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What Can I Do With A Degree In Law and Society?

Become A Crime Victim Advocate


What is a Crime Victim Advocate?

Human Resources

CRIME VICTIM ADVOCATES are professionals trained to support victims of crime. Advocates offer victims information on victimization, methods of crime prevention, victims’ legal rights and protections, and the criminal justice process. Advocates also provide emotional support to victims from the point of victimization and throughout criminal justice proceedings.

With training and expertise on local support services, advocates contact criminal justice organizations and social service agencies to gather additional information as needed to assist victims of crime.

Victim Advocates can be found in various government agencies and private work settings. They are most often found working in criminal justice agencies, including police departments, prosecutors’ offices, courts, probation or parole departments, or departments of correction. They may also work in non-profit organizations, such as sexual assault crisis centers or domestic violence programs.

What Employers Look For

Many employers look for universal skills such as communication, cultural awareness, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, and the ability to work collaboratively. To be marketable in today’s workforce, persons should strengthen their abilities be flexible while adapting to change in a technological, diverse, and dynamic society.  Skills such as resilience, problem solving, and adaptability are valuable at work and elsewhere.

How Law And Society Enhances Career Development

The Law and Society program provides students with essential preparation for successful law-related careers and responsible citizenship.  Academic excellence is achieved through a student-centered learning environment combining theoretical knowledge and practical application. Students are exposed to social science research on law and law-breaking behaviors; develop the ability to think creatively and critically about human behavior; societal understandings of normality and deviance; and systemic problems in the American legal system and law enforcement. 

How Sociology Prepares Students For A Career As A Crime Victim Advocate

Students majoring in Law and Society are required to complete 33-34 credit hours of coursework in specified Sociology courses. 

The degree focus consists of fifteen (15) required credit hours of coursework designed to build a foundation in sociological inquiry and quantitative methods, and nine (9) credit hours of Law and Process courses, and nine hours of sociology electives.

Targeted coursework for a career as a Crime Victim Advocate include

  • SOC 220 Social Problems
  • SOC 324 Criminology
  • SOC 328 Criminal Justice
  • SOC 402 Sociological Theory
  • SOC 326 Social Conflict and Criminal Justice
  • SOC 352 Drug, Culture, and Society
  • SOC 411 Social Inequality
  • SOC 419 Sociology of Law
  • SOC 426 Social Deviance and Control