Employers look for candidates who have demonstrated responsibility, creativity and logical thinking. Criminologists must know how to design and construct sound research projects. Written examinations are required in a number of states to license criminologists, so check with your local law-enforcement agency for requirements in your state and county. Criminologists become police officers, FBI agents, and state medical examiners more often than any other careers. A number use their psychological training as springboards to careers as therapists, psychologists and counselors.
Criminology is a relatively modern science, and emerged on two levels simultaneously.
National interest in the cause and effects of criminal behavior sparked the FBI to commission a number of studies of federal crimes and criminals in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the same time, economic and political pressure led urban police departments to commission studies on a much smaller level. The successes of these two endeavors in preventing crime became evident immediately. Criminologists face much the same demand as sociologists in general. Police departments are loathe to lay off street officers compared with easily replaceable criminologists.