Careers in Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security

The law, public safety, and corrections career cluster is all about protecting and serving the public. People working in this sector deal with protecting life and property, enforcing laws, providing legal counsel, sentencing defendants, and rehabilitating offenders.

Government organizations at the city or county, state, and federal levels are the major employers in public safety. First responders such as fire and police departments, share a mission to keep people and property safe, along with workers that patrol city streets, coastal waters, ski slopes, and swimming beaches.

Laws exist at federal, state, and local levels to guide relationships among people, institutions, and government; workers in the law sector enforce and, at times, create these laws.

Lawyers represent individuals, groups of people, or corporations in legal proceedings. Much of their work is to conduct research and prepare documents, as well as to gather testimony, and argue cases before judges or juries. Judges interpret laws and sentence defendants.

The corrections subsector consists of city and county jails, state and federal prisons, community correctional facilities, and juvenile detention centers. The industry confines the incarcerated population, provides for their basic needs, and seeks to rehabilitate offenders.

Quick facts to know:

• About 5 million workers are employed in the law, public safety, and corrections cluster.
• Over 30,000 new law school graduates pass the bar exam each year, emerging into a tight job market of more than 1.3 million lawyers.
• Because laws apply to many different entities, legal specialties vary greatly, from real estate or tax law to family law and environmental law.
• Over 2.3 million individuals are incarcerated in the U.S. annually, with an additional 4 million on parole or probation.