Outlook For Criminal Justice Majors: Forensic Science Technicians
So you’ve been watching CSI for the past five years and have decided that you want to do what they do. Just a warning, investigations never move that fast, you are often at a crime scene for hours on end and you have to be a person who pays attention to every detail. There are no short cuts with this job. Still interested?
Forensic Science Technicians have to take classes ranging from criminal justice to biology. Throw is a bit of chemistry a dash of physics and some sociology for good measure. You are probably now wondering, what is the job outlook for this career? Well sit back because I’m going to discuss exactly that.
Forensic Science Technicians investigate crimes by collecting and analyzing physical evidence. Often, they specialize in areas such as DNA analysis or firearm examination, performing tests on weapons or on substances such as fiber, glass, hair, tissue, and body fluids to determine their significance to the investigation. Proper collection and storage methods are important to protect the evidence. Forensic science technicians also prepare reports to document their findings and the laboratory techniques used, and they may provide information and expert opinions to investigators. When criminal cases come to trial, forensic science technicians often give testimony as expert witnesses on laboratory findings by identifying and classifying substances, materials, and other evidence collected at the scene of a crime. Some forensic science technicians work closely with other experts or technicians. For example, a forensic science technician may consult either a medical expert about the exact time and cause of a death or another technician who specializes in DNA typing in hopes of matching a DNA type to a suspect.
According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, forensic science technicians, held about 13,000 jobs in 2006. Jobs for forensic science technicians are expected to increase much faster than average. Employment growth in State and local government should be driven by the increasing application of forensic science to examine, solve, and prevent crime. Crime scene technicians who work for State and county crime labs should experience favorable employment prospects resulting from strong job growth. Check out the following video:
