If you are interested in criminal justice, there are three main careers that most people go into--law enforcement, court-related jobs, and corrections.

Law Enforcement

The hottest criminal justice careers in law-enforcement right now are in forensics and crime scene investigation (C.S.I). To become a forensic scientist or a crime scene technician, you'll need a pretty good background in chemistry and the other sciences. The field is growing because advances made in DNA testing can often help investigators solve a crime with significant proof.

Court-Related

In the court-related criminal justice professions, your best bet to finding a good paying job is to work for the federal government. The pay-range for federal probation officers is $27,000 to $49,000 a year. The range for state positions is less, $22,000 to $32,000. Those who want to make the big bucks should work in the legal profession. Lawyers often make six figure salaries, but have to spend a number of years in school and generally must pass a tough state bar examination.

Corrections

If you want to work in corrections, the good news is that promotions in this criminal justice field can come quickly. The bad news is that working in corrections is tough, and there's a high job turnover rate. The secret to making money in corrections is to work in a large state. Corrections workers in Arkansas make as little as $13,000 per year, while those in New York can start out with $30,000 per year salaries.

Source
North Carolina Wesleyan College

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