For the past few decades, jobs in many different professional fields have been lost due to either outsourcing or changes in need due to technological advancement. While this has happened in many fields, one field that this is very unlikely to happen in is criminal justice. Criminal justice jobs include becoming a police officer, security guard, fraud investigator, or a wide range of other positions that will always be in demand. For people that are looking to start a career in criminal justice, getting a degree in criminal justice from either a two or four-year college would be a great option. To make themselves even more marketable, there are several minors that a criminal justice student should pursue in order to get a better education and be even more in demand with employers.
Law
One minor that could be very helpful when looking to pursue a degree in criminal justice would be to minor in law. Criminal justice professionals main task is to enforce the law. In order to enforce the law, they will first need to understand the law. When going through some Law courses, a student will get a far better understanding of what the law is, why certain laws were created, and how the law can be enforced legally. This will help to give any criminal justice major a far better understanding of their job.
Psychology
The second minor that could be helpful for a person getting a major in criminal justice would be a minor in Psychology. Psychology is the study of the brain and how people act and make decisions. Police officers will need to spend a significant amount of their time working with other police officers, victims, and criminals. This means that they will be dealing with a wide range of personalities, which can be difficult to understand. The minor in Psychology will allow the person to take a wide range of courses that will help them to better diagnose, understand, and deal with the wide range of mental issues that someone will be dealing with when working in the criminal justice field.
Finance or Accounting
The third minor to consider is to get a minor in either finance or accounting. The amount of criminal justice professionals that work in white collar crimes is growing substantially. A basic understanding of finance and accounting will help a police officer or detective understand or detect some of the more complex white collar crimes. Because of this, those that have the finance or accounting background as part of their education will be far more likely to land a job.
Foreign Language
The amount of diversity in the country is continuing to increase, particularly in major cities. Because of this, a person in criminal justice will be far more marketable if they can communicate with more people. Getting a minor in Spanish, or another foreign language, will give the simple background and understanding of the language that will make it possible to communicate with more people in their community.
