About the field of Criminal Justice: Criminal Justice is a broad field that typically spans the criminal justice system itself as well as Law , Criminology , Public Policy , and related issues. Criminal justice can also frequently overlap with fields such as Sociology , Social Work , Population Studies , and Political Science , since those who are trying to run or reform the criminal justice system must understand the causes that feed into the system and the effects that changes to the system will make. Studying criminal justice, therefore, can enable students to work in a variety of positions depending on the areas in which they specialize and their particular interests. A more hands-on aspect of criminology would be the study of Criminalistics , otherwise known as Forensic Science .