Graduate Careers

Career Opportunities for Criminal Justice "Change Agents"

The University of Pennsylvania’s professional Master of Science program in Criminology produces graduates who are equipped with skills highly sought after by employers in both the public and private sectors.

With our first class (2005), we have a 100% placement record of students going on to criminal justice jobs or further graduate studies (e.g., law school or doctoral programs). For the second class (2006), the placement rate is 96%. For the third class (2007), 100% of alums are working or are doing further graduate studies..

Penn Criminology Masters grads are now employed in a wide range of interesting jobs, including these:
A number of 2007-2008 Master of Science students have been offered positions as Intelligence Analysts in the Federal Bureau of Investigation after graduation. M.S. 2006 grad Thomas Nestel has been named Chief of Police of Upper Moreland Township, PA. It is located in the northeast corner of Montgomery County, PA, 15 miles north of downtown Philadelphia.
2005 M.S. graduate Paul Heroux was recently named Director of Research and Planning for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. Prior to that, Paul had served as special assistant to the Commissioner for the Philadelphia Prison System. With Federal law enforcement hiring freezes recently lifted, several members of the 2007-2008 class are in the hiring process for U.S. Secret Service and 2005 grads have cleared the hurdles for the FBI and DEA. A 2006 grad has been working as a member of the FBI Police.
Two 2007-2008 M.S. students have been offered highly competitive fellowships at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Policy Office . These fellowships lead to U.S. Civil Service positions, like Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) slots. Hundreds of students nationally (from institutions like the Kennedy School , Princeton ’s Woodrow Wilson School , and the University of Michigan ) applied for the DHS fellowships; fewer than 30 were selected. 2007 grad Chee-Kin Chow has been promoted to become Research and Planning Department Director in the Singapore Prison System. He is responsible for strategizing and charting the future directions of the country’s correctional system, as well as conducting empirical research and program evaluations. His department sponsors an annual offender reintegration conference attended by practitioners, stakeholders, and policymakers from many countries Barbara Pietrawska, a 2007 M.S. graduate, has been working as a crime analyst at CAP Index since September, 2007. It is a Philadelphia area firm that provides crime forecasting models for corporate, government and other clients, and was founded by the late Dr. Robert Figlio (a Penn Criminology alum and former student of Dr. Marvin Wolfgang). A 2006 grad has taken a position with the Bergen County (NJ) Prosecutor’s Office as a Research Analyst. The Texas Youth Commission has hired Erica Knutsen (an M.S. 2007 grad) in its Austin headquarters as a policy writer. She reports that the agency has adopted a new strategic plan embracing many “Shermanesque” evidence-based corrections/treatment practices! The Council of State Governments Justice Center recently hired a 2006 graduate of our program in its New York City office to serve as a Research Associate on projects relating to the role of law enforcement in prisoner reentry and in dealing with mentally ill offenders. Stephanie O’Keefe reports that she is still working as the Weed & Seed Coordinator for Providence, RI, although her job has now expanded. As of February, 2008, this 2005 grad is also working for the Providence Mayor’s Substance Abuse Prevention Council, helping to address underage drinking and improving the relationship with the Board of Licensing. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has employed another 2006 grad in its case analysis unit. One of our grads serves as head of the Office of Policy & Planning for the New Jersey Parole Board, working directly with the Parole Board Chair to develop policy and research policy questions. Another student now works in the Washington area as an analyst for one of the U.S. government’s top intelligence agencies. State and local law enforcement is also of interest to our graduates. One of our female 2006 graduates has become a member of the Montgomery County (MD) Police Department. (She reported that she beat all of the other women candidates and 85% of the men on the rigorous physical fitness test.) Another former student has completed a number of steps towards becoming a Pennsylvania State Trooper. A graduate of our first class serves as Special Assistant to the Commissioner of the Philadelphia Prison System. His wide-ranging duties include research projects on inmate population projections, drafting testimony for the Commissioner before the City Council, and presentations before the State Legislature. A number of our graduates are serving as anti-fraud and anti-money laundering risk analysts at a major financial institution in Philadelphia/ Southern New Jersey. One was subsequently hired away to become Director of Risk Management at a separate small financial services firm. The Philadelphia Adult Probation & Parole – with whom the Department of Criminology and Jerry Lee Center of Criminology have a close and ongoing relationship – has hired three of our graduates from the class of 2006. One works as a Research Associate, and the other two are case-carrying Probation Officers in the Strategic Anti-Violence Unit, which supervises offenders predicted to commit homicide within the first two years of their probation or parole sentence. The model used to identify these offenders was developed by Penn Professor Richard Berk. The National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pittsburgh, a highly regarded private organization that has conducted research on juvenile delinquency for the federal government for more than 30 years, employs one of our grads as a data analyst. One of our first year graduates – who has a dual degree in Criminology and Social Work from Penn – has worked as a researcher at both the U.S. Sentencing Commission and now at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. In her current position she conducts evaluations of federally funded projects in areas such as prisoner reentry. A number of our graduates have gone to work for private investigative firms – a growing private sector business, particularly in the wake of 9/11. These firms (like USIS, a former government agency that was privatized in the late 1990s to do background investigations for the U.S. government) are regularly hiring across the country. The Delaware Criminal Justice Council – one of the 50 state agencies that oversee criminal justice programs and distribution of federal grant dollars – has hired a 2006 M.S. graduate as a criminal justice planner and grant specialist. She reports that the agency makes grant decisions “with a strong evidence-based focus.” After completing an internship with the Police Chief of Providence (RI), one of our 2005 grads was hired as Coordinator of the Weed & Seed Program in Providence (a federally-funded crime prevention initiative) – beating out a number of local candidates who had applied for the position. Her knowledge of anti-crime programs “that work” helped win the position for her. M.S. students have also served as interns in a number of interesting settings – for example: Boston Police Department Police Chief of Providence, R.I.; Police Foundation in Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia Police Department; New Jersey Parole Board; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) Forensics Lab in Maryland Students are also working in a variety of other jobs as: Prosecutor in the D.C.Attorney General’s office, handling misdemeanor cases in the D.C. Superior Court; Intelligence analyst – Bergen County, NJ Prosecutor’s Office. Serology lab technician for the Pennsylvania State Police; Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program – Criminal Division Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section. Director of the Traffic Control Division of the Kanagawa Prefecture Police Department in Japan Loss Prevention Manager for Kohl’s Department Stores - Michigan
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