Pittsburgh Business Daily

What's different between a criminology degree and a criminal justice degree?

I think people might have criminology confused with criminal justice when I ask about them. Does a bachelors in criminology have a lot of jobs or all the jobs in criminal justice?

Public Comments

1. Not much difference. They both lead to working with criminals or budding crims.
2. about 10,000 per year
3. Theres really no difference at all.
4. The two majors are the same, they are just using different names for the major. Both emphasize on sociology, and being in criminal justice I know that other schools have other names for the degree such as "justice studies", "criminology", "criminal justice" The best way to find out what is best for you is to ask the school where many graduates end up, and to look at the courses required for the degree, and if it is a respectible place to obtain the degree.
5. Yes there is a slight difference. Criminology is geared more towards the science aspect of crime. You would go into criminology if you were more interested in the lab work part of the police station. For example the characters on CSI would have gone into Criminology rather than Criminal Justice. In Criminology the focus is on science and math where Criminal Justice is something you would take if you wanted to be a flat out Police officer or work in a part of crime that doesn't involve science such as a border patrol agent, legal investigator, police officer.