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Research Criminal Justice Careers & Paralegal Studies

Everything you need to know about today's fastest growing criminal justice and paralegal careers,
including online criminal justice degree resources.

Criminal Justice Careers: What Is Criminal Justice?

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We see criminal justice careers every day on TV and in movies, but its fictional portrayal is often very different from its day-to-day reality on the streets, in court and in prison. Criminal Justice careers can be organized into three categories, each one playing a distinct role in our society.

  • Legal Careers—In the legal field, lawyers—and those supporting them— work in the court system to decide on the guilt or innocence of accused people or corporations.
  • Law Enforcement Careers—Policing deals with crime prevention and the apprehension of criminals.
  • Corrections Careers—The corrections system punishes and/or reforms criminals, and after they finish serving their sentences, helps keep them from recommitting crimes and reintegrates them back into society.

Get salary information for the most popular criminal justice jobs.

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Criminal Justice Careers: Legal Career Center

While lawyers are the highest profile members of the legal world, you don't have to go to law school to work in the legal field. Whether you want to be a paralegal, legal assistant or legal secretary, you'll find answers to all of your education and career questions here.

Paralegal Career Center

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The paralegal field is one of the fastest growing in the legal industry. As lawyers learn that they can find competent paralegals to do much of their work while saving the client money, the paralegal field continues to grow with no end in sight.

Find out if a challenging and dynamic paralegal career is right for you.

Paralegal Industry Information

Paralegal Education

More Articles of Interest for Potential Paralegals

Learn more about paralegal training and careers.

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Other Legal Professional Careers

There are other legal career options besides becoming a paralegal. Here are some of the most popular career choices:

Criminal Justice Careers: Law Enforcement Career Center

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Policing includes both crime prevention and law enforcement. Whether you want to work as a police officer, a forensic scientist, as a federal law enforcement agent, or a private investigator, find out the education requirements, salary and career path for jobs in our law enforcement career center.

Visit our Criminal Justice Degree Resources to read about online criminal justice degrees, find out what you'll study, learn about criminal justice degree options, and more.

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Criminal Justice Careers: Forensics and Criminology

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Those who work in forensics and criminology help law enforcement agents prevent and solve crimes. Criminologists study crime, criminals and criminal behavior, and corrections.

Forensic scientists use science to help solve crimes. Whether it's ballistics, computer forensics or DNA analysis, forensic scientists are always on the cutting edge the most recent scientific trends. There are other fields of forensics to consider as well: forensic psychology is the intersection between psychology and the legal system, while criminal psychology is the study of the criminal mind.

Learn about career opportunities in forensics and criminology:

Or visit our Forensic Science Career Center for more information on forensics education and careers.

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Criminal Justice Careers: Corrections Career Center

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Once criminals go to jail the work doesn't stop...it's just beginning. Criminals are in jail to pay their debt to society, but there is a lot of work that happens in jail to reform criminals and make sure they don't recommit crimes once they're released.

Learn more about corrections career options:

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Criminal Justice Home
Paralegal Articles & Resources | Find Criminal Justice Schools

The Witness Stand:
Legal Community News

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Keep up with the latest criminal justice and paralegal news, gossip and trends.

Read these recent posts on our Witness Stand.

>> More Criminal Justice and Paralegal News.

Fun with Criminal Justice


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Public Enemies: Take this quiz to find out your Criminal Justice IQ.



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Criminal Justice in Film: How many of these movies have you seen?



Criminal Justice Student Resources

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Work Study Programs

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Useful Links

Spotlight Schools

Corinthian - Everest University Online

Everest offers online paralegal courses and criminal justice programs. You can also study at any of their 75 campuses across the U.S.


Kaplan Online - Kaplan University

Kaplan University offers a broad selection of paralegal degrees and criminal justice programs designed for working adults.


South University (Online)

South University works with your lifestyle allowing you to get the criminal justice or paralegal degree you need in the time you have right now.