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Information on Careers in the area of profiling

There are a number of ways in which you can work in the area of profiling, however, it is important to note that the job of ‘profiler’ is not a job in its own right, but instead it forms part of a job description, and varies depending on what the job entails.

For a general introduction into profiling, please see the section on profiling in the following article: Salfati, C. G. and Kucharski, T. (in press for 2005) The Psychology of criminal Conduct. In J. Trevino and S. Guarino (Eds.) The Common Subject of Crime: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Anderson Publishing.

Law Enforcement Agencies

If you are interested in investigating crimes on a practical level, a law enforcement career is the best option for you. As a law enforcement officer or agent within state or federal agencies, you are involved in solving crimes on a day to day basis. For more information on careers within these, contact these agencies directly, e.g. your local police force, the FBI, etc.

Crime Analysis

You can also work in the area of crime by taking on a position as a civilian within the police force or other law enforcement agencies. You often need a masters degree for these positions. For more information on careers in crime analysis, please contact the police or the FBI directly for available positions.

Research

As the field of profiling is yet young, most of the work is being done in the realm of research, establishing models of criminal behavior that is being adapted for use by law enforcement. For careers in this field, it is necessary to do a PhD, and concentrate your research dissertation in the field of profiling. An important step in this process is to choose a mentor who is a recognized researcher in this field.

For all information on research opportunities, please see here

Research Assistant Posts

RA posts are only available after completing an MA research thesis. Due to the extensive training needed, no RA posts are available to students outside of John Jay.

Undergraduate research 

Generally, there are no research positions available for undergraduates, due to the pre-requisite masters-level training needed for this research.

Masters thesis applications 

Please note that there are only a limited number of places available every semester in the Profiling Research lab. If you are interested in doing a thesis please see information on pre-requisites.

PhD dissertation mentoring

For general inquiries regarding applications to the PhD program in Forensic Psychology or the PhD in Criminal Justice, please see the website.

For all information on dissertation mentoring, please see here.