How to become a criminologist

Do you sit watch murder mystery wondering, why did the murderer do it instead of who the murderer is? Then you should give the field of criminology a try. Criminology is a study of understanding criminal minds and their psychology behind the murder. Analyzing their thought process can be a tedious job, but not impossible.

Education

Basic education till 10th shall be followed by an arts background to get an understanding of psychology in general. In case, you have a liking for science, then getting into science will help you attain the critical thinking you need for this field.

Bachelor’s

The next step is graduation. Based on your choices you can opt for B Sc. Or a BA in psychology. Both the courses equally focus on the societal aspects, which is a necessary part of understanding criminal behavior in contrast to society and its behavior.

Some of the institutes you can apply to for BSc. Psychology:

• St. Xavier’s college Mumbai.
• Christ University Bengaluru
• Gargi College New Delhi.

The eligibility criteria include: completing 10+2 from a recognized board with 50%, passing in all subjects, and science background.

For BA psychology:

• KJ Somaiya College Mumbai.
• Kristu Jayanti College, Bangalore.
• Kamala Nehru College New Delhi.

The eligibility criteria include: completing 10+2 from a recognized board with 50%, passing in all subjects, preferably arts background.

Master’s

Once graduate, apply for a master’s course in criminology. This can be your final step into entering the careers of criminology unless you decide to do a Ph.D.

Some college you can look into:

• University of Madras
• University of Lucknow
• Tata Institute of Social science. Mumbai.

Eligibility for the course includes completing UG from a known institute with a minimum of 50%. The UG shall be completed in the related subject. In this case, Psychology.

Skills

• Observation and analysis: minor change in the surroundings and/or behavior has an impact. To understand the criminal’s nature a criminologist needs to be observant. If a criminal is constantly obsessing over a certain idea but is putting it up indirectly, it could tell a lot about his reason to commit the crime. For example, criminal cross-questioning the psychologist about their physical appearance will open a space for analysis and bring out possibilities of the criminal beings a sexual predator.
• Sociology and anthropology: the whole Idea of criminology revolves around understating why criminal behavior different from the rest of the people. For such reasons, a criminologist must know social behaviors, that could cause a trigger or disrupt them, how can it be fixed, what other impacts does it have, etc.  
• Communication: talking to your subject can reveal information that might be unexpected. Often there are hidden clues dropped by the criminal. Communication with such masterminds is often key to their thought process. Beware! They might be manipulative.
• Reaction analysis: if you ever invested your time into watching crime shows like “The Mentalist” you’ll notice their skill of analyzing reaction. If a criminal can manipulate you, you can manipulate them too. their reactions can justify their actions and compel them to talk about their reason to commit crimes.
• Problem-solving: Critical thinking is necessary to solve crimes. Now, this is important not just for detectives but psychologists too. when everything seems like a mystery visible patterns could help make the job seems less tedious. This is also helpful in data analysis.

Career Options

The number of crimes isn’t decreasing, hence the field of criminal psychology is seeing growth. Some of the interesting fields you can get into include:

• Private Detectives and investigators: PI and investigators are people who possess the skills to solve a crime. This includes the use of critical thinking to get proof to prove the crime and finding the culprit.
• Forensics: this is more of a technical job. they use scientific methods to conduct a one-time analysis of clues related to crime. This analysis helps in solving crimes.
• Analyst: They can be specialized people like scene analysts who are specially trained to identify clues at a crime scene.

Conclusion

Criminology is an exciting career opportunity only if you have the skills to comprehend and solve crimes or use scientific approaches to do the same. The field demands a good memory for education as well as the professional world. If you have the passion, then go for it!

Also Read:

7 Basic Skills needed for all jobs.