Criminologist

“One of these things is not like the others.” For kids, the popular children’s song is a fun game for comparing shapes, colors and objects. For adults, however, it’s the perfect summary for a cool career: Criminologist.

Criminologists find patterns and study anomalies. You probably don’t sing songs about it, but you nonetheless spend your days as a Criminologist analyzing “one of these things” — criminals — that’s “not like the others”: law-abiding citizens.

A special kind of Psychologist, your job is two-fold: You find out why criminals commit crimes and, in so doing, help them re-enter society as productive citizens.

You may study people, reviewing their histories to find out why they became criminals. Or, you might study crimes, reviewing data about offenses, arrests and convictions in order to develop profiles about criminal archetypes. You might even study the criminal justice system, researching the psychological and social effects of crime and punishment. Always, however, you’re acting as a Detective of the mind, collecting information about crimes so that you can control and rehabilitate criminals.

Typically employed by research universities, prisons, law enforcement agencies, security companies and social justice groups, you might specialize in certain criminals — juveniles, for instance — or in certain crimes: homicide, for example.

A major benefit of your expertise is variety: Although you’ll spend most of your time compiling data and writing reports, you might also attend autopsies or help Police Officers interview suspects and examine crime scenes. You might even testify as an expert witness in criminal trials, or contribute analysis to TV news reports.