So I’m really serious about majoring in psychology [currently at a CC to save money until I can transfer] and I really wanna explore the certain subfields and I figure I could at least try at community college.
I don’t want to go into counseling [as in being a therapist] and I really find crime interesting. I know it’s hard to get a job with a psych degree unless you go to graduate school and I am planning to.
At my CC they have two general crime classes- one is intro to crime and the other one is intro to criminology [under the sociology subject]
Would it be a good idea to take the intro to criminology class just to see if it interests me? I know with forensic psych you have to be familiar with both the criminal system and psychology.
I just want to experiment and actually make a plan instead of just going into the major blindly
Is “Intro to Crime” more of a legal class? vs Criminology being more about studying criminals mindsets?
I couldn’t find a huge different but here’s the summary for both.
Criminal Justice [I was wrong about the name]
History and philosophy of criminal justice in America; review system, identification of the subsystems, role expectations, and relationships. Theory of crime, punishment, and rehabilitation. Ethics, education, and training required in law enforcement, nature of formal and informal decision making in criminal justice, sociology, politics, economics, and law of criminal justice.
Intro to Criminology
To develop a sociological framework for examining crime. Review and apply major theories of criminal behavior. Critically examine how specific behaviors and social conditions become defined as crime. Use of sociological principles to assess the criminal justice system’s ability to deter, punish, and rehabilitate offenders
Both of these don’t have a prereqs that i haven’t took [just basic english/psych which i have]
I just dont exactly know if should choose intro to criminology [any sociology class will help me fill up electives for my degree but the criminal justice will basically wont help me get my degree. It’ll more be an elective class for myself]
Sure, it’d be a good idea to take the classes. I don’t think it really matters which one you take; the criminology one would be great since it satisfies some degree electives. It’ll also probably be more useful for a potential forensic psychologist.