Best Criminal Justice Schools in Indiana (2027)

Each concentration totals 120 credit hours: 38 hours of general education, Intro to Criminal Justice as the requisite for the major, 45 hours of upper-level criminal justice courses and 34 hours of electives. The Probation, Parole and Courts concentration covers Criminology, Criminal Law, Laws of Evidence, Juvenile Delinquency, ethics, Corrections, and Probation and Parole, while the Forensic Criminology concentration includes Forensic Psychology, Serial Killers, Cults in America, Psychology of Stalking and Criminal Profiling. Both list an internship or field experience, Research in Criminal Justice and a senior seminar.

First-time freshmen need a high school diploma with a GPA of at least 2.0, or an official GED test score, and applicants below the GPA standard may still be accepted after the Enrollment Management Office reviews their file. Once in the major, students must keep a GPA of 2.50 in their major courses and a cumulative GPA of 2.0. The college says the program prepares students for entry-level positions at local, state and federal levels and for graduate study or law school. Calumet College of St. Joseph is in Whiting, Indiana.

The degree requires 120 credit hours across the 30-credit IU Indianapolis Common Core, 21 credits of O'Neill general education requirements, the major and open electives. The 48-credit Criminal Justice major has 33 credits of core courses (The American Criminal Justice System; Public Safety in America; Theoretical Foundations of Criminal Justice Policies; Criminal Justice Data, Methods, and Resources; The Criminal Courts; Career Development and Planning; Diversity Issues in Criminal Justice; Criminal Law and Procedure; American Policing; Corrections; and the Crime and Public Policy Capstone) plus five electives worth 15 credits (nine of those credits must be at the 300 or 400 level), chosen from a list that includes Juvenile Justice, Criminal Investigation, Evidence, Terrorism and Public Policy, Foundations of Homeland Security and an Internship in Criminal Justice. Students also select a minor that complements their interests, such as forensic science, pre-law or psychology.

Freshmen apply to IU Indianapolis first: those with a 3.3 high school GPA, or a 3.0 GPA with a 1000+ SAT score or an ACT composite of 21, are admitted directly to the O'Neill School, and other applicants begin in University College and are admitted to O'Neill after declaring an O'Neill major and earning a 2.0 GPA. At IU Indianapolis, no more than 50 percent of the courses used for the Criminal Justice major may be transfer courses, and sworn full-time police officers who graduated from any of the five Indiana law enforcement academies can earn undergraduate credit hours from the O'Neill School. The degree's other major, Public Safety Management, focuses on large-scale disaster preparedness, homeland security and lifesaving services such as firefighting and emergency medical services.

The degree requires 120 semester hours, including 30 hours of general education, and IWU's catalog says the criminal justice major requires 42 credits in 14 core courses. The program page says the coursework covers criminal law and procedure, ethics in criminal justice, evidence based policing, report writing for law enforcement and research methods, along with forensics, victimology, restorative justice and diversity, and it names Criminal Procedures and Crisis Intervention among the key courses. Courses are asynchronous and fully online with no required in-person residencies: most run in accelerated five-week terms, students typically take one course at a time and progress independently rather than in a cohort, and the program has no clinicals or student teaching and does not require an internship. Graduation also requires a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher and a GPA of 2.25 or higher in the required core courses.

Admission requires proof of high school graduation or GED certification and transcripts from all previous college study, and a student must have completed at least 60 transferable credit hours before starting the major courses. Up to 75 percent of undergraduate credits and 50 percent of major coursework may be transferred, subject to transcript evaluation, and Prior Learning Assessment can award credit for relevant professional experience. IWU says the program is designed for working adults, that bachelor's degree completion often takes two to four years depending on transfer credits, and that students can begin at several points during the fall, spring and summer terms; a student's tuition rate stays the same while they remain continuously enrolled in the same program.

The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice is taught online and consists of a minimum of 180 quarter credits, and students complete a capstone project that applies what they studied to real-world criminal justice scenarios. Students may add a concentration in business foundations, crime scene investigation, forensic psychology, homeland security, juvenile justice or law enforcement, though the catalog says a concentration is not required, and an optional internship is available.

Admission requires a high school diploma, a GED certificate or another equivalency diploma. Purdue Global says certified officers who have completed Peace Officer Standard Training may qualify for 25 credits toward the degree, and it states that graduates of its criminal justice programs are not eligible to attend police academies in Minnesota.

The major requires at least 30 credit hours: Introduction to Criminal Justice, Theories of Crime and Deviance, a research course (The Nature of Inquiry or Research Applications in Criminology and Criminal Justice), a statistics course, four criminology and criminal justice electives and two more courses at the 400 level. At least 27 credit hours must be taken within the department, and the Bachelor of Arts as a whole requires at least 120 credit hours, including College of Arts and Sciences Breadth of Inquiry courses in arts and humanities, natural and mathematical sciences, and social and historical studies, and proficiency in a single foreign language through the second semester of the second year of college-level coursework.

At least 18 credit hours of the major must be completed through the Indiana University Bloomington campus or an IU overseas study program, and the department also offers a minor, a certificate and an Accelerated Master's Program.

The online Associate of Applied Science in Criminal Justice totals 90 quarter credits across 18 courses: 3 core, 8 major and 7 elective courses. Sample courses include Preparing for a Career in Public Safety, Introduction to the Criminal Justice System, Criminal Investigation, Criminal Procedure and an associate capstone in criminal justice. Purdue Global lists average completion at 2 years on a full-time schedule.

Applicants must be high school graduates or hold a GED or other equivalency diploma and must complete orientation before classes start. Purdue Global says the associate degree can transfer into its criminal justice bachelor's degree, covering half of that program's requirements. It also says law enforcement jobs may require academy training it does not provide, and that graduates of its criminal justice programs are not eligible to attend police academies in Minnesota.

The 60-credit associate degree combines core criminal justice courses with liberal arts, and IWU says its courses in criminal law, criminal procedures and investigations teach legal concepts, terminology and the processes used in real cases. The competencies it lists are report writing for law enforcement, criminal justice research and data analysis, ethics in criminal justice practice, crisis intervention and community policing, constitutional law and criminal procedures, and corrections and rehabilitation. Courses are asynchronous and fully online with no required in-person residencies; most run in accelerated five-week terms, students typically take one course at a time, and they progress independently rather than in a cohort. Graduation requires 24 hours of general education and a GPA of 2.0 or higher in the core.

Admission requires proof of a standard high school diploma or GED certification. IWU accepts up to 75 percent of undergraduate credits and 50 percent of major coursework in transfer, subject to transcript evaluation, and Prior Learning Assessment can award credit for professional experience. The page says the program suits students new to criminal justice or exploring careers in law enforcement, corrections or courts, and a student's tuition rate stays the same while they remain continuously enrolled in the same program. IWU also offers a 16-credit-hour online Certificate in Criminal Justice that builds introductory knowledge of criminal justice and law enforcement and can serve as a steppingstone toward an associate or bachelor's degree.

Both associate degrees run 60 credit hours over 4 semesters. The Associate of Applied Science pairs general education with program coursework and ends with a capstone course and an end-of-program learning assessment, while the Associate of Science is built to transfer to a four-year degree and is available 100% online as well as at 19 Indiana locations. Ivy Tech says students can focus on law enforcement, corrections/probation, court services, public, private and business security, forensics and cyber security and investigations, or youth services, and that its criminal justice courses run in person, online, virtually and in blended formats.

Ivy Tech describes the applied degree as a fit for students who want to begin working in the field right after graduating or who already work in it, and the transfer degree as a fit for students headed to a four-year institution. The college has an open-access admission policy, and the program lists reading and writing prerequisites: students demonstrate competency through assessment or by earning a C or better in the listed courses. Ivy Tech also offers a Technical Certificate in Criminal Justice and shorter certificates in criminal justice, professionalism in corrections, professionalism in policing and school resource officer training, and it recommends completing one on the way to an associate degree.