Criminalistics and Criminal Science

What Criminalistics and Criminal Science Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, criminalistics and criminal science majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Criminalistics and Criminal Science Majors

Criminalistics and Criminal Science majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Skills for Criminalistics and Criminal Science Majors

criminalistics and criminal science majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Abilities for Criminalistics and Criminal Science Majors

A major in criminalistics and criminal science will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

What Can You Do With a Criminalistics and Criminal Science Major?

People with a criminalistics and criminal science degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers	7.0%	$61,380
Police Identification and Records Officers	4.5%	$81,920

How Much Do Criminalistics and Criminal Science Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $65,400 to $85,020 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to criminalistics and criminal science. This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Criminalistics and Criminal Science

Some careers associated with criminalistics and criminal science require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to criminalistics and criminal science have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	6.9%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	10.0%
Some College Courses	1.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	17.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	14.2%
Master’s Degree	32.1%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	4.9%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.9%
Doctoral Degree	14.7%

Is a Degree in Criminalistics and Criminal Science Worth It?

The median salary for a criminalistics and criminal science grad is $72,390 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 81% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $649,800 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Criminalistics and Criminal Science

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to criminalistics and criminal science.

Major	Number of Grads
Criminal Justice Studies	46,895
Criminal Justice	31,754
Criminal Justice & Police Science	20,976
Other Corrections & Criminal Justice	3,988
Corrections	3,042
Criminal Justice and Corrections, General	1,323
Securities Services Administration/Management	797
Security & Loss Prevention Services	685
Law Enforcement Investigation & Interviewing	277
Corrections Administration	143
Juvenile Corrections	97
Protective Services Operations	19
Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operations	0

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.