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Is criminology useful to be a criminal lawyer/prosecutor ?
I consider to be a prosecutor when I grow up, I am very interested in Psychology and criminals etc... So I wanted to major in Criminilogy in college but I ask a relative and she said that I can't take criminology to be a prosecutor. Is she wrong? I hope so... #Law #Criminology #Prosecutor #Lawyer #career-details
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Kim’s Answer
Hi Camille!
You can really major in just about anything in undergrad, as you have to go on to law school to become an attorney. I always recommend two things to people who want to be attorneys.
1. Think about what you want to do if you end up not being a lawyer, and major in that. This is because there are a lot more people graduating law school than there are jobs for them. I don't want to discourage you, but you need to be aware of this. Law school is expensive, and you need to be able to get a job as a lawyer to pay back the loans!
2. Consider the sciences. There is lots more to being a prosecutor than simply understanding crime and criminals. For example, let's say you are prosecuting a DWI homicide case. You should understand the basics of lighting, weather, tire tread, road surface, reaction times, etc. There is a lot of science in many crimes. There is also a growing need for understanding technology.
Whatever you major in, you will have the opportunity for electives. Get involved in speech/debate, and take a logic course!
Best of luck!
You can really major in just about anything in undergrad, as you have to go on to law school to become an attorney. I always recommend two things to people who want to be attorneys.
1. Think about what you want to do if you end up not being a lawyer, and major in that. This is because there are a lot more people graduating law school than there are jobs for them. I don't want to discourage you, but you need to be aware of this. Law school is expensive, and you need to be able to get a job as a lawyer to pay back the loans!
2. Consider the sciences. There is lots more to being a prosecutor than simply understanding crime and criminals. For example, let's say you are prosecuting a DWI homicide case. You should understand the basics of lighting, weather, tire tread, road surface, reaction times, etc. There is a lot of science in many crimes. There is also a growing need for understanding technology.
Whatever you major in, you will have the opportunity for electives. Get involved in speech/debate, and take a logic course!
Best of luck!
Updated
Jyoti’s Answer
Hi Camille, great question. Criminology is a great course to take if you're interested in pursuing a career studying crime as the simple definition of criminology is the study of crime. If you want to pursue a career in law as an attorney, then you can certainly focus on a degree in criminology but a more common undergraduate/Bachelor's Degree path for a future law student is in political science, or even philosophy due to the debating, questioning, and argumentative nature of the field. I recommend that you visit a local state's attorney's office to do an internship or a job shadow experience and while there you could ask the attorneys that you meet what their undergraduate degree was in and how they think it helped their law school pursuit or their careers overall. Good luck to you!
Thank you so much for answering my question!
Camille