An Online Criminal Psychology Degree can be the doorway to a career in detective work, forensics or law. These career areas need people who can understand the mind of criminals and psychopaths. In addition to general criminal psychology degrees, specialized ones also exist, such as the forensics psychology degree, forensics mental health counseling degree and the police counseling degree. All these majors focus on the pathology of the criminal mind. In all these majors, online enrollees study human development, personality development, abnormal behavior, social influences on behavior, mental disorders, forensics psychology and case studies of known criminals, particularly serial killers. Students must also take a range of justice courses, including those on criminal law, criminal investigation, crimes against children and the judicial process. Through this coursework, students learn how to profile criminals, how to recognize the formation of criminal patterns and motives, how psychology affects witnesses’ memories and testimonies and how to distinguish between different types of legal insanity.
A bachelor’s degree in criminal psychology typically requires roughly 20 credit hours of psychology and 30 to 35 credit hours of criminal justice courses. General education classes are also necessary for undergraduates. At the graduate level, a master’s degree in criminal psychology requires roughly 35 credit hours of highly focused psychology and law courses.
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How To Find The Top Online Criminal Psychology Degree Programs
When narrowing school choices down to those with the best online criminal psychology degree programs, explore the resources available for online study. While most schools use textbooks, websites and chat rooms for around-the-clock access to instruction, highly accredited schools also use tools like audio lecture recordings and videos to appeal to those who are audio-visual learners.
At the bachelor degree level, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) offers one of the best online criminal psychology degree programs. Unlike new and exclusively online schools that hire special online instructors, SNHU has been around for more than 70 years and uses the same staff for its Online Criminal Psychology Degree courses as it does for its on-site academics, ensuring quality Web-based learning. Ranking high on the list for those considering a graduate degree in criminal psychology is the University of North Dakota (UND); this school’s online criminal psychology degree program has attracted interest because of its reasonable tuition rates. The university charges every online learner in-state tuition fees no matter where they live; generally, out-of-state residents must pay more to attend any college. UND requires graduates in the Online Criminal Psychology Degree program to schedule at least one visit to campus. Most schools providing online criminal psychology degree programs offer scholarships and financial aid packages.
Careers and Salaries For Individuals With an Online Criminal Psychology Degree
For a graduate who has earned an online criminal psychology degree, careers can be established in private research and therapy sectors or in public law sectors. A graduate can land a job as an investigative psychologist, criminal profiler, psychiatric assistant, criminal researcher, forensic treatment specialist or jury consultant. Occasionally, those with criminal psychology degrees partner with prisons to provide counseling to inmates in an effort to rehabilitate them; however, many degree programs do not prepare graduates to be practicing psychologists. Additional measures have to be taken to earn licensure.
When it comes to the pay one can earn with an online criminal psychology degree, salaries can range from $35,000 to $62,000. Forensic psychologists who have enhanced their online criminal psychology degree skills with additional forensics training are near the top of the earnings ladder, attracting some of the highest salaries and market interest.
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