Criminal Justice Personnel Opportunities

Criminal Justice Personnel: Opportunities

Law Enforcement & intelligence support careers

Under this category, there are field that local agencies support, and they include county, city, or state law agencies while others are under federal support as discussed below; however not all are discussed since they are numerous. Examples of the Federal Agencies are:

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

The agency recruits agents to carry-out investigations on crimes, analyze business verifications for proofs of professional crimes, provide undercover duties, track stolen properties across the state lines and gather evidence of intelligence. The agents are particularly responsible for investigating crimes such as copyright encroachment, civil rights infringement, organized offenses like kidnappings. Careers available include Intelligent Analyst (present in all federal agencies), Evidence Technician and Program analyst. Others are Computer Forensics Analyst, Forensic Psychologist, and Forensic Analyst/Crime Lab positions that are also present in the secret service bureau (Cole et al, 2012).

Drug Enforcement Agency is responsible for controlling of illegal drugs. Hence, DEA agent can be assigned to carry-out investigations on suspected drug trafficking, trail U.S drug-related activities or spy on a drug trafficking ring abroad (Cole et al, 2012).

U.S Marshals who are responsible for almost all federal law enforcement actions, and are authorized to arrest federal renegades. They are also charged with protection of the federal judiciary and moving federal detainees.

Under Immigration and Neutralization Services, employment opportunities include immigration inspectors, criminal investigators, and border and immigration agents. Their responsibilities include patrolling the borders, controlling illegal logging, interview and inspect passports of individuals seeking admission to the U.S.A and at times they can be assigned to detect smuggling of illegal drugs (Cole et al, 2012).

U.S. Custom, inspectors maintain control of incoming baggage and merchandise from vehicles, trains, vessels and aircrafts. The duty is to prevent unauthorized entry of contraband in the country.

Bureau of Firearms, Explosives, Alcohol, and Tobacco, employ agents to inspect defiance of federal laws regarding tobacco, alcohol, explosives and firearms. Other duties may include customs fraud, narcotics and child pornography etc.

Other positions under local support include; Dispatcher, Computer Forensic, Police Academy Instructor, Crime Prevention Specialist, Forensic Technician, Crime Scene Technician, Crime Scene Support, Law Enforcement Intelligent Analyst and Crime Analyst (Cole et al, 2012).

Human Service and Victim Support Opportunities

Under this category, opportunities available for a Criminal Justice Personnel are a Social Worker, Child Protective Service Worker, Subsistence Abuse Counselor, Juvenile Residential Treatment, Juvenile Probation Officer, Social Service Worker, Witness/Victim Support Worker, Juvenile Detention Officer and victim Services Administrator, which can be present in court, private and non-profit agencies.

Court and Legal support Opportunities

The positions are as follows: Court Clerk who is in charge of public relations, revenue collections, and court procedure and records. Law Clerk, facilitate prosecutors and judges with crafting and evaluating memoranda, regulations, and other legal files. Court Administrator, responsible for; hiring and training personnel, supervising court calendar and managing case flow. Other fields are court Liaison, court interpreter, Jury Selection Psychologist, victim advocate, meditation specialist, special advocate for juvenile, Court Reporter etc (O’Connor, 2011).

Federal

Deputy U.S Marshal

Special agent

Investigative Specialist

Special Agent

Detention Enforcement Officer

Aviation Enforcement Officer

Federal Police Officer

Border Patrol Agent

Immigration Enforcement Officer

Federal Air Marshal

Airport Screener

Local

Deputy Sherriff

Park Police

Police Officer

Airport and Campus police

State Highway Patrol

Animal Control officer

Alcohol Regulation Enforcement Officer

Fish and Game Warden Officer

Civil Code Enforcement Officer

Correctional Agency careers

Correctional Officer

Healthcare Advisor

Probation Officer

Prisoner counselor

Prisoner Reentry Advisor

Probation officer

Psychologist

Parole Officer

Correctional Educator

Correctional Administrator, whose role is to train staff, and manage prison operations.Case Manager, whose responsibility includes evaluation of inmate progress and behaviors, counsel prisoners, and assist the inmates in preparation for discharge from custody.

Prisoner Classification Officer, who interviews prisoners, gathers criminal and social records and provides proposals for rehabilitation services.

Criminal justice personnel have wider employment opportunities that extend to managing and operating justice programs such as Domestic Violence Prevention/ Awareness Programs to research employment, i.e. crafting and transforming justice policies. In most cases, the criminal justice careers are in to police, correction, probation and security groupings (O’Connor, 2011).

Detectives and Police Officers

Detectives are in charge of evidence collection, when a crime occurs. They examine the scene, analyze documents, conduct interviews, and arrest suspects. In many cases, they specialize in investigating certain kinds of crime like fraud and homicide. Detectives normally perform their duties in ordinary clothes and frequently work on irregular hours (Harr & Hess, 2010).

The categories are remarkably familiar compared to other criminal Justice personnel. The works of regular police officers differ, according to the area covered by the municipality for which they work. For instance, in a small police force, one officer can handle many aspects of the employment, i.e. from patrol to paperwork, while where police forces are larger, the officers tend to specialize.

They can patrol using vehicles, motorbikes, horsebacks, etc. The job as a police officer is riskier as they have to respond to emergencies. Though, not all jobs are dangerous as some can be assigned to courtrooms, to keep order. The officers’ responsibilities are to keep records about their duties, and write thorough reports in case the court needs them to testify (Harr & Hess, 2010).

Probation Officers

The officers are responsible for supervisions of individuals who are serving probation sentence. The field, specialized in probation, is in charge of employing of correctional treatment specialist, probation and juvenile officers. The officers specialize in the matter concerning people under probation, juveniles, or people serving a jail term. Their duties include meeting with the groups either at their correctional centers or homes. The officers have to make reports concerning the offenders’ progress, give update on conformity with the terms of the verdict. The correctional treatment specialists and probation attend to criminal offenders, and some can be dangerous. Consequently, their services can be required in high-crime areas.

Correctional Officers and Security guards

The positions require a high school education and blameless conduct while a college degree is optional, unless it is a supervisory job. Greater numbers of correctional officers work as guards at federal and state prisons. Security guards deployed in shopping malls, industry sites, private properties, etc. to prevent theft-related acts.

Entry level salaries

Law Enforcement

The entry-level for state jobs begins at around $39,500; however some agencies like U.S marshals can start out at $46,000. The starting pay for State jobs is about $34,000 on average and varies from 3,000 to 5,000, in the positive direction. For county jobs, it is at around $29,000 and cities vary from $31,000 to $41,000 depending on the city. The figures are averaged, and most agencies will prefer to start one on a low pay, then followed by a bigger pay. Promotions may also count on ones salary; therefore, one has to work extra hard to get promotions (O’Connor, 2011).

The Courts

Court Supported jobs, such as parole and probation, have widely varied salaries. Start out pay varies from $30,000 to $40,000. However, entry levels pay for federal positions range from $40,000 to $55,000 considering ones experience. Besides having a college degree, Pre-employment in an investigation or corrections duty is the best for preparation (O’Connor, 2011). College interns are also permanently hired judiciary branch of criminal justice system. This is due to the assumption that anyone ready to accept working in such a chaotic and confusing environment is worth keeping.

Corrections

Correctional entry pay level varies depending on the state. The average is about $33,000, nationally, with some states like Arkansas beginning with fairly low pay while states like New York starting highly. However, here one expects to receive regular salary increment every year together with easy-earn merits increases until one is receiving about $40,000 or above by the 5th year. Because of higher rates on labor turnover, promotions are particularly frequent under this sector (O’Connor, 2011).

Employment opportunities under the criminal justice have several fringe benefits that include: equipments, a take-home vehicle, clothing, tuition reimbursement, allowances, education incentive pay, paid holidays and vacations, a pension plan, family benefits, insurance, medical leave, and opportunity to undertake early promotional exam (Harr & Hess, 2010).

For one to maximize income possibilities, s/he has to opt for bigger agencies that have several job titles particularly those that are civilians. Another factor is the size of cities, i.e. bigger cities have a better pay package than smaller cities (Harr & Hess, 2010).

O’Connor, T. (2011). “Employment in Criminal Justice” MegaLinks in Criminal Justice. Retrieved from http://www.drtomoconnor.com/employ.htm

Harr, J. S. & Hess, K. M. (2010). Careers in criminal justice and related fields: from internship to promotion. Australia; Belmont, CA; Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Print.

Cole, F. G. Smith, C. E. & DeJong, C. (2012). The American System of Criminal Justice. Wadsworth Cengage learning. Print.