Should one major in Criminal Justice to be a LEO?

[Kimble]

Read this while checking work emails before heading out to meet the family for Xmas:

...we should write a sticky for the infamous "Should I major in CJ to be a cop?" question too.

Should one major in Criminal Justice to become a law enforcement officer?

The simple answer is YES and NO. A CJ degree is NOT required for the job (what you need to know about the job will be taught during the academy). Some other degrees may be more beneficial to you depending on what you want to do in law enforcement. For example, if you eventually wish to work fraud-related cases, having a degree in Finance or Accounting would likely be an excellent background for you. If you wish to eventually work with computers, or even work cyber crime investigations, having a degree in Computer Science/MIS/IT would likely be much better in providing you the the appropriate computer-related background that would help with these positions.

So, why have a Criminal Justice degree in the first place?

This degree is best served for two types of people: (1) students who wish to work in LE and really have no interest in studying anything else (some of my CJ students decided to switch majors after finding out the Business or some other career field wasn't for them), and (2) current LEOs who are seeking a degree to satisfy department demands for promotion. For the first group, while many- if not most- departments will hire LEOs with any degree (so long as they have the degree), there are some that give special hiring preference (ex: pay increases) for those that have degrees deemed "position related" (these would include Criminal Justice, Criminology, Law Enforcement, Justice Administration, etc.). For the second group of already-working LEOs, many CJ programs will allow for Prior Learning Assessments, which is where a student may have their work experience evaluated by the college's Provost for transfer as credit (usually no more than 25% of the total credit hours) into their degree program. In addition, some CJ programs also allow students to transfer in POST training certification as credit and waive certain intro-level courses.

Isn't it often said that a CJ degree can limit one's career if one is found unsuitable for work in LE?

Yes. I don't know of too many corporate businesses that are actively seeking CJ majors, but with that said, many jobs do look for individuals with a bachelor's degree (regardless of what the major is in). A CJ degree would certainly limit one from certain jobs, as the degree teaches about the Criminal Justice System, but it would not be accurate to say that the ONLY jobs one could get would be in the Criminal Justice System. While I agree with the advice for students who wish to be LEOs may want to major in a more general field to increase their marketability outside of LE, simply having a degree is also beneficial for a number of positions in the private sector, and if a degree in CJ is all one is interested in studying, there is likely not a good reason to major in something else unless also interested in another field (ex: Business, Mass Communications, Journalism, etc.).

[Redman]

Excellent post ROS.

[Redman]

Can we make this a sticky?

[IndyGSDK9]

Agreed - excellent post. It gets tiresome seeing the CJ degree get knocked by some. I don't know many people working in the field they majored in, and some majored in pretty specific degrees that one would not consider marketable outside of that profession.

[BP348]

I read somewhere that something like 65%+ people have a job in something other than what their major was. Wonder if that's true?

[Valor55]

Excellent post. I stickied it and will close it to maintain the integrity of the thread.