Opportunities abound in the forensics industry today, and the experts suggest that this trend is going to continue to increase in the future. The term "forensics," though, can be applied to a number of different fields; however, all of these disciplines share a common feature in that their work products are specifically used in courts of law or for other legal issues that can mean the difference between life and death in many cases. According to Black's Law Dictionary (1990), the term "forensic" means "belonging to courts of justice," while "forensic engineering" means "the application of the principles and practice of engineering to the elucidation of questions before courts of law" (p. 648). Genetic forensics refers to the diagnosis of otherwise unknown biological material based on analysis of proteins or DNA; this branch of forensics has resulted in hundreds of death row prisoners being freed after they were exonerated through such forensics testing (Avise, 2004). Likewise, computer forensics professionals are increasingly in demand today, and the demand is expected to continue to increase in coming years (Great Expectations Are Realized, 2000). Furthermore, computer...

In addition, the U.S. military has embraced forensics techniques in a major way (Braga, 2004). In this environment, identifying specific growth industries and trends assumes critical importance for private and public sector organizations alike.
Statement of the Problem

Today, the American justice system is a major growth industry, with an emphasis on forensics (Rauschart, 2001). According to this author, "The [criminal justice] field is changing rapidly, too, as technology quickly has assumed a crucial role in forensics, research and analysis" (p. 4). Both governmental agencies and private industry are using forensics professionals to help them achieve their organizational goals, but this has created a scarcity of qualified candidates. In this regard, Piazza suggests that recruiting and keeping qualified personnel remains a continuing challenge. Citing…