Best Colleges for Criminal Justice, Ranked (2027)

The degree totals 120 units: a 48-unit major, 52 units of general education and graduation requirements, and free electives. The lower-division core is Introduction to Criminal Justice, Elementary Criminal Law, Basic Criminal Investigation, Police Community Relations, Introduction to Sociology, and Elements of Statistics and Probability; the upper-division core is Research Methods in Criminal Justice, Ethics and Criminal Justice Administration, Crime Theory, and Criminal Law and Courts. Students then take one course from each group and two electives from a list that includes Internship in Criminal Justice and Practicum in Criminal Justice. Every major course needs a grade of C (2.0) or higher, and the catalog lists the program's delivery format as face to face.

Cal State East Bay publishes a four-year roadmap for students who start as freshmen and a two-year ADT roadmap, and the catalog says students may qualify for internship placement in criminal justice agencies throughout the Bay Area. The Department of Criminal Justice, based on the Hayward, California campus, also offers a 24-unit Criminal Justice Minor whose courses cover law, law enforcement, ethics, corrections and the courts.

For students with a fall 2026 catalog year or later, the major is 54 units: six required core courses, two of three breadth courses (Introduction to Criminal Courts, Police and Society, Complexities in Corrections), five criminal justice electives with three at the 400 level, one upper-division writing course and four related-fields courses. The core is Introduction to Criminal Justice, Concepts of Criminal Law, Mythology of Crime and Justice, Theories of Crime and Delinquency, Criminal Justice Research Methodology, and Race, Inequality and the Criminal Justice System. The bachelor's degree takes 120 total units, so students add free electives or a minor.

The department publishes four-year and five-year plans for first-time freshmen and two-year and three-year plans for transfer students, and a community college course can satisfy Introduction to Criminal Justice and Concepts of Criminal Law. A formal concentration is not required, though the department says many students build one informally, and internships and independent study are optional electives.

The Criminal Justice BA requires 120 units, 50 of them in the major. The foundation courses are Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Ethics, Criminology, Introduction to Research Methods and a Senior Seminar in Criminal Justice taken with an independent study. Students then choose 11 disciplinary electives drawn largely from criminal justice, international relations, legal studies, public administration and political science, with options such as Policing in America, Juvenile Justice Process, Restorative Justice, Criminal Procedure and an internship. Chico State lists the program's delivery type as on campus, in Chico, California.

Bachelor's students can apply to a blended Criminal Justice BA and Public Administration MPA once they have completed 60 undergraduate units, including 15 units in the major. Students in the major can join the Criminal Justice Student Association, which Chico State says was created by and for students in the major, and students can work with faculty as research assistants and present at the department's Research Symposium.

The degree requires a minimum of 120 units, at least 40 of them upper division, and it is a single-field major, so no minor is required. The lower-division requirements are Info Sys/Tech Fundamentals and one mathematics course such as Finite Mathematics or Elementary Statistics and Probability; the upper-division core is Foundations of Public Administration, Research Methods and Communication in Criminal Justice Administration, Crim Justice & Community, Statistics in Criminal Justice Administration, Legal and Ethical Foundations of Justice in Criminal Justice Administration, Theories of Crime and Criminal Justice Policy, Criminal Law & Justice Admin, Juvenile Justice Process, Policing & Admin. of Justice, Corrections Administration and Policy, Gender, Race and the Administration of Justice and the Capstone in Criminal Justice Administration, plus four elective courses. The Homeland Security Studies concentration requires Terrorism & Extremism, Intelligence and National Security and Homeland Security and one more course from an approved list. CSUDH runs on semesters with courses in fall and spring and some optional summer courses, schedules courses in day, evening, online and hybrid formats, and teaches them primarily in the Innovation & Instruction Building on its Carson, California campus.

The catalog lays out a four-year roadmap that starts with first-year general education courses and a two-year roadmap for transfer students, and it advises high school students to take college preparatory courses in English and mathematics. Admitted students receive a degree plan to track their courses, and advisors at the Student Success Center help with scheduling and registration in person or online. The department's Criminal Justice Administration minor is open to students in any major.

The major is 36 hours in criminology within a 120-hour BS or BA. Its four core courses, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminology, Introduction to Research Methods and Statistics in Criminology, require a C or higher, and students choose 24 more hours of criminology courses with an advisor. Students also complete a minor or second major in another department or program, or the internship in criminology; the optional one-semester full-time internship is 15 credit hours, of which three count toward the major. The online bachelor’s needs no on-campus visits and leads to the same diploma as the campus program.

The campus major has no specialized admission or prerequisite coursework, and FSU’s academic map is designed to keep students on course to graduate in four years; to progress to the upper-division major, students need at least 52 hours of credit with a 2.00 GPA and half their general education hours, or an A.A. Online students need an Associate of Arts from a Florida public institution or completion of FSU’s general education requirements. The Law Enforcement Operations major, a BS in Public Safety & Security taught in person only at the Panama City, Florida campus and online, admits students certified for upper-division study, transfer students with 52 or more semester hours, or Florida public college A.A. graduates; its core is The Criminal Justice System, Ethics in Policing and Intelligence, Applied Probability and Computer Apps in Criminal Justice.