How Does a Criminologist Spend a Workday?

What Is a Criminologist?

Criminologists are known by many different titles. They can be police officers, FBI agents, crime scene investigators, teachers, medical examiners, lab technicians and countless other positions. If it has to do with criminal justice and inquiring about how and why a crime was committed, and who committed it, it comes under the purview of criminology.

How Do They Spend Their Day?

How a criminologist spends their day depends on their specialty field. For this article let's focus on a crime scene investigator. Crime scene investigators are the professionals who document crime and collect evidence. Once a crime scene investigator is called to investigate a crime, they will start by collecting any evidence that is prevalent at the crime scene, which varies with each type of different crime. It can be a cadaver or an automobile accident that are elements of a crime. The evidence collection can include fingerprints, footprint impressions, tire skid marks, semen samples and blood splatter analysis. Once they have collected their evidence properly, they need to use photography to document the crime. This is sometimes done as crime scene data is collected. Once the investigator is finished at the crime scene he will return to the lab to write up his reports and turn in his findings and evidence to the lab. DNA results are just one type of data that has to be analyzed once it is available.

How Does a Criminologist Handle His Job?

Criminologists handle many different aspects of crime that some may not realize. A criminologist goes into homes that are dirty, that may have bugs or fire damage. A criminologist also deals with heartache. They confront corpses that include children and infants; often the other family members are nearby, making their job even more difficult. It takes a strong person to handle a criminologist's job if they are in certain areas of the field, and it takes a college background as well. A criminologist's day can be slow, depending on the location they are working, but most of the time they work more than eight hours a day. A criminologist can work 16-hour days, and some cases are ongoing, which adds to the workload.