Careers in Criminal Justice: The Inside Story

This is an excellent book for people who know they are interested in criminology, but are still trying to discover which particular area and want to know more about job opportunities. You'll get a few tips on job requirements and resume preparation, but it is very secondary to the purpose of having people tell stories about how they got involved with the criminal justice job they have. Stuart Henry taught at Eastern Michigan University and had students write about how they became interested in a job and what they like - and don't - about what they are doing. Students are from Detroit, the suburbs and more rural areas, but most of what they say generalizes to other law enforcement jobs, private security positions, law schools, legal positions, correctional worker, treatment service, grad school and academe or a federal agent. The second edition has updates from many people discussing why they stayed or moved on (and to what). There's a good distribution of urban and rural jurisdictions, and the authors include a good distribution of women and minority experiences. If you've decided you want to be with FBI, this book will not help you [see the Guide to Federal Law Enforcement Jobs]. If you are trying to prepare resumes and research specifics of a job posting, you're beyond what this book does [see Harr and Hass]. Careers in Criminal Justice is for people who want to work in CJ, but don't yet know what. This is the book if you want to get a feel for a variety of possible options. There's 40 chapters, essays are less than 10 pages each, so it can be enjoyed in short blocks of time when you have a few minutes.

This book is an absolute must-have for criminal justice students especially those in Michigan, the midwest or even anywhere else in the US!! It has many personal accounts of men & WOMEN (wow!). It details their career paths, their ups & downs during the application process, on the job, and through the vigorous training. People even tell you about the rookie discrimination they faced, and what not to do in the oral board interviews. It covers stories from police officers to a female paralegal. You'll get info weighing the pro's and con's of small & large law enforcement departments, even what to expect physically during the training academy. I am only halfway through this book, and can't wait to see what other helpful information it has for me as a CJ student looking for all the inside info I can get before obtaining my degree.

this book is not what i expected. i is a great book if you live in michigan. i live in california so the requirements arent the same as over there. the book does give some insight on the daily live and sacrifices of a law enforcement officer. i do recomend reading it if you are interested in law enforcement just to give you an idea