Jobs
When you graduate and venture out into the world as a forensic psychologist, you have several options of how and where you can work. Each have different average salaries, different places of work, and vastly different pros and cons.
Option 1: Working Privately- Working privately means that you do not have as much of a direct liaison with a police department, or with criminal lawyers. A private forensic psychologist primarily operates as a therapist to those who went through the court system, and were perhaps classified as sex offenders, or some other low-sentencing criminal requiring therapy. They usually are uninvolved in the court system unless someone who is a patient of theirs commits, or recommits, a crime. It is unlikely that a private forensic psychologist would act as an Expert Witness in a case, unless they specialize in an area of forensic psychology in relation to the case. The police departments or the lawyers would go to the forensic psychologist that work more directly with them first, rather those who work privately that they do not know very well. Supposedly, private forensic psychologists earn more than those who do not work privately, but a private psychologist's pay often depends on how many patients they have, so to compensate, private forensic psychologists often have a general psychology degree, and act as a typical psychologist to have enough patients to pay rent, or to lease, or simply to live.
Option 2: Working "Publicly"- This isn't working privately so much as it's merely not working privately. Here, you would work in liaison with a police department, or a criminal law office. You would be called in to act as an Expert Witness in cases, or asked to judge the mental competency of criminals. You could also work in a correctional facility or in a psychiatric hospital. You would often be working with the much more violent criminals.
Option 3: Working as Part of the FBI's BAU: Just getting thought of for a job in the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit is time consuming. You must have 7-10 years of experience as an FBI Agent, and to become an FBI Agent takes 2-3 years. Added on to that is up to two years of additional training to become part of the BAU. Once on the BAU, you would get to do things more like what is seen on shows like "Criminal Minds", profiling, flying to different places in the country, and working on finding serial killers and serial rapists, though they can apply their expertise to non-violent crimes.
Option 1: Working Privately- Working privately means that you do not have as much of a direct liaison with a police department, or with criminal lawyers. A private forensic psychologist primarily operates as a therapist to those who went through the court system, and were perhaps classified as sex offenders, or some other low-sentencing criminal requiring therapy. They usually are uninvolved in the court system unless someone who is a patient of theirs commits, or recommits, a crime. It is unlikely that a private forensic psychologist would act as an Expert Witness in a case, unless they specialize in an area of forensic psychology in relation to the case. The police departments or the lawyers would go to the forensic psychologist that work more directly with them first, rather those who work privately that they do not know very well. Supposedly, private forensic psychologists earn more than those who do not work privately, but a private psychologist's pay often depends on how many patients they have, so to compensate, private forensic psychologists often have a general psychology degree, and act as a typical psychologist to have enough patients to pay rent, or to lease, or simply to live.
Option 2: Working "Publicly"- This isn't working privately so much as it's merely not working privately. Here, you would work in liaison with a police department, or a criminal law office. You would be called in to act as an Expert Witness in cases, or asked to judge the mental competency of criminals. You could also work in a correctional facility or in a psychiatric hospital. You would often be working with the much more violent criminals.
Option 3: Working as Part of the FBI's BAU: Just getting thought of for a job in the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit is time consuming. You must have 7-10 years of experience as an FBI Agent, and to become an FBI Agent takes 2-3 years. Added on to that is up to two years of additional training to become part of the BAU. Once on the BAU, you would get to do things more like what is seen on shows like "Criminal Minds", profiling, flying to different places in the country, and working on finding serial killers and serial rapists, though they can apply their expertise to non-violent crimes.