Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Law School

Do you mean you want to become a criminal lawyer, or that you want to have a different type of career working with the criminal justice system?

If you want to be a lawyer (of any kind) you need to graduate from college and then from law school. You do not need to get a master's degree along the way; there were about 200 people in my law school class and probably less than 20 had earned another degree after college.

As far as law school admissions offices are concernedm you can major in whatever you like as an undergraduate provided that your coursework demonstrates that you can think logically and write well. Some majors -- such as dance, music performance and visual arts -- don't require either of these skills, so if you want to major in one of these subjects you should take several electives in other fields where you will be called upon to write and to developing your analytical ability. (I majored in computer science, and my law school classmates had a variety of majors including English, philosophy, geology, electrical engineering, history, biochemistry, etc.)

You do not need to major in criminal justice if you want to be a criminal lawyer. If the subject interests you then by all means study it, but choosing this major will not give you an advantage in the law school admissions process and will be of little help when you are in law school.

If you aspire to a different type of career you should probably consult your college's academic advising office. We're all lawyers on this site and are probably not the best people to ask for guidance about other careers.