Forensic Science vs. Criminal Justice Degrees: Which is Best for Future Detectives?

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Foren­sic sci­ence degrees con­cen­trate on the tech­ni­cal and sci­en­tif­ic aspects of crime scene inves­ti­ga­tion, such as DNA analy­sis, bal­lis­tics, and evi­dence col­lec­tion. In con­trast, crim­i­nal jus­tice degrees empha­size the social sci­ence aspects, includ­ing crim­i­nol­o­gy, vic­ti­mol­o­gy, legal sys­tems, and inves­tiga­tive techniques.
• Both degrees pre­pare you for careers in law enforce­ment, but with dif­fer­ent ori­en­ta­tions. Foren­sic sci­ence grad­u­ates may pur­sue roles like crime scene inves­ti­ga­tor or foren­sic ana­lyst, while crim­i­nal jus­tice grad­u­ates might become police detec­tives, crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tors, or inter­nal affairs officers.
• The deci­sion between foren­sic sci­ence and crim­i­nal jus­tice should be based on your inter­ests and career goals. If you pre­fer the sci­en­tif­ic and tech­ni­cal side of inves­ti­ga­tions, foren­sic sci­ence is the bet­ter fit. If you’re more inter­est­ed in the legal, social, and psy­cho­log­i­cal aspects of crime, crim­i­nal jus­tice is the appro­pri­ate choice. Intern­ships and field expe­ri­ences can help clar­i­fy your decision.

As a detec­tive, it’s imper­a­tive to be high­ly famil­iar with crim­i­nol­o­gy, vic­ti­mol­o­gy, and inves­tiga­tive tech­niques. It’s also essen­tial to under­stand the process­es of data col­lec­tion and analy­sis, the chain of cus­tody, and tac­tics used to inter­view sus­pects. A high­er edu­ca­tion com­bined with detec­tive train­ing and expe­ri­ence can help you devel­op these skills and be a more effec­tive detective.

But, how do you get there?

First, the edu­ca­tion­al require­ments for detec­tives vary. For some, a foren­sic sci­ence degree is the best answer for meet­ing these require­ments. It gives you insights into the “nuts and bolts” of inves­ti­ga­tions, from ana­lyz­ing phys­i­cal evi­dence at a crime scene to using lab­o­ra­to­ry tests to deter­mine a suspect’s iden­ti­ty using DNA analy­sis. On the oth­er hand, a crim­i­nal jus­tice degree dives deep into the caus­es of crime, crime con­trol the­o­ries, and the legal under­pin­nings of investigations. 

In oth­er words, both degrees can be extreme­ly valu­able! Below, you’ll find a detailed com­par­i­son of the best degrees for detec­tives that will help you plan your career path.

Relat­ed:

• Top Schol­ar­ships for Crim­i­nal Jus­tice and Crim­i­nol­o­gy Students
• Best Online Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Degree Bachelor’s Programs
• Fastest Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Degree Online Bachelor’s Programs
• Most Afford­able Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Degree Bach­e­lor Programs

Understanding Forensic Science

A foren­sic sci­ence degree focus­es on col­lect­ing and ana­lyz­ing crime scene evi­dence as an inves­tiga­tive tool. For exam­ple, foren­sic sci­ence pro­grams can teach you how to col­lect fin­ger­prints and hair sam­ples and exam­ine blood spat­ter evi­dence. Like­wise, you might learn how to con­duct bal­lis­tic analy­ses, review dig­i­tal data like phone records, and gain an improved under­stand­ing of the chain of custody.

You’re like­ly to take the fol­low­ing cours­es in addi­tion to the broad top­ics not­ed above:

A law enforce­ment edu­ca­tion focused on foren­sic sci­ence can help you pur­sue many detec­tive-relat­ed careers:

• Crim­i­nal Investigator
• Crime Scene Investigator
• Police Detec­tive
• Arson Expert

In each career list­ed above, you’ll play an inte­gral part in inves­ti­ga­tions. The com­bi­na­tion of expe­ri­ence as a police offi­cer and your knowl­edge of foren­sic sci­ence tech­niques will make you an invalu­able mem­ber of the team.

Relat­ed:

• Career Paths With a Foren­sic Sci­ence Degree in Law Enforcement
• Best Col­leges with Foren­sic Sci­ence Majors
• Top Online Foren­sic Sci­ence Degree Bachelor’s Programs
• Most Afford­able Online Foren­sic Sci­ence Degree Bach­e­lor Programs

Understanding Criminal Justice

Crim­i­nal jus­tice focus­es on the sci­ence of crime. You’ll learn broad con­cepts like the caus­es of crime, how police respond to crime and var­i­ous crime pre­ven­tion meth­ods, too. Like­wise, you’ll learn about pol­i­cy issues, cor­rec­tions, juve­nile delin­quen­cy, and the role of effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion in policing.

If you choose this path, you’ll take cours­es like those out­lined below:

Crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­grams are con­sid­ered among the best degrees for detec­tives, and for good rea­son. The focus on prac­ti­cal polic­ing skills and a broad under­stand­ing of the law are essen­tial in per­form­ing every­day inves­tiga­tive work. With this degree, you might pur­sue any of the fol­low­ing detec­tive career paths:

• Police Detec­tive
• Crim­i­nal Investigator
• Inter­nal Affairs Investigator
• Pri­vate Detective

This is just a sam­pling of detec­tive careers you might pur­sue, though. Law enforce­ment careers are extreme­ly var­ied from one agency to the next.

Comparative Analysis: Forensic Science vs. Criminal Justice

In addi­tion to the basic infor­ma­tion pro­vid­ed about these degrees above, it’s use­ful to see a detailed foren­sic sci­ence vs crim­i­nal jus­tice cur­ricu­lum com­par­i­son to help you decide which is more appro­pri­ate for your spe­cif­ic career goals.

How these degrees pre­pare you for work as a detec­tive might be best under­stood with a cou­ple of examples.

Let’s assume you get a foren­sic sci­ence degree as part of your police detec­tive train­ing. In the course of inves­ti­gat­ing a crime like a mur­der, you can rely on the crime scene inves­ti­ga­tion tech­niques you acquired to devel­op the­o­ries as to what hap­pened, such as how the vic­tim was mur­dered, when the offense occurred, poten­tial mur­der weapons, and the like.

In this case, your tech­ni­cal sci­ence skills help inform your inves­ti­ga­tion and pro­vide direc­tion for pur­su­ing pos­si­ble sus­pects. Then, once a sus­pect is iden­ti­fied, you’ll have first-hand knowl­edge of the evi­dence against them to work toward an arrest in the case.

If, on the oth­er hand, your crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion edu­ca­tion is in crim­i­nal jus­tice, you’ll have a dif­fer­ent set of skills to employ through­out the inves­ti­ga­tion. For exam­ple, crim­i­nal jus­tice degrees heav­i­ly empha­size the role of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, build­ing trust, and inter­view­ing tech­niques. Armed with these skills, you will be adept at glean­ing infor­ma­tion from vic­tims, wit­ness­es, and poten­tial sus­pects to build the­o­ries about what hap­pened, when, and why.

Clear­ly, each degree pre­pares you well for detec­tive work. As you con­sid­er foren­sic sci­ence careers and crim­i­nal jus­tice careers, con­sid­er how the ori­en­ta­tions and focus of these degrees impact how you car­ry out your day-to-day duties. More specif­i­cal­ly, it’s impor­tant to con­sid­er your per­son­al inter­ests in these fields. Let’s explore this con­cept fur­ther below.

Choosing the Right Degree for You

In com­par­ing foren­sic vs crim­i­nal jus­tice degrees, your areas of inter­est should play a cen­tral role. If you’re par­tic­u­lar­ly skilled in sci­ence-ori­ent­ed course­work and want to incor­po­rate that into your work as a detec­tive, the foren­sic sci­ence route is clear­ly the bet­ter option. How­ev­er, if your inter­ests are in the social sci­ence aspects of detec­tive work — legal con­sid­er­a­tions, social and psy­cho­log­i­cal influ­ences of crim­i­nal behav­ior, vic­ti­mol­o­gy, and so forth, a crim­i­nal jus­tice degree is the bet­ter choice.

But what if you’re unsure which option inter­ests you the most? Intern­ships and oth­er field expe­ri­ences dur­ing col­lege can be extreme­ly help­ful in clar­i­fy­ing the direc­tion you want to go with your stud­ies. Even a sim­ple job shad­ow­ing expe­ri­ence in which you fol­low a foren­sic sci­ence-focused detec­tive and a crim­i­nal jus­tice-focused detec­tive can be infor­ma­tive for your degree deci­sion. Pur­sue these expe­ri­ences ear­ly in your col­le­giate career so you have time to adjust your degree plans as needed.

It’s also worth tak­ing extra cours­es or pur­su­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tions to expand your skill set in both areas. For exam­ple, if you major in foren­sic sci­ence, you might take a few class­es in crim­i­nal jus­tice to get the social sci­ence per­spec­tive. Alter­na­tive­ly, if you grad­u­ate with a crim­i­nal jus­tice degree, a cer­tifi­cate in Crime Scene Analy­sis pro­vides you with some basic inves­tiga­tive skills to help you be a more effec­tive detective.

Future Trends in Law Enforcement Education

The impor­tance of an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary edu­ca­tion, as described above, can­not be under­stat­ed. The lines between foren­sic sci­ence, crim­i­nal jus­tice, and oth­er relat­ed fields are becom­ing increas­ing­ly blurred. This is due in large part to expand­ing foren­sic tech­nolo­gies and improved inves­ti­ga­tion method­olo­gies employed every day in crim­i­nal investigations.

Now and in the future, becom­ing a detec­tive will increas­ing­ly involve acquir­ing tech­ni­cal and prac­ti­cal skills in mul­ti­ple areas. Even if your career is focused more on one area than the oth­er, hav­ing at least a basic knowl­edge of the oth­er field will not only make you a bet­ter detec­tive but it will also make you a more informed and valu­able mem­ber of the inves­tiga­tive team.

You can learn more about these degrees and career fields by talk­ing to your guid­ance coun­selor or aca­d­e­m­ic advi­sor. It’s also worth vis­it­ing web­sites of pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions relat­ed to these fields and con­nect­ing with pro­fes­sion­als who can give you real-world guid­ance on how to become a detective.