Expert: Eric Shangle - 4/13/2007

Question
I have a friend who spent 1 1/2 years at Smiley Road Women's Prison in Nevada. I am currently going to start school in Reno Nevada for Criminal Justice Investigations (AKA) Criminal Profiler. I know that you need a PH.D., my friend would also like to do the same thing, being a felon would she be able to get into this line of work? She was convicted of Drug Trafficking & Assault with a deadly weapon (guilty by association).  

Answer
Reina,
This is a little outside of my expertise.  However, your friend can definitely can become a Criminal Profiler.  The question is going to be where does she want to work?  Many federal and state offices will automatically disregard anyone with a felony charge for employment.  I am not familiar with Nevada stat law though.  Also, there may be some civilian organizations that could utilize that skill set.

Again, this question does not fall into my area of expertise.  I would suggest you and/or your friend contacting your school and asking them about jobs that people generally go into upon graduation.  They may be able to provide you with a list of companies and/or contacts.  You can then contact these companies asking about their hiring practices.  Each and every company and government organization (federal and state) have different rules.

Good luck.
Eric