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Criminalist Job Description
Are you looking for a new, exciting career that will both interest you and help you to provide your family with the financial stability they need both now and in the future? If you should find that this is true, you are like so many other Americans. You just need to figure out how to get started. The first step is going back to college and earning a degree. If you are interested in crime scene investigation and you feel this is something you would like to do for a career, have you ever considered becoming a criminalist? Criminalist job description consists of someone who analyzes the evidence that is found at a crime scene. In this article, you will learn about the criminalist job description as well as the educational requirements to obtain a job. From there, you will be able to make a decision that is properly informed as to whether this is a career that you want to pursue.
Criminalist Job Description
Criminalists are forensic scientists. As a criminalist, it will be your job to collect, identify and analyze physical evidence found at the scene of a crime. You can expect that you will be performing laboratory tests on articles such as weapons, fibers, hair and bodily tissues to aid in the investigation. At times, you may also be required to appear in court as an expert witness and take the stand to testify based on the evidence you present. Criminalists job descriptions can also specialize in areas such as fingerprints, handwriting analysis or even biochemistry. You can expect to usually work a forty hour work week, however, you may also have to work longer, irregular hours. You may have to travel to get to the crime scene, but most of your time will be spent in a laboratory examining your findings and drafting reports. You will work with high tech equipment, such as chromatographs, spectographs, and computer programs. You will also be working with health and safety hazards upon occasion so it is very important that you are properly equipped.
Criminalist Educational Requirements
To become a criminalist, you must at least have a bachelor’s degree in forensic science, chemistry, physics, biology or physical anthropology. It is also necessary to take courses pharmacology and statistics or quantitative analysis. If you plan on working with bullet trajectory, it is also wise to take courses in trigonometry and geometry. A doctorate degree could allow you more job opportunities, such as becoming a lab director.
If you are interested in going back to school and becoming a criminalist, you now know what is included in the criminalist job description as well as what kind of education you will need. This career can be both challenging and rewarding, but it can help you to provide the financial stability needed both now and in the future. If you are interested, contact a school or university of your choice and get signed up for the proper courses. You will be so glad that you did when you get started in your new career.
