People who want to work in criminal justice but aren’t interested in the more gruesome aspects of the field should look into criminology. Criminology is a philosophical and sociological field that investigates crime, its effects on society and the law, and how criminals think and act. Criminal justice careers are highly specialized, and criminology jobs can be found in a variety of settings, including police departments, universities, and psychological practices.
Cesare Lombroso, a doctor who worked in Italian prisons in the mid-nineteenth century, is credited with establishing criminology as a science. Many of Dr. Lombroso’s theories were based on earlier studies in phrenology, the belief that a person’s physical characteristics cause certain behaviors or characteristics. Dr. Lombroso founded the Italian School of Criminology, which attracted a number of notable students who contributed to his theories or developed their own, resulting in the wide range of criminological approaches that exist today.
People seeking criminology jobs must have a degree in criminology or a related criminal justice field, which can be obtained through a variety of colleges and universities as a 4-year or more degree. A criminologist in training will learn the history of criminology as well as the many and complex theories of criminology, many of which are contradictory and some of which are interconnected, during the education required for criminology jobs. According to one theory, criminals become criminals as a result of their childhood exposure to crime. According to another theory, a criminal can become a criminal living in run-down conditions.
Working in law enforcement agencies as part of a team of psychologists who analyze suspects in major crimes is the most common criminology job. Hospitals and prisons are two other common locations for criminology jobs, where a criminologist may be able to conduct research on patients and inmates. A criminologist with a PhD or higher may also teach or conduct research at a university. It is also not uncommon for governments to hire individual criminologists to work on their cases, and they may assemble a team for a single case or hire a criminologist on a permanent basis.