Home Criminal Profiler Criminal Profiler Programs in New Jersey

Criminal Profiler Programs in New Jersey

One of the prominent jobs in New Jersey has always been politics and criminal justice. Known for its dangerous cities like Camden, Newark and Atlantic City, it surprises many when they discover the chance of being a victim of violent crime remains relatively low in NJ. In fact, you only have a 1 in 392 chance of being a violent crime victim (Neighborhood Scout, 2017), significantly lower than the national average. These rates have slowly climbed down over the years, thanks to those who have pursued a criminal profiler degree in New Jersey.

However, Camden does remain one of the most dangerous cities in the US. While most violent crimes are seeing a decline, murder rates across the country, including Camden, have risen over the years. 2016 marked the largest murder rate for the city of around 77,000 residents since 2013, with 44 murders occurring (NJ.com, 2017).

If you want to take a stance against these rising crimes in New Jersey, you might want to consider a degree needed to become a criminal profiler.

Starting a New Jersey criminal profiler degree gives you access to forensic know-how, criminal psychology research and overall law training to help prepare you. The state is a great fit for those looking for a criminal justice job with their associate degree. There is even more opportunity for criminal justice professionals with a bachelor’s degree. Having a bachelor’s degree along with several years of experience or a master’s degree expands your career and salary options even further.


Check out the schools below if you’re interested in starting one of the many criminal profiler programs in New Jersey. Each one provides you with a unique education specific for certain areas of the criminal justice field.

 

New Jersey Criminal Justice Schools for Criminal Profiling

When going towards criminal profiling courses, with a possible career in the criminal justice field, you want to make sure you’re reassured in your decision. If you aren’t certain you’re dedicated enough to commit to the criminal profiler programs in New Jersey, it may make sense to start your education with an associate degree. This two-year program outlines general education courses alongside “concentration areas” that will help you understand the overall field of a specific field. Many New Jersey criminal justice schools, specifically local colleges, offer an associate program.

You can then advance your education to a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice, where you find a more specific field of interest to pursue a career in. Afterward, you can even dedicate yourself toward a master’s program or even attend law school. There are many different interesting fields and options for the degree needed to become a criminal profiler. Each position holds an essential duty to the criminal justice system.

 

Criminal Justice Careers Requiring an Associate Degree in New Jersey

Beginning your criminal profiler education in New Jersey may begin with an associate degree. This degree option is useful for many different career opportunities and advancements in education thereafter. If you plan to pursue a position such as an EMT, police officer, fire inspector or paralegal, most hiring locations only ask that you have an A.A. or A.S. criminal justice degree from New Jersey. This is an essential part of learning how to become a criminal profiler in New Jersey without having to attend certification classes or the police academy. This degree offers you an opportunity for an advanced education if you ever want to pursue some of the more lucrative careers in criminal justice with a bachelor degree.

This degree takes, on average, two years for most students to complete. However, if you can only pursue your degree part-time, you may find it takes three years to complete. If you must work full-time to pay for tuition costs along with cost-of-living, you can choose one of the many New Jersey schools offering online criminal justice courses to give you flexibility with your hours. This course can be specialized or focused in paralegal studies, police training or fire training or they may be generalized criminal justice areas, depending on your career path.

Common Courses Required for an Associate Degree in Criminal Profiling

  • CRJ 101 – Introduction to Criminal Justice This class introduces to you the criminal justice system and how it works. More specifically, you will learn the roles of each position within the criminal justice system and how they work together to create a fair and just system in the US.
  • CRJ 107 – Criminology You will study the causes and effects of crimes and the offenders who commit them. You will learn how to use research and analyze data given to you from previous case studies.
  • CRJ 113 – The Juvenile Justice Process This course reviews over the juvenile justice process. You will study how juvenile delinquency begins and corrective methods on how to get these kids back on track.

Criminal Justice Careers Requiring a Bachelor’s Degree in New Jersey

Criminal profiling courses get more difficult as you advance from an A.A. or A.S. criminal profiler education in New Jersey to a B.A. or B.S. degree. The beginning courses get you comfortable with the idea of becoming a criminal profiler and the laws governing the United States. As you enter towards the junior- and senior-level courses, you’ll begin to focus and specialize more within a specific field of interest. For example, a person pursuing a criminal psychology degree requires more psychology courses than someone looking for a job in forensics, which requires more analytical courses. This is where your criminal profiler degree become differential and more targeted for you to excel in that field of criminal justice, hence why major/minor programs are selected.

This degree requires students to get a four-year degree, where you will combine major-specific courses, electives helpful to the intended major, general education courses and an internship. This overall education gives students not only an education, but one targeted and with hands-on experience for the resume. It’s required for you to complete an internship if you’re pursuing this criminal justice degree from New Jersey criminal justice schools.

Common Courses Required for a Bachelor’s in Criminal Profiling

  • CJ 313 – Gender, Crime and Justice This course outlines issues faced in the criminal justice system regarding crime, justice and gender. You will learn, in detail, how crimes impact women differently from men and how sexual offenses are treated within the legislative and restorative justice system.
  • CJ 324 – Violent Crime Review over the nature of violent crimes in the US and how you can use criminal psychology and forensics to help identify a suspect. Learn how these offenders are then prosecuted, from the beginning of the trial to the sentencing.
  • CJ 344Q – Crime in Different Cultures This course is an intensive writing course that considers the many different cultures and their judicial systems. Learn how crimes differ from one nation to the next and compare them in different papers assigned by your professor.

Criminal Justice Careers Requiring a Master’s Degree in New Jersey

After establishing yourself in your New Jersey criminal profiler career, you may want to pursue an even higher education. Receiving your master’s in forensic psychology or administrative law, or even pursuing your doctorate in criminal forensics, may help boost your credentials and open more criminal justice careers up for you.

Pursuing this degree requires you to take very specific courses that help you understand your field more in-depth. Certain courses are specific to your major; however, you will also have to select a few electives. Most schools from New Jersey provide you with a school advisor that sits down with you and helps you plan your courses. You will discuss any course changes you want to apply to your semesters with your advisor beforehand. It will take, on average, between a year or two for you to finish the course. It takes 36 to 42 credits to complete, with the addition of either a thesis paper or comprehensive examination.

Want to learn more on how to eventually get your master’s of forensic psychology, administrative law or criminal profiling?

 

Criminal Profiler Jobs in New Jersey

Pursuing your degree through on-campus and online criminal justice courses may help strengthen your overall career goals. As you educate yourself further on how to become a criminal profiler in New Jersey and pursue higher degrees, you may open more job opportunities.

For those looking to pursue an associate degree, you may find a job as a fire inspector to be fulfilling and well-paying, with the average salary around $69,370 (BLS, 2022). This job entails that you inspect any building that has incurred fire damage and locates the starting point and cause of the fire. This position offers a great hand in aiding insurance claims and helping the criminal justice system with prosecuting offenders.

If you are pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you may find a job as a crime scene investigator, a field whose average salary is $103,960 (BLS, 2022). This position can get more specialized; for example, you can specialize in something like ballistics or blood splatter. CSI offers a wide variety of positions and can give you an opportunity to work first-hand with the evidence, processing it for any clues and definitive answers.

2022 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary and employment figures for New Jersey contained here reflect national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed November 2023.

Check out the schools below to get information on each school offering criminal justice courses in New Jersey.

Online programs may not be available in all areas.