# Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary

US SOC code 25-1111. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/25-1111

Also called: Criminal justice professor, Criminology professor, CJ professor, Criminal justice faculty, Criminal justice lecturer.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **13,150** US postsecondary criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, with median pay of **$76,590** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the highest was **14,890**, in May 2014. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://academyofcriminaljusticesciences.growthzoneapp.com/ap/CloudFile/Download/PNvmX4OP) of **500** from 1965, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era in this work: Predictive policing tools and risk assessment instruments as curriculum subjects, 2016 to 2022.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 1.5% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1111&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **43.8%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1916
- Latest US employment: 13,150 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [4]
- Latest US median pay: $76,590 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [6]
- Outlook: +1.5% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [20]

### All 26 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1965 | 500 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences [1] |
| 1975 | 5,000 (estimate) | $14,000 (estimate) | Est., OJP NCJRS (employment) [2]; Est., AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey… (pay) [5] |
| 1985 | 3,500 (estimate) | n/a | Est., U.S. GAO [3] |
| 2003 | 9,610 | $45,560 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [4] |
| 2004 | 9,550 | $47,800 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [4] |
| 2005 | 9,880 | $49,240 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [4] |
| 2006 | 10,430 | $49,730 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [4] |
| 2007 | 11,110 | $51,060 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [4] |
| 2008 | 11,630 | $53,640 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [4] |
| 2009 | 12,610 | $57,500 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [4] |
| 2010 | 13,860 | $59,520 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [4] |
| 2011 | 14,630 | $59,480 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [4] |
| 2012 | 14,020 | $58,040 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [4] |
| 2013 | 14,870 | $56,980 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [4] |
| 2014 | 14,890 | $57,200 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [4] |
| 2015 | 14,560 | $58,770 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [4] |
| 2016 | 14,620 | $59,590 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [4] |
| 2017 | 14,210 | $60,400 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [4] |
| 2018 | 14,890 | $61,900 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [4] |
| 2019 | 14,070 | $62,860 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [4] |
| 2020 | 14,030 | $63,560 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [4] |
| 2021 | 13,790 | $64,600 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [4] |
| 2022 | 13,900 | $64,990 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [4] |
| 2023 | 13,390 | $69,030 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [4] |
| 2024 | 13,560 | $71,470 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [4] |
| 2025 | 13,150 | $76,590 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [4] |

## Sources (89)

### Employment series

1. [Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences timeline -- development of criminology and CJ education (ACJS Growth Zone document)](https://academyofcriminaljusticesciences.growthzoneapp.com/ap/CloudFile/Download/PNvmX4OP), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
2. [OJP NCJRS -- "Assessing the Effects of LEAA Demise on Criminal Justice Higher Education" (ScienceDirect abstract, Journal of Criminal Justice 1983)](https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/assessing-effects-leaa-demise-criminal-justice-higher-education), Office of Justice Programs / National Criminal Justice Reference Service
3. [U.S. GAO -- "The Law Enforcement Education Program Is in Serious Financial Disarray" (FGMSD-80-46, June 1980)](https://www.gao.gov/products/fgmsd-80-46), U.S. Government Accountability Office
4. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

5. [AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey historical archive -- 1974-75 survey (assistant professor median at public 2-year and 4-year institutions)](https://www.aaup.org/our-programs/research/economic-status-report/historical-data), American Association of University Professors
6. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
7. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

8. [American Military University Edge -- "How the Father of Law Enforcement Created an Academic Vision for Criminal Justice"](https://amuedge.com/how-the-father-of-law-enforcement-created-an-academic-vision-for-criminal-justice-that-lives-on-today/), American Military University
9. [UC Berkeley News -- "August Vollmer biography explores famous police chief's UC Berkeley ties" (April 2017)](https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/04/19/august-vollmer-biography-explores-famous-police-chiefs-uc-berkeley-ties/), UC Berkeley
10. [John Jay College of Criminal Justice -- History (College of Police Science founded 1964, first class enrolled September 1965)](https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/about/history), John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY
11. [Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences -- About ACJS (founded 1963 to foster professional and scholarly activities in criminal justice)](https://www.acjs.org/about-acjs/), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
12. [U.S. GAO -- "The Law Enforcement Education Program Is in Serious Financial Disarray" (FGMSD-80-46, June 1980)](https://www.gao.gov/products/fgmsd-80-46), U.S. Government Accountability Office
13. [OJP NCJRS -- "AT LEEP'S END? A REVIEW OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT EDUCATION PROGRAM"](https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/leeps-end-review-law-enforcement-education-program), Office of Justice Programs / National Criminal Justice Reference Service
14. [Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences -- "Celebrating 100 Years of Criminal Justice Education, 1916-2016" (Tandfonline, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 2016)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511253.2016.1186992), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences / Taylor and Francis
15. [ProPublica -- "Machine Bias: There's Software Used Across the Country to Predict Future Criminals. And It's Biased Against Blacks." (Angwin et al., May 2016)](https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing), ProPublica
16. [Chicago OIG -- "OIG Finds That ShotSpotter Alerts Rarely Lead to Evidence of a Gun-Related Crime" (August 2021): 9.1% of CPD responses produced evidence of a gun-related crime, meaning approximately 90% led to no such evidence](https://igchicago.org/2021/08/24/oig-finds-that-shotspotter-alerts-rarely-lead-to-evidence-of-a-gun-related-crime-and-that-presence-of-the-technology-changes-police-behavior/), Chicago Office of Inspector General
17. [Axon Draft One -- GPT-4-powered incident report generation; announced April 2023; production rollout to 20,000+ Axon agency customers through 2024-2025; The Police Chief (IACP, 2024): 60-75% time savings on narrative writing](https://www.axon.com/products/draft-one), Axon
18. [ACJS Today (January 2025) -- faculty responsibility to integrate critical AI literacy into every CJ curriculum area; students entering policing, courts, and corrections work alongside AI tools from day one](https://www.acjs.org/), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
19. [Instructure IgniteAI (December 2025 launch) -- rubric generator analyzes assignment descriptions and learning outcomes to produce customizable criteria; quiz question authoring assistance generates draft questions from course materials; discussion insights and AI-assisted grading via SpeedGrader](https://www.instructure.com/press-release/instructure-delivers-safe-simple-ai-promise-igniteai-and-major-ecosystem-updates), Instructure

### Forecasts and exposure studies

20. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 25-1111 Criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondary (2025: 15.7 thousand; 2035: 15.9 thousand; +1.5%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1111&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
21. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 25-1111.00, human-rated β 0.438)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

22. [AMU Edge -- "How the Father of Law Enforcement Created an Academic Vision for Criminal Justice"](https://amuedge.com/how-the-father-of-law-enforcement-created-an-academic-vision-for-criminal-justice-that-lives-on-today/), American Military University
23. [Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences -- About ACJS (founded 1963)](https://www.acjs.org/about-acjs/), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
24. [John Jay College of Criminal Justice -- History (first class enrolled September 1965; PhD program 1980)](https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/about/history), John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY
25. [OJP NCJRS -- "Higher Education Programs in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice" (OJP Digitization archive)](https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/2099NCJRS.pdf), Office of Justice Programs
26. [U.S. GAO -- "The Law Enforcement Education Program Is in Serious Financial Disarray" (FGMSD-80-46, June 1980)](https://www.gao.gov/products/fgmsd-80-46), U.S. Government Accountability Office
27. [Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences -- "Celebrating 100 Years of Criminal Justice Education, 1916-2016" (post-9/11 enrollment surge)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511253.2016.1186992), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences / Journal of Criminal Justice Education
28. [ProPublica -- "Machine Bias: There's Software Used Across the Country to Predict Future Criminals. And It's Biased Against Blacks." (Angwin et al., May 23, 2016)](https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing), ProPublica
29. [Axon Draft One -- GPT-4-powered incident report generation announced April 2023; The Police Chief (IACP, 2024): 60-75% time savings; ACLS/NPAP discoverability and accuracy concerns](https://www.axon.com/products/draft-one), Axon

### Predecessors & successors

30. [AMU Edge -- "How the Father of Law Enforcement Created an Academic Vision for Criminal Justice" (practitioner-to-faculty origins)](https://amuedge.com/how-the-father-of-law-enforcement-created-an-academic-vision-for-criminal-justice-that-lives-on-today/), American Military University
31. [Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences -- About ACJS (founded 1963; doctoral program development through the 1970s-1980s)](https://www.acjs.org/about-acjs/), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
32. [John Jay College of Criminal Justice -- History (faculty drawn from law enforcement, law, and social science)](https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/about/history), John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary (25-1111.00): tasks, work activities, knowledge domains, technology skills, employment data](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1111.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS OES May 2025 — Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary: ~3,700 employed; median annual wage $75,990; BLS OOH projects +7% growth for postsecondary teachers 2024-2034](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes251111.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) — 2025 Annual Meeting (Denver): AI in Criminal Justice Education track; ACJS Today (Jan 2025): faculty responsibility to integrate critical AI literacy across CJ curriculum](https://www.acjs.org/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science 384:1306-1308): LLM labor exposure framework; criminal justice postsec teachers at moderate β-exposure; framework does not capture ACJS curriculum authority, agency network requirements, or AI governance advisory roles](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [ProPublica — "Machine Bias: There's Software Used Across the Country to Predict Future Criminals. And It's Biased Against Blacks." (Angwin et al., May 2016): COMPAS differential false positive rates; 3,000+ Google Scholar citations; most-assigned reading in criminal justice AI courses](https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing), accessed 2026-05-24
- [MacArthur Justice Center / Chicago OIG Audit (2021) — ShotSpotter in Chicago: 90% of alerts led to no evidence of a gunshot; wrongful arrests linked to ShotSpotter misidentifications; Chicago terminated contract 2024](https://igchicago.org/publications/cpd-use-of-shotspotter-technology/), accessed 2026-06-22
- [NIST FRVT 2019 — Face Recognition Vendor Test: differential false positive rates up to 100x higher for Black women vs. white men in 1:many search; foundational accuracy-by-demographics study required in CJ facial recognition curriculum](https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2019/NIST.IR.8280.pdf), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Axon Draft One — GPT-4-powered incident report generation from body camera audio; announced April 2023; production rollout 2024-2025; The Police Chief (IACP, 2024): 60-75% time savings on narrative writing; ACLU/NPAP concerns on accuracy and discoverability](https://www.axon.com/products/draft-one), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Truleo — AI body camera analytics; NLP analysis of officer communication quality and policy adherence; deployed by 150+ agencies including Louisville Metro Police post-consent decree; Law Enforcement Today (2025): becoming new performance management system for patrol supervision](https://truleo.co/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Canvas AI (Instructure, Jan 2025 GA) — AI quiz generation from course materials, discussion prompt generation, assignment rubric auto-generation; Blackboard Ultra AI Design Assistant (2025): course structure recommendations and content pacing suggestions](https://www.instructure.com/igniteai), accessed 2026-06-22
- [Gradescope (Turnitin) — AI-assisted grading and answer groups; deployed at 25+ R1 and regional universities; paired with Turnitin AI writing detection for criminal justice course assessment workflows](https://www.turnitin.com/products/gradescope/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Turnitin AI Writing Detection (2025) — deployed at 10,000+ institutions; 200M+ student submissions monitored; applicable to criminal justice case analysis papers and policy memos](https://www.turnitin.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Elicit (elicit.com) — AI research assistant searching 138M+ papers; data extraction across papers automatically; valuable for criminal justice systematic reviews spanning criminology, law, computer science, and civil rights literature](https://elicit.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [National Institute of Justice (NIJ) — primary federal funder for criminal justice research; grant program areas include criminal justice technology, police-community relations, and AI-assisted decision making in courts and corrections](https://nij.ojp.gov/), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.