Criminal Justice Degree: Worth It?

46 thoughts on “Criminal Justice Degree: Worth It?”

1. 👔 FREE 6 Step Guide To Choose Your Dream Career: https://bit.ly/3JLAEQh

2. I am from Bangladesh. Here i am working as a sub inspector in Bangladesh Police. I want to enroll a police related course in Us. Which will be better for me? After graduated i want to settle in Us.

3. Complete waste of time unless you just want the fancy piece of paper. If you want to be a cop or get into some sort of public safety org, get your GED. Thats it. They're not looking for the best or brightest.

4. In my country there is no such thing as a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, however I have a postgraduate diploma in criminology and a master's degree in criminal investigation and forensic sciences, it has been useful in my professional life (I’m a Criminal Lawyer), but definitely not I would ask for economic loans to study.

5. i’m currently in school majoring in business but idk i keep thinking about changing my major to criminal justice. im just so unsure on what i want to do fr. if i do change my major to cj , after graduating college i would like to join the military & become a military police officer

6. I have a BS in Criminal Justice from John Jay. I have no student loans and paid my tuition while attending school. I started as a Criminal Justice Coordinator, then became a paralegal, and now joining federal law enforcement. I live in NYC, so it was easy to find a job. I graduated with honors and had a lot of work experience before graduating.

7. I'm an OTR truck driver with an AS degree in Criminal Justice as well as an AS degree in Biotechnology. I never got a related job, making this a waste of time. If you're interested in forensics, they want a BS in biology or chemistry. I wasn't able to get the cop job, which is what I needed to get into homicide detective (my goal at the time).

8. It is if your going down a law enforcement path, I personally want to be a state trooper, With a degree in CJ youn can make more money and rank up faster, amazing what diplomatic can do

9. I'm majoring in CJ with a minor in chem, trying to be a crime scene technician

10. i honestly right after high school want to get into maybe FBI when i get my Bachelors degree in criminal justice

11. I graduated with a criminal justice degree back in the 1990s, and I can say that, for sure, it is a useless degree. Personally, I chose this degree because it was the quickest way out of college (academic rigor is not that high as far as this degree). I was on a full scholarship, so I had no student debt post university. Once I embarked on my "real" career after graduation, I achieved a graduate degree in foreign affairs. Today, per my career, my salary is in the $200s/yr, but that has zero to do with my having attained a criminal justice degree (I live in a city where the cost of living, and quality of life are pretty awesome, so my salary goes very far). In fact, I am in contact with a friend who graduated with me – with honors – and achieved the same criminal justice degree and this person is barely earning $70k/yr with a very consistent career track since graduating. Another classmate (same graduating class) turned immediately towards banking and finance post the criminal justice degree, and he makes close to $300k/yr. In the end, it is more what you do with your career and life after attaining your degree. But, in my opinion, by itself, criminal justice is a terrible degree as far as salary prospects go. That's my lived experience , anyway.

12. As someone who's has 2 criminal justice degrees AA and BS and worked in 3 different criminal justice professions, the You tuber is somewhat right in some areas but way off on most of his other points. First, based on his scoring, its only based on what he's read and some random study used to skew numbers, also known as evidence based research. The You tuber has never worked in this line of work and knows nothing from personal experience about criminal justice, sorry. This guy wouldn't last one day in the shoes of anyone working in criminal justice. An offender would eat him up alive as they would with most people with strong opinions. Most of today's individuals have strong negative opinions about those that work in criminal justice and are always calling for reform thinking they have all the answers. Regarding the pay, depending on where one works there are some entry level law enforcement jobs that have a yearly pay of over 150K with overtime, plus the benefits. When one adds up the pay and benefits, the base entry salary for anyone in criminal justice could be between 80-250k a year! As far as demand, thanks to the lies and the negative media press on law enforcement, criminal justice careers have become unpopular because the media paints criminal justice as bad. This has resulted in deterring younger people from pursuing careers in criminal justice. As such, when officers leave, mostly through retirement, a lot of vacancies are left. Some agencies have as high a 30%!! shortage of criminal justice positions. In fact, some agencies are offering signing bonuses in order to entice new employees, which was unheard of even 5 years ago. This shortage is not good for public safety. As far as competing with those that don't have degrees, those that don't have degrees do not tend to do well during an oral board and administrators prefer to hire those with 4 year degrees. Even when they do hire those with no degrees those staff are stuck in a line staff position because promotions require 4 yr degrees and masters for administrator positions like managers, captains, and chiefs. Now, he is right on not needing a specific criminal justice degree, however when agencies do require a degree they will accept other degrees as long as the degree is in one of the applied sciences such as Psych, poly-sci, Sociology, social work, anthropology and yes religious studies. To amend this video I say based on the current vacancies, the criminal justice jobs are booming. If a person is set on a criminal justice job, I recommend getting a criminal justice degree.

13. That's would I would do. I'd make it hella hard.

14. I have my BA in CJ and it’s worked out really well for me – but you have to know how to navigate the field and play the game

15. TCC. Totally worth it! (Tacoma Community College)

16. Can i work as a security Manager with a criminal justicia degree

17. paralegal is a good job with this degree

18. Criminal justice student here with a major in homeland security I highly recommend if you're interested in FAM,CBP,DEA,TSA ect…..

19. The age limits. Can a 50-year-old who is in shape become a probation officer? I looked online and it said the age limit was 37.

20. Absolutely. Tacoma Community College. 😘 Be my Criminal Justice degree.

21. Good information 🎉🎉🎉big ups

22. I have a clean record, never had an issue with authority or the government, never even been arrested so I am interested in criminal justice I took one year of it in college back in 2017, now I'm looking to go back to finish it off after my hiatus.

23. Government jobs low stress…well not if you’re military haha

24. I’m stuck between CJ & HR. I’m networking with the department of labor to be a case investigator. I’m just trying to figure out what suits a job like this better

25. Not everything is money 💰

26. I’m short, yes it was worth it for me. Job security.

27. I’m a correctional officer and my job pays for my degree. I’m wanting to eventually move up to a Lieutenant or Captain position.

28. what about one in criminology and justice studies?

29. Take my advice, use your credits and transfer to an accelerated program for a stem degree. Transferred my credits to a nursing program and on my way to becoming a nurse within a year

30. I am about to graduate with my degree in behavioral health. I wanted to do criminal Justice but I have a felony from drug use when I was young and so I can’t do anything in the police probation court or government fields. I can’t even get a law license in my state so just keep that in mind. Any criminal background will make this degree null and void.

31. Interns and employees do not have the same experience. I disagree that government jobs are low stress. It also depends on the job. LE, Corrections Officers, PO etc very stressful job.

32. Don’t do it. Most people do not pay you. After years in this field and multiple degrees in this field and I’m offered an entry level position. Unless you’re living in a high income state it’s not worth it because the work can be stressful, lots of work but little to no pay 🙁

33. When I was on my Universities wrestling team, 90% of the team was pursuing a CJ degree because of how easy it is. The ones who did not make it in the pro-athlete world went on to law school.

34. With a degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology. You can do this at ASU

    You can become a

    Police Officer 65-75k a year
    Banking (Fraud Department/Anti-money Laundering) 55-61k a year
    State Legislature 24k a year
    Justice of the Peace 80-100k a year
    Government Jobs 40k-120k a year (experience in that government field).

    Just depends on what field you want to break into.

35. Is it an easy Major though!? I’m trying to finish a degree ASAP. How hard is it going to be?

36. I just want to help clear some things. It really, really depends on the State. In my State police now start with $65,000+ and they come with a pay progression plan, which is a whopping $80k to 90k. Also most departments and probation or criminal justice careers prefer a criminal justice degree or related sociology degree. Lastly, some require criminal justice and no other degree and that's up to local municipalities in my State.

37. I’m interested in being a Freelance- get into more of a PI role …Example: Observe,collect/find/research and bring intel to police…is the AA in criminal justice a degree to go towards?Only reason I’d get degree is so cops take me seriously and I also know law- otherwise I probably could go undercover and dig around (without a ‘boss’) then report it to police (example- how many ‘true crime’ armchair journalists/investigators out there now…none of them have any degree

38. I’m taking CJ as a major because I want work for the fbi as profiler

39. Shane, not sure if you will answer this honestly but, why don't we (as Americans) put more criminals down? Why do we allow a revolving door of arrest, sentence, release?

40. I graduated in may 2020, right at the peak of the pandemic lol. There were no jobs for that whole 2020-21 year and I just felt devastated, I honestly lost my love/interest for CJ. I had been interning at NJ’s state police dept right before the pandemic. I couldn’t find jobs and people wouldn’t even give me a chance because I had no experience. It really sucks if I’m being honest. But now, 2 years after graduating, I’m trying to get back into it and see where I can just get in. I’ve been so confused these 2 years feeling like I wasted 4 years of college for nothing at times. I’m noticing I want to be involved with cyber crime but I’m hoping I don’t need a CS for that since I’m CJ 🙁 this video game across at a perfect time for myself, to remind me that I do want to find something in the field. I hope all us CJ majors end up doing what they love in this field, as it can be very very tough. Blessings to all.

41. So I want to be a Sheriff Officer but they require college credits too besides the h.s. diploma or g.e.d. So I was thinking about criminal justice for that school requirement.

42. So question if I want to do fbi do I need college

43. Totally not worth it couldn’t find a job had to go back to school to get my masters in another area… waste of time unless you wanna be a cop 👮‍♀️

44. That’s what she said

45. Almost finished my course for community justice, I think the knowledge is worth it while the rest is learned on the job.

46. im a 13 year old that always her whole life that wanted to be a investigator or a detective and i still wanna study criminology So bad so this helped so Much thank u

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