How to become a criminologist

As a criminologist, your role is like that of a detective, but instead of solving individual crimes, you'll be solving the puzzle of crime itself. You'll dive into the details of various offences, gathering data and creating profiles to better understand the patterns and trends. You'll also take a critical look at the criminal justice system, evaluating its methods and effectiveness. Your ultimate goal is to understand the root causes of criminal behaviour and find ways to address and, hopefully, eradicate it. 

To work as a criminologist, you'll need a blend of hard and soft skills. On one hand, you'll need to be a sharp thinker, with strong analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving abilities to dissect complex crime data and trends. On the other hand, you'll also need to be empathetic and caring. Understanding people and their actions is at the heart of criminology, and it requires a genuine interest in and compassion for others.

Criminologists have a wide range of roles. You may work in the legal sector, helping to shape policies that can prevent and reduce crime. You could be in a research institution, digging into the causes of crime and finding ways to predict and prevent it, or you might work in a community organisation or not-for-profit, working directly with people to help them steer clear of crime. You could also work for a government body like the police or courts, or a private organisation like a bank or insurance firm as a consultant.