Major Decisions and Career Attractiveness among Criminal Justice Students

Abstract

Criminal justice programs have grown dramatically in recent decades. Yet, relatively little is known about what motivates students to choose criminal justice as a major and what their career goals are after graduation. In light of current uprisings and demands for criminal justice reform, this study investigates the relationship between undergraduate students' personal characteristics and the criminal justice careers to which they are attracted. Findings can inform criminal justice curriculum development and student retention, as well as recruitment and hiring practices for criminal justice agencies.

Keywords:

• Criminal justice careers
• characteristics of criminal justice majors
• career attractiveness in criminal justice

Notes

1 For simplicity, we refer to this group of students (criminal justice majors and those who intend to major in criminal justice) as “criminal justice majors” throughout the rest of the paper.