Criminal Profiling: the online encyclopedia

Job Description:

     The field of Criminology was spun-off from the Chicago school of Sociology, it deals with criminality and criminal behavior. Criminologists conduct research to analyze this behavior (called deviancy) and the factors that cause this behavior (whether it's psychological, social, etc.) Criminologists evaluate society and governments and their effectiveness at fighting crime and rehabilitating criminals. They also evaluate the analysis of evidence, how effective certain investigative methods are, and the effectiveness of various types of rehabilitation programs.

Besides analyzing criminal behavior they analyze abnormal social behaviors that can cause deviant behavior. (Examples include: fetishism, sexual paraphilias, etc.) Criminologists are usually found as college professors who teach classes on victimology, corrections, juvenile justice, law enforcement administration, theoretical criminology, and similar criminal justice related courses.

Besides being a criminologist, a degree in criminology can lead to other careers. Here are some career paths related to the field: (This list was taken from the criminologycareers.about.com)

• Counseling

• Corrections

• Diversion programming

• Criminal investigation

• Forensics

• Financial and insurance fraud

• Intervention programming

• Judicial/courts

• Medical investigation

• Law enforcement

• Rehabilitation

• University research

• Psychopathology specialist

• Private investigation

• Federal agencies (being a crime analyst or criminal behavior consultant)

• Retail investigation

• Women’s studies investigation

• Teaching