Best Criminal Justice Schools in Michigan (2027)

Students finish the associate degree requirements first, then enter the bachelor's program in a law enforcement, corrections or generalist concentration. The law enforcement concentration includes courses such as Precision Driving, Firearms and Michigan Criminal Law, and the school lists its Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) certification courses within it. The corrections concentration covers probation, parole, adult institutions and community corrections, and the generalist concentration lets students add technical skills in areas such as forensic science, communication, accounting or Spanish. The criminal justice internship places students in an agency for over 200 hours, and classes are held on the main campus in Big Rapids, Michigan, online, or in a mixed delivery format.

All students who want the bachelor's degree must complete an associate degree in criminal justice, then apply to the bachelor's program, where admission is competitive and granted as space permits. New students need a minimum 2.50 GPA and transfer students a combined 2.00 GPA, and both must complete the course requirements of the Ferris State criminal justice associate degree. The degree completion program at statewide and online locations requires either a completed associate degree or at least 48 transferable semester credit hours.

The program offers a basic orientation to the institutions and processes of criminal justice through core and social science courses, and students can pursue interests in juvenile justice, police administration, adult corrections and security. An optional concentration in Cyber Investigations, open only to students completing the B.A., prepares students to combat cybercrime and conduct digital forensic investigations. Students also meet the College of Social Science experiential learning requirement, and MSU requires a minimum of 120 credits to graduate.

The degree is designed to prepare students for entry-level positions in public and private agencies tied to criminal justice administration. First-year applicants can still be in high school or hold a diploma or GED, and freshmen and sophomores can change their major to criminal justice through University Advising, while students with 40 credits or more first meet a Criminal Justice advisor. Through Shared Programs, students who have reached 56 credits and hold a cumulative GPA of 3.2 can be considered to take up to 9 credits of graduate courses in their junior and senior years, credits the school shares between the undergraduate and graduate records; admission to a School of Criminal Justice master's program is a separate application in the final year.

The degree requires 120 credits, combining Wayne State's general education requirements and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences group requirements with a 39-credit major: the required core courses CRJ 1010 Introduction to Criminal Justice, CRJ 2550 Race, Crime and Justice, CRJ 3550 Research Methods in Criminal Justice and CRJ 3800 Criminological Theories, plus at least twenty-seven credits of other CRJ courses, with a minimum of 12 of those credits at the 3000 level or higher. The department lists the degree's requirements as general education, a CLAS foreign language or American Sign Language requirement, the criminal justice major and a minor chosen after admission. Practical field experience is built into the curriculum, and internships are arranged under the guidance of the internship coordinator.

Admission to the program is satisfied by Wayne State's general undergraduate admission, which asks first-year applicants for an official high school transcript showing college preparatory coursework. Criminal justice majors must keep at least a 2.0 grade point average overall and in the major. Majors with a cumulative and major GPA of at least 3.3 can enter the department's honors program, which ends in an original honors thesis written in the senior year, and seniors with a major GPA of 3.3 can apply to AGRADE to count up to fifteen credits toward both the B.S. and the Master of Science in Criminal Justice.

Students choose the Criminal Justice track, focused on policing, courts and corrections, or the Justice Studies track, which examines issues such as equity, advocacy and human rights; coursework covers topics such as criminology, juvenile justice, race and justice, and the causes of crime. WMU lists the program as offered in Kalamazoo, Michigan and online, and it appears on the university's list of online undergraduate programs. Service-learning and applied research courses work with community partners, students can take individual internships with approved agencies, and WMU says students have the option of pursuing a law enforcement certification through the program's affiliation with the Kalamazoo Law Enforcement Training Center.

WMU says admission to the program follows its standard undergraduate admissions requirements, with nothing extra required to get started, and most students declare the major in their sophomore year. The degree sits in the Department of Sociology, and the Criminal Justice Student Association hosts an annual career fair that draws agencies and law schools.

Oakland's catalog lists the degree at 120 credits, a program length of 4 years and in-person delivery. The degree begins with core coursework in criminology, law, research and statistics, then electives in areas such as substance abuse, race and ethnicity, cybercrime, white collar crime, threat assessment, terrorism and homeland security, information privacy, civil rights and constitutional law, and some requirements are met with courses in information technology, business, public administration, international studies or other disciplines. The department names three defining features: a required interdisciplinary component, a required internship and a required capstone course. The internship course, CRJ 4950, runs a classroom component alongside at least 16 hours a week at the internship site for the entire 15-week semester; internships are not paid, and the course is usually taken in the second-to-last semester.

Oakland considers first-year applicants on a combination of criteria, including a cumulative high school grade point average of 3.2 or above, and may admit applicants between 2.5 and 3.2 after considering the quality of their academic preparation. Criminal justice majors and minors must keep a C+ in each criminal justice course to stay in good standing, and internship sites conduct background checks and drug testing, including for marijuana. The department lists internship settings such as substance abuse centers, correctional facilities, probation offices, police departments, juvenile detention centers and corporate IT security operations, and the optional homeland security and cybersecurity concentrations let students specialize.

The Criminal Justice (AA) requires a minimum of 60 credits, and its plan of study includes Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Ethics, Criminal Justice Constitutional Law, Criminal Evidence and Procedure, Criminal Law and Criminal Investigation, with a choice of Juvenile Justice or On the Job Training; WCC says the program is also available online. The Criminal Justice - Law Enforcement (AAS) also requires a minimum of 60 credits, and students must complete its academic program before entering the Police Academy component (Law Enforcement Training Part I and Law Enforcement Training Part II).

WCC says admission to the Police Academy component is based on passing reading, writing and physical activity examinations as well as fingerprinting and criminal history checks, and that students are admitted to the program based on priorities established by the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES). Students who do not enter the academy may complete the Criminal Justice associate in arts instead. WCC says the AA helps prepare students for jobs in the courts, in corrections and in state and federal law enforcement, and it lists articulation agreements with Central State University, Eastern Michigan University, Ferris State University and Madonna University.

Coursework covers criminal law, criminology, investigations, police procedures and the American judicial system. The Generalist degree gives a background in police procedures and administration plus wider criminal justice subjects, totals 61 to 64 credit hours, and is designed to meet 2 + 2 and 3 + 1 bachelor's degree requirements at transfer schools. The Law Enforcement degree centers on police administration and procedures, criminal investigations and law, and totals 61 to 63 credit hours. Every course in the program is available online or in person.

OCC has an open admissions policy that admits high school graduates and GED recipients, though in most cases students also complete a placement test and new student orientation. Online students first complete a free, mandatory online learning readiness course. The college notes that completing a police academy is required to become a sworn officer.

The Criminal Justice A.A.S. is built for careers in local, county and state law enforcement, the courts, loss prevention and juvenile and adult corrections, and Mott says students headed for business, early childhood education, social work or paramedic work may also want select criminal justice courses. The Corrections A.A.S. prepares students for jobs in federal and state prisons, county and city jails, halfway houses, probation and parole departments and private security. The Criminal Justice Certificate (30 credits) is a shortened version of the associate degree, and the college's degree pathway lays out one possible full-time course sequence over two years.

Mott's admissions page welcomes recent graduates and adult learners, whether they hold a diploma or a G.E.D. Graduates of a Michigan, other U.S. state or federal police academy may receive 16 articulated credits toward either A.A.S. (for Patrol Administration Procedures, Techniques of Criminal Investigation, Criminal Law and Procedure, Practicum in Criminal Justice, Physical Conditioning and Self-Defense), and corrections officer academy graduates may receive 9 or 6 credits; the credit is awarded after five 100- or 200-level Mott courses with a grade of 2.0 (C) or higher. Mott says the Corrections A.A.S. fulfills the educational requirements to apply to a state-approved Michigan Department of Corrections officer training program, as long as students earn a 2.0 in all CORR, CRJU, SOCY and PSYC coursework, and it notes that people with criminal records may not be eligible for civil service positions.