Criminal Justice

Source: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/work-volunteering-careers/options/sectors/criminal-justice/ Parent: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/work-volunteering-careers/options/career-ideas/podcast/

Information for this sector includes careers in law enforcement, prison services, probation and rehabilitation, and trading standards.

You may also be interested in information on legal services.

Find out more in Prospects Law enforcement and security

Use of AI in the criminal justice sector

AI is already used in policing to help with surveillance capacity (eg facial recognition), intelligence and support functions. It has the potential to be widely used across the criminal justice system.

• TechUK: All you need to know about AI adoption in criminal justice (June 2024) summarises various applications used, benefits and challenges
• Police Foundation: Policing and Artificial Intelligence has a downloadable publication (February 2025) on current and potential future uses of AI
• The charity Justice is looking at AI, human rights and the law

Examples of jobs in the criminal justice system

Job profiles

• Border Force Officer (Prospects)
• Detective (Prospects)
• Police Officer (Prospects)
• Police Officer (TARGETjobs)
• Prison Officer (Prospects)
• Probation Officer (TARGETjobs)
• Scenes of Crime Officer (TARGETjobs)
• Trading Standards Officer (Prospects)

More criminal justice jobs and careers information

• Forensic psychology
• Magistrate
• Prison and Probation Jobs (Government website) profiles and training info for prison officer, youth custody prison officer, probation officer, probation services officer (lower risk clients, degree not essential)
• Become a probation officer (HM Prison and Probation Service)
• Prison education
• Rehabilitation of offenders (NACRO)
• Trading standards (Chartered Trading Standards Institute)
• Victim support
• Youth Justice Work
• Youth Offending Teams (Youth Justice Board)
• Reflective Practice (previously Work with offenders) - news and information, and a list of possible career roles in the sector

News articles about criminal justice

• The Guardian criminal justice section
• News articles from professional organisations \
• College of Policing
• NAPO (Probation and Family Courts)
• Prison Officers Association
• Association of Youth Offending Team Managers
• Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences

What skills do I need?

You are likely to need some or all of the following skills and attributes for work in this sector:

• Communication skills (written and spoken)
• Ability to assimilate and communicate information (eg legislation, data)
• Empathy and non-judgmental approach
• Negotiation and motivational skills
• Ability to stay calm under pressure
• Resilience
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Planning/organisation
• Problem solving
• Project management
• Investigation and observation
• Community and customer focus

For more information about professional skills and how to develop them, see the York Strengths Professional Skills page.

Work experience

Look for work experience to help you develop the skills, and demonstrate the personal qualities, needed for a career in this sector.  Work experience, paid or voluntary, with vulnerable groups or those with challenging behaviour will be particularly valuable.

• Police UK Volunteering in policing
• What can I do? (PDF guide to volunteering in the criminal justice system
• Citizens Advice - Volunteering with the Witness Service
• Support through Court volunteering
• Volunteer to check standards in prison
• See the What can I do at York? section below for more suggestions

Find jobs

Graduate schemes

• Police Now offers two national graduate programmes: National Graduate Leadership Programme and National Detective Programme. Applications close early September for the following year.
• North Yorkshire Police Accelerated Detective Pathway
• Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Legal Trainee Scheme - for law graduates interested in becoming prosecutors. Trainees receive on-the-job training, mentoring, and development opportunities to handle criminal cases and work towards becoming qualified prosecutors.
• Probation Officer Training Programme - Trainees undergo a structured training programme, combining classroom learning with practical experience in probation settings, to develop the skills needed to support and supervise offenders in the community.

Job sites

• All Police Jobs - police officer and support staff vacancies
• Civil Service Jobs
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Local Government Jobs

Recruitment agencies

• Red Snapper Recruitment law enforcement and justice jobs
• Sanctuary Criminal Justice Jobs

What can I do at York?

• Make the most of any chances to build relevant skills - getting involved in college life, societies or part-time work will give you opportunities to use communication, team building, negotiation and planning skills.
• Volunteer with Careers and Placements volunteering projects.  Think about the groups you might work with in your future job and get experience with them - projects related to young people, the elderly, and mental health will all help.
• City of York Council advertise for volunteers, including Appropriate Adults (occasional demand) and volunteers for the Youth Offending Team
• You could also consider volunteering in victim support or with the police.

More resources: people to follow, podcasts, blogs

Connect with York graduates

Join York for Life to connect with our global network of alumni. Start building your own network - find people from your course, look at different careers, ask questions and request a mentor.

Use LinkedIn to make connections, follow organisations of interest, and find out what York graduates are doing. Find out more about LinkedIn on our networking.

Other profiles

• Police Now participants' stories
• National Graduate Leadership Programme
• National Detective Programme
• Probation Service employee stories
• Unlocked (prison service) - participants' stories  (Note: the Unlocked scheme is currently closed, 2025.)