Best Criminal Justice Schools in Illinois (2027)

Illinois State offers Criminal Justice Sciences as a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts, each requiring a minimum of 120 total credit hours, and students follow the General, Forensic Investigations or Accelerated sequence. The Forensic Investigations sequence adds applied laboratory work in crime scene processing, evidence collection and preservation, and digital forensics. The catalog lists each sequence as on campus, with 50% or more of instruction on campus, and students become eligible for the required internship after completing 60 semester hours.

The program takes freshman applicants, and transfer applicants need a minimum 2.00 GPA, with no specific courses required for admission. Students with a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher can apply in the spring of their junior year to the Accelerated sequence, which counts up to 12 hours of approved graduate courses toward both the bachelor's and the graduate program in Criminal Justice Sciences.

The BA with a Major in Criminology, Law, and Justice totals 120 semester hours, 33 of them in the major. Required courses include Principles of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Research Methods I and II, then one course from a list that includes Police in Society, Courts in Society, and Punishment, Prisons and Corrections, plus four more courses at the 300 or 400 level. One of the upper-level courses must be a 400-level CLJ course approved for Writing in the Discipline.

UIC Admissions lists first-year, transfer, international and readmission applicants among those who can apply to the program, and students can declare the major when they apply to UIC or at any point after admission. The department publishes a four-year plan of study for the major, and transfer students must complete 18 hours in the CLJ department. The department says the degree also serves as entry to graduate and professional programs such as law, sociology and public administration.

SIUE awards the major as a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Studies. The Bachelor of Science sample curriculum totals 120 hours, and students who want the Bachelor of Arts add one year of foreign language plus more courses in fine and performing arts or humanities. The core is 27 hours of required coursework, including Introduction to Corrections, Principles of Criminal Law, Introduction to Law Enforcement, Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Race and Gender in Criminal Justice, plus 15 hours of criminal justice electives and a supervised internship. The online degree program uses 100% online courses offered in three-, five- and eight-week terms, taught by the same faculty who teach on campus.

First-time freshmen who meet SIUE's automatic admission criteria are eligible for direct entry to the major. The online program is a degree completion option: its admission requirements address transfer students, a complete application includes transcripts from all previously attended colleges, and its sample plan assumes completion of an AA or AS. The department also runs study abroad trips to Ireland and The Netherlands, and an accelerated combined degree lets students finish a bachelor's and master's degree in five academic years.

The Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice is listed at 120 credit hours, with at least 41 semester hours in the major. The core covers Introduction to Criminal Justice, Critical Thinking in Criminal Justice, Statistics for Criminal Justice, Research Methods in Criminal Justice, Criminological Theory and a Senior Seminar, plus 23 hours of electives. Majors also complete at least 10 credit hours of Engaged Citizenship Common Experience coursework, and the department recommends covering 6 of them with an internship. Students choose whether to take the degree online or on campus.

First-year applicants submit a statement of 250-650 words, and applying for the online program follows the same procedure as applying on campus. The department says the degree is designed for students interested in the general study of crime and the administration of justice, and that it prepares students for graduate or professional school in fields such as law, public administration and social work.

SWIC's catalog sets the Associate in Applied Science in Administration of Justice at 61 semester credits, balancing general education with professional coursework aimed at a career in law enforcement. Its criminal justice courses include Intro to Administration of Justice, Police Administration, Policing: Methods and Ethics, Juvenile Delinquency, Community Policing, Criminal Law & Admin of Justice, Rules of Criminal Evidence, Criminal Investigation Case Preparation and Police Report Writing, plus approved AOJ electives and a first responder or medical response course, and the plan also includes Rhetoric & Composition I and II, General Psychology, Intro to American Government, Introductory Sociology and Fundamentals of Public Speaking. Every course in the degree must be completed with a C or better, and SWIC advises students with no criminal justice work experience, or no plans to transfer to a senior institution, to take a work-experience internship. SWIC lists the degree among its online programs, which it delivers through a combination of online, hybrid and on-campus classes with a few required on-campus courses.

SWIC has an open-door admission policy: graduates of a state-recognized high school, holders of a High School Equivalency certificate and people 18 or older who are no longer enrolled in high school are eligible. The program page says the degree prepares students for every level of law enforcement as well as entry-level corrections and private security positions, and notes that some law enforcement positions require a physical fitness test. Alongside the degree, SWIC offers a 27-credit Administration of Justice Certificate and a 16-week intensive Police Academy program that the college says is certified by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board; civilians can apply to the academy as interns. The catalog lists articulation agreements with EIU, McKendree University and SIU for bachelor's programs in criminal justice, criminology and sociology.

The program combines general education with specialized training. Its plan of study starts with Composition I, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Forensics I, mathematics and Introduction to Sociology; continues with Criminal Law, Juvenile Justice, Critical Thinking, Introduction to Psychology and Fundamentals of Speech Communication, then Corrections, Patrol Procedures, Criminology, Community Policing and Investigative Process; and finishes with Leadership and Ethics for Law Enforcement, Criminal Procedures, Crisis Intervention Communication in Law Enforcement and six hours of electives drawn from courses such as Public Safety Dispatcher I and II, Vice and Drug Control, Defensive Techniques, Forensics II through IV and a Law Enforcement Internship. Students who complete the initial 30 to 31 credit hours may continue on the law enforcement career track in Year 2, and Harper's Ti Training Force Simulator, with more than 600 video scenarios, trains criminal justice students in deciding when and how much force to apply.

New degree-seeking students apply online and submit official transcripts from their high schools and any colleges they attended. Harper says the AAS is designed for people seeking a law enforcement career and that its coursework may also prepare students to transfer to a four-year college or university; students aiming for a bachelor's degree can instead follow Harper's Law Enforcement and Justice Administration sample transfer plan, which meets the requirements of the Associate in Arts degree and follows the Illinois Articulation Initiative's law enforcement (criminal justice) major recommendations. Harper also offers a Private Security Certificate.

L&C's criminal justice offerings are an Associate in Applied Science (AAS), an Associate in Arts (AA) and a Certificate of Proficiency (CP); the AAS and the AA each require 60 credit hours. Students study the causes of crime, the workings of the police, courts and correctional systems, and the law in society, and discuss current criminal justice news along with dispute resolution, drugs and crime, child abuse and neglect, gangs, policing, crime theory and private security. L&C says most of these courses can be completed online, that students can finish courses in the degree at their own pace through its PACE option, and that the degree can be pursued in the L&C Honors College. The AA is a transfer degree designed to complete the first two years of a bachelor of arts, combining the transferable General Education Core Curriculum with the lower-division major courses recommended by the Illinois Articulation Initiative.

Students who apply to L&C are automatically accepted, and the college says the program has a path both for experienced officers and for people starting a criminal justice career. Officers can earn credit for knowledge and skills gained on the job through Prior Learning Assessment, and anyone who already holds an associate degree or higher can earn the AAS through the 30 and Out option. For transfer, L&C lists 2 + 2 agreements with SIUE, Eastern Illinois University and UMSL, and transfer agreements or guides with Missouri Baptist University, Lindenwood University, the University of Illinois Springfield and Robert Morris.