewed a candidate for a job and it seemed like they never directly answered a single question. Not sure that it would work, but it’s a gimme for an SNL skit. I have to say I am not overly impressed with this lead-off tactic. |
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Tactic #2: The Vibrating Cell Phone
They said to pretend that your cell phone is vibrating and try to distract the hiring manager with that move. Right, you are PRETENDING that the cell phone is vibrating. How many meetings, interviews, etc. have we been in where there wasn’t an interruption by a vibrating or actual ringing cell phone. At the office I used to work at we actually had to ban cell phones for that reason! |
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Tactic #3: Mumbling…
The next option to avoid answering questions about your degree is to mumble. Well, what hiring manager doesn’t love that? Indeed, the classic low talker from Seinfeld is almost never a hit in the interview process. There is nothing I like better than not being able to understand the candidate since good communication skills is almost NEVER a job requirement. |
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Tactic #4: Fake a Heart Attack
Well if the hiring manager is persistent and you just can’t get him or her off of the topic of education the method of last resort is to fake a heart attack. Now, that would certainly be a memorable interview! Nothing like freaking out a prospective employer to lock in your chances to get the job. Especially after they get to deal with 911 after the false alarm phone call they no doubt will make. |
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.
Clearly we have a lot of national security issues facing the U.S. Between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and even border security closer to home. While we understand it is an absolute honor to host the olympics, but…
Really? We know that the security of our nation is a high priority for the President both at home and abroad, we just had to ask the question… What really are the national security problems of olympic proportions? We would put the shortage of candidates for law enforcement jobs (all criminal justice careers) pretty high on the list.
There are so many ways to pay for college it can sometimes be overwhelming. In some cases, though parents are in a bit of a pickle. Sometimes they make too much money for their children to qualify for federal aid and yet they don’t have the liquid funds available to pay for college for their kids. Accordingly, some private lending institutions have stepped in to help parents out with Parent Loans. We have ran into one company pretty frequently as it relates to this and their name is Graduate Leverage.
They have a federal education loan available to parents called the Parent PLUS loan. This is an interesting type of loan that is funded by Graduate Leverage but guaranteed by the Federal Government and managed by the college that the loan is being used at. Here are some quick bullet point from the Graduate Leverage site:
- This loan is not based on financial need, but credit standards do apply. You should have pretty decent credit in order to try for this type of loan.
- You can get a quarter of a point off of the interest rate if you setup automatic payments directly from your bank account.
- The amount of the loan you can get is only limited by the cost of the college less any other financial aid you are getting (making it possible for 100% of your college costs to be covered).
- You can defer payments until the student graduates or leaves college for some other reason
We are not affiliated with Graduate Leverage at all and we are sure that there are several other loan options available to parents out there, but we wanted to make sure you have the ability to pay for your child’s education if that is the route you want to go (or need to go).
We must note that this is available for ALL accredited college degree programs and types. This is not specific to people that are choosing to go into a criminal justice career.
Many people would really like the opportunity to earn a traditional law degree online. While this is technically possible, it may not be practical for most students. There are several issues with trying to get your law degree online the most important being that none of the online law schools are accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). In order to get a license to practice law, 49 of the 50 states require an ABA accredited degree. The only State with more relaxed laws is California. It makes sense then that we focus on how to earn an online law degree in California (the only State where you would be able to practice law with your online degree).
We can’t state enough that you will either need to be residing in California or able and willing to practice law in California before you should proceed with getting an online law degree (at least initially). After you practice law for a few years in California, it may be possible for you to apply to be accepted to practice law in other States, but this is not guaranteed, it’s just a possibility.
There are several steps required to be able to sit for the bar exam in California, let’s cover those first.
Step 1: You need to complete a degree program from an online law school (taking at least 60 college credits that requires at least 864 total hours of study) recognized by the State of California. So far the following schools are registered (listed in alphabetical order):
- Abraham Lincoln University School of Law
- American Heritage University School of Law
- California School of Law
- Concord School of Law
- Esquire College
- MD Kirk School of Law
- Newport University
- Northwestern California University
- Oak Brook College of Law and Government Policy
- Southern California University for Professional Studies
- University of Honolulu
- West Coast School of Law, Inc.
- West Haven University
- William Howard Taft University
Step 2: You have to register as a law student with the California State Bar Association. You can do that here.
Step 3: You have to take a student examination after the first year of studying online (the test covers contracts, criminal law, and torts). The exam is given in June and October every year. You can register for the exam here.
Step 4: You have to provide the California Bar Association with proof of your moral character by turning over your fingerprints, some references, and filling out some other forms. This review of your moral character can take four to six months so don’t forget to plan accordingly. You can find out more here.
Step 5: You have to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility exam. There are 60 multiple choice questions on this test covering questions regarding representation, privilege, contempt, and other related issues
Step 6: Assuming you cleared all of those hurdles, you need to sit for and pass the Bar Exam. It is offered in February and July every year and you can apply to sit for the exam here.
After you practice law in the State of California for a few years, you can apply to sit for the Bar Exam in other other States. In many cases, they will approve that request and you will finally get a chance to practice law in a State other than California.
From our perspective, it is important for you to know going into pursuing an online law degree, that it comes with some challenges. It won’t be easy but it can be a viable and good alternative for a lot of people. Especially, if you need a lot of flexibility in completing the classes.
Recently we have heard that Iran has been doing uranium enrichment again and we were told about a nuclear facility in QOM. We have heard many people refer to Iran’s President Ahmadinejad as a cowboy. Well, in light of the recent findings it seems appropriate to honor this occasion with a blast from the past (courtesy of slim pickens).
We hope that the U.S. handles this situation well and treats it like the serious matter that it is. We really see this WMD threat as a serious challenge to World peace. We also hope that the intelligence information is inaccurate and that Iran truly is just investigating nuclear power. It’s definitely a serious issue that impacts our national security and the security of the world.
You can check out jobs with the department of homeland security here.
We decided to review the top criminal justice TV shows of all time using several factors (length of time on air as well as overall popularity of the shows). As you can see, the list includes TV shows about cops, lawyers, and crime scene investigators. It’s a who’s who or what’s what of criminal justice TV. We hope that you will get a kick out of this and remember it’s the top shows of All Time (so you may not even have heard of some of these). We know that some of you will be surprised by the results of our research. Please let us know!
- Law and Order – This incredible show is by far the longest running criminal justice TV show and incredibly popular (they were nominated for several Emmy’s even this year). This is unchallenged number 1 show.
- Hawaii Five-O – This show is the runner up and one that my family has to hear about frequently (book ‘em Danno!).
- Dragnet – The story of L.A. police detective Joe Friday (ring a bell now?)
- Perry Mason – He was an amazing attorney one that really stood out in court.
- NYPD Blue – This was an edgy NY cop show that ran from 1993 to 2005. This show launched several careers (Dennis Franz is de man!).
- Andy Griffith Show – Yes, he was the sheriff. C’mon that’s criminal justice!
- The FBI – This show was on the air from 1965 to 1974. They re-enacted actual FBI cases every week.
- JAG – The judge advocate general show ran from 1995 to 2005 and taped 227 episodes in that decade.
- Family Matters – Yes, Carl was a cop so this is a show about a cop!
- Walker – Texas Ranger – Can’t get enough of Chuck Norris! He was a great Ranger!
- CSI – The original CSI. What a great show that really kicked off the whole crime scene investigators cult movement.
- Matlock – Andy Griffith again! This time as a witty and sharp attorney.
- Night Court – This show was a hilarious look at how a night court could be ran (of course totally fictional).
- Barnaby Jones – This show ran from 1973 to 1980. It starred Buddy Epsen and was one of several very popular detective shows.
- Silk Stalkings – This show originally aired on CBS and then moved off of the major networks. It was another detective show, but a bit more edgy.
- Adam-12 – This show ran from 1968 to 1975 and they filmed 175 episodes. It followed the lives (fictional lives) of two LAPD cops.
- LA Law – This was one of the first really popular law firm/TV shows. It featured a wide-range of lawyers with different areas of specialization.
- Mission Impossible – This was a great show about spies. Of course, it has nothing on the Tom Cruise movie series!
- The Practice – This wasn’t on air for nearly as long as LA Law, but was extremely popular while it was on the air and likely could have ran for much longer if the actors were willing. Boston Legal spun off from this show.
- Barney Miller – This was an early cop TV show that is actually still playing in re-runs around the World. Captain Barney Miller and his team fight all kinds of hilarious crimes (some not so funny).
- 24 – This is an anti-terrorist thriller that has become insanely popular starring Keifer Sutherland.
- Magnum PI – Tom Selleck was the star of this show about a private investigator. This clearly launched his career as he came out of it a superstar (probably the most recognized mustache-man in the World).
- CHIPS – This was a great show for everyone growing up in the era as the Eric Estrada (Ponch) and team rode the streets of L.A. on their motorcycles and solved crimes.
- Monk – This is still an incredible show about a private investigator with some unusual phobias (germs, germs…).
- Hart to Hart – Another show about private investigators that aired in the 1980′s starring Robert Wagner (it’s no Austin Powers like performance from him but was fun to watch).
- Kojak – I want a lollipop just thinking about this classic TV show.
- In the Heat of the Night – Carroll O’Connor starred in this television show about a cop from Mississippi.
- Quincy – This was a great show starring Jack Klugman that was the first show about coroners.
- The Rockford Files – This actually also was an extremely popular show where James Garner starred as a detective.
- Miami Vice – This show set the fashion trends for the nation as everyone rushed out to mimic Don Johnson, where are those clothes now?
- The People’s Court – This was a great reality show where people agreed to go on TV to solve their legal disputes in front of the World. Most of these cases were absolutely a riot! It’s still on, just with a different judge.
- Car 54 – This was a cop show in the 1960′s that detailed the madcap adventures of two police officers it was set in The Bronx.
- Starsky & Hutch – This 1970′s classic TV show had great cars and good action for the time. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson did an excellent job reviving this with a movie in 2004.
- Columbo – Peter Falk was the star of this show about an L.A. police detective. Isn’t amazing how many cop shows are based on L.A. or New York? What about Boise, ID?
- The Shield – Another L.A. police show that starred several notable actors including Glenn Close, Forest Whitaker, and of course The Thing, Michael Chiklis.
- Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer – This was a private eye show based upon a series of novels by Mickey Spillane.
- Father Dowling Mysteries – This was no Happy Days, but was a great mystery show starring Tom Bosley.
- Nash Bridges- What Don Johnson again? While not Miami Vice, this was a really popular show that also included Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong fame.
- The Commish – A great TV show not to be confused with The Shield, another show with Michael Chiklis.
- Hunter – Who said an ex football player couldn’t make a great police officer? Go Fred Dryer! Go! Really… Go!
- LAPD – You guessed it! Another show about the Los Angeles Police Department made the Top 60.
- Hill Street Blues – How did this show end up so low on the list! Hey! Let’s be careful out there…
- Moonlighting – Starred Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. This was about a private investigator that got into all kinds of trouble.
- Cagney & Lacey – Two female NY police detectives (Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly) was really a break-through show for women in the field of criminal justice.
- CSI – Miami – This was a spin-off from the original CSI show and is still going strong!
- Remington Steele – Who doesn’t remember seeing Pierce Brosnan before he became James Bond, doing his thing as a private detective on this show.
- Spencer: For Hire – Another gritty private investigator and one of our personal favorites starring Robert Urich and let’s not forget Hawk (Avery Brooks). This show was set in Boston (finally a different city)!
- The Mod Squad – The grooviest gang of “fuzz” that ever wore a badge!
- Pacific Blue – This was a unique TV show as it was about bicycle cops who tend to get very little credibility for that reason alone this really had to make the list.
- T.J. Hooker – William Shatner again. Need we say more?
- Cold Case – This one is interesting because it is all about solving old cases (cold cases). This is also an important element of the criminal justice system and we respect this show largely because of the concept.
- CSI – NY- Back to New York, do I hear an L.A.? Come on L.A. don’t let yourself get beat like that!
- Alias – Jennifer Garner became almost an instant superstar with this movie (pre Ben Affleck of course).
- The Profiler – Interesting show about using a person with psychic capabilities to get into the head of the criminal and solve the crime. This is not common at all in the criminal justice system but is definitely entertaining.
- Prison Break – This is interesting because it ran for four seasons somehow and like the other short-timers in the list was extremely popular. This show was on the FOX network.
- Criminal Minds – This isn’t about one profiler, but several FBI profilers and started on CBS in 2005.
- Boston Legal- William Shatner and James Spader made this almost an instant hit. The two of them had great chemistry as they led this law firm into fame and fortune.
- Numb3rs – Interesting show that combines solving crimes with math, who came up with that?
- Las Vegas – Crimes in Vegas? Say it ain’t so… I guess what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.
- COPS – This is reality TV at its finest (or not so much). This is also a cult classic and likely deserves a higher ranking for its popularity, but it’s COPS! (bad boys, bad boys…)
That’s our list of top criminal justice TV shows. Did we get it right? Well, it was mostly based on the number of episodes, the years the shows ran, and their popularity while on the air. Some of the shows also got extra points for their place in pop culture (like Miami Vice).
All joking aside, television has been critical for recruiting in the criminal justice field. Tons of people have been drawn to criminal justice careers based upon these fictional stories. Now, the reality is that the jobs that the actors portray generally are not quite so glamorous but as long as the shows keep people entertained and remembering those in public service, we applaud their efforts.
Criminal justice careers are incredibly popular right now as people are starting to realize that even in a down economy (a recession), criminal justice jobs remain stable and necessary. We have actually seen the reverse trend in that more jobs are available in local, state, and federal governments which require criminal justice degrees. We expect this trend to continue for at least the next ten years (the bureau of labor agrees that jobs will increase over the next five years).
We had contemplated hosting a blog carnival on this site, but have found that the legitimate responses from other criminal justice related blog owners just didn’t justify a carnival as our visitors just wouldn’t get any benefit out of it. Accordingly, we are not going to be hosting a blog carnival here. Maybe sometime in the future we will try again but for now it’s very clear that we are one of the few sites that is really serious about helping people launch their criminal justice career.
One of the fastest growing areas of online student’s majors is criminal justice. There are more people today earning their criminal justice degree online, than ever before. This is because of three major factors, demand, passion, and cultural influence. Each factor helps to contribute to the fact that criminal justice degree online programs are at an all time high in terms of popularity.
As the country becomes more populated, and jobs become outsourced, people are becoming more interested in the field of criminal justice, and thus enrolling in criminal justice degree online programs to get a certification, or diploma in the field. While many jobs still exist in America, the type of jobs are becoming more about the company, and less about the employee. Nearly half of American companies began to cut back on benefits last year, and millions of companies have already been outsourcing to improve the bottom line. This leads to a notion of unrest amongst working Americans, looking for security in their lives. Thus, criminal justice becomes a desirable career. Most criminal justice jobs are with the government, giving people a superior amount of benefits, and security, compared to most people working today. People are looking to attend school on their own time, and that’s where criminal justice degree online programs come into the picture.
A criminal justice degree online program provides a person the ability to study for state, and federal board exams, without having to leave their day job. It also provides them with up to date experience that allows them to use the computer like a criminal justice professional. The government has a major stake in the internet, and is constantly placing more of its criminal justice degree online program information online for students to obtain.
Secondly, there is a passion amongst people to help others. The criminal justice degree online programs lead people to be police officers, first responders, lawyers, and even doctors. This is the type of program that allows people to help other people. This might be why so many are interested in criminal justice degree online programs, because of the way that it can affect not only their lives, but the lives of others.
Finally there is a cultural shift that makes criminal justice degree online programs more popular today, than ever before. After the tragic events of 9/11 there has been a renewed hope in criminal justice professionals, and many people have rededicated their lives to this field. The first step in becoming a professional is to attend a criminal justice degree online program.
Some individuals are born with the idea that they would like to earn a degree in criminal justice, and practice in the field, while others need time to realize this dream. For many, earning a criminal justice degree online is something that has been a turn in their life, or a change in the career path they had initially set out. Therefore there is no better place to get a criminal justice degree. It is the criminal justice degree online programs that have taken more people from average jobs, to amazing jobs, in this bustling field.
Is it time for you to consider joining a criminal justice degree online program? It might be the time in your life when it seems that this article makes perfect sense, and that a criminal justice degree online program would be just what you need to change your life for the better. It is a true commitment, but offers large rewards for those that are willing to stick it through, and follow their dreams.
Before looking into the career opportunities in Criminal Justice, you should know what “Criminal Justice” is. It deals with the psychology of the criminals and their social their crimes. Criminal Justice is an interesting and challenging field to get into. It consists of three parts, Law Enforcement (Police), Adjudication (Court System) and Corrections (Jails) As this career deals with lots laws, rules, regulations and different procedures, a very good educational background is essential to get into it. Once you get the right kind of education in Criminal justice, a wide variety of careers open up.
The Best Careers in Criminal Justice
As the name indicates, all the careers in Criminal Justice are related to Law. The main role of the Criminal Justice professionals is to identify the criminals, collect clues from crime scenes and provide assistance to the National or Local Government crime control. Well trained Criminal Justice professionals can take the roles of police investigator, defender, prosecutor, and Judge. They can work for private organizations or work independently. The Criminal Justice professionals can also seek career opportunities in the State or National Government operations. Candidates with great skills in Criminal justice can even seek career opportunities in FBI.
Required Education for careers in Criminal Justice
You should always remember the fact that the education required for Criminal Justice is not all about learning general laws. Specialized training is essential to get into the best careers in criminal justice. Generally, the training in Criminal Justice will include lots of classroom lectures. The very best Pennsylvania schools also provide opportunities to the candidates to attend different seminars with the Criminal Justice experts.
With the advancements in technology, there are many online training programs available too. Employers looking for Criminal Justice professionals prefer the candidates trained in the PA Criminal Justice Schools because, according to the employers, the Criminal Justice students trained in the PA Criminal Justice Schools are highly skilled. Some of the Pennsylvania schools offer career placement assistance as well.
Bottom line
Well trained criminal justice professionals can become Corrections officers, Court clerks, Juvenile specialists, Probation support assistants, and Emergency dispatchers, Security professionals in business, industry and government. Hence the careers in criminal justice is one of the interesting career options that is available today.