Best Criminal Justice Schools in Oklahoma (2027)

The degree covers police, courts, corrections and juvenile justice, with courses such as Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Law I and II, Criminal Procedure, Police Operations, Criminal Investigation and Criminal Justice Community Relations, and electives ranging from forensics to criminal investigations. There are no options within the degree, and a minor is required. NSU lists it at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and online; the online version uses 8-week classes in a fully online degree completion format.

First-time freshmen apply with an official high school transcript, while NSU aims the online completion format at students who have an associate degree or are close to finishing one. Students with CLEET credentials may be eligible for up to 27 hours toward the degree, and an accelerated pathway lets admitted students complete up to 12 hours of graduate credit that counts toward both the B.S. and NSU’s M.S. in Criminal Justice.

Both degrees are 120 credit hours, taught 100% online in asynchronous, 8-week courses, with start dates in fall, spring and summer. They share American Judicial Processes, Critical Inquiry in Interdisciplinary Studies, Portfolio in Interdisciplinary Studies, and Police and Policing; the BS in Criminal Justice adds Comparative Justice Systems, The American Correctional System, Theories of Criminal Behavior, Juvenile Delinquency, Foundation of Ethics in Liberal Studies and Interdisciplinary Inquiry, while the Criminal Justice Leadership major adds Effective Communication, Leadership in Organizations, Digital Literacy and Data Analysis, Innovation and Problem-Solving, Criminal Justice Administration and Conflict Resolution.

OU Online describes the BS in Criminal Justice as a degree completion program for transfer students and working professionals who have already earned college credit after high school. Applicants must be at least 21 years old by the first day of class or on active duty, with at least 24 letter-graded college credit hours earned after high school and a 2.0 GPA; the Criminal Justice Leadership major is for applicants who are 25 or older or have been out of high school at least five years, with at least 60 college credit hours earned after high school and a 2.0 GPA. Dual or concurrent enrollment coursework taken in high school does not count toward these minimums, and OU Online lists the time to complete as 12 to 18+ months.

A major in Criminal Justice requires 45 hours of coursework in the field within the university minimum of 120 semester hours. Both options share a core of Intro to Criminal Justice, Criminal Law, Organization of Criminal Justice Systems, Criminal Justice Administration and Management and Fundamentals of Social Science Research. The Law Enforcement Option adds Criminal Evidence, Criminal Investigation, Search and Seizure, Court Procedures and a criminal justice internship, while the Corrections Option adds Intro to Corrections, probation and parole, Juvenile Delinquency, Substance Abuse & Addiction and social welfare policy. Northwestern lists the degree at its Alva, Oklahoma; Enid, Oklahoma; and Woodward, Oklahoma campuses and the University Center in Ponca City, Oklahoma.

The department publishes suggested enrollment plans that start in the freshman year. The program is sequenced on an annual rotation, with core subjects taken before electives and other upper-division coursework, and majors are strongly encouraged to finish general education before their junior year. Among the catalog's freshman admission requirements for bachelor's programs are graduation from an accredited high school or a GED and the State Regents' high school curricular requirements. Officers who have completed CLEET training may receive six hours of credit, and corrections employees with at least two years at the Oklahoma Department of Corrections may receive three hours toward Introduction to Corrections.

The catalog plan for the Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice totals 120 hours: general education, the criminal justice major, a minor, and electives to bring the total to 120. Required major courses are Intro to Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Administration, Sociology of Deviant & Crim Behavior, The Criminal Mind, Criminology, Juvenile Justice, U.S. Corrections, Victimology, Statistics for Social Science and Fundamentals of Research, and major electives include Studies in Convict Culture, Intro to Law Enforcement, Privatization of Criminal Justice, Critical Issues in Criminal Justice, Seminar in Criminal Justice, Internship in Criminal Justice and Criminal Law & Procedure. Majors need a minimum grade point average of 2.00 in the major.

SWOSU's general admission requirements ask students graduating from an accredited high school to meet minimum high school curricular requirements that include English, mathematics, lab science, and history and citizenship skills, and SWOSU says GPA, class rank and test scores are factors in admission but not the sole determinants of acceptance; the ACT or SAT is encouraged for scholarship purposes but not required. The Department of Social Sciences has internships available for criminal justice students, and students can join student-led clubs devoted to criminal justice.

Each version of the B.A. takes 124 credit hours across criminal justice courses, advanced subjects, two levels of a foreign language and the University Core, and UCO lists each major as an on-campus program. Classes in the general major can include Community-Based Corrections, Criminology, Critical Issues in Criminal Justice and Drug Dependency and Crime, while the police major lists Cyber Crime, Ethics and International Correction Systems among its classes. Corrections and transformative justice students can join the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program in fall semesters, taking a criminal justice course at a state prison alongside incarcerated individuals.

UCO's program pages list admission requirements for freshman and transfer students, and the university admits students who have not attended a college or university before as incoming freshmen; some programs require a secondary application. Under an agreement with the police department in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, UCO offers 15 credit hours toward a bachelor's degree in criminal justice to those who complete that department's police academy. Criminal justice majors can live in an on-campus Living Learning Community, and a criminal justice minor is offered.

The 2026-2027 degree sheet totals 60 credit hours: 21 in general education and 39 in a technical occupational specialty that includes Emergency Medical Responder, Intro to Law Enforcement & Police Procedures, Rules of Evidence, Patrol Procedures, Community Relations and Ethical Policing, and Principles of Investigation and Interview. Students in the COPS program take a firearms, defensive tactics, driver training and field sobriety track, while others select 6 credit hours approved by the department. The Crime Scene Investigation concentration has its own degree sheet, which totals 69 credit hours and adds courses such as Introduction to Forensic Science, Crime Scene Photography and Fingerprint Identification.

OSU-OKC calls itself an open admissions campus. Its first-time college student requirements ask for an official high school transcript showing the date of graduation, and the general application checklist waives the transcript for students with 24 or more college credit hours or who are 21 or older. The school says the degree can transfer to a Bachelor’s in Public Safety at Oklahoma State University.

The degree covers the criminal justice system, its major subsystems and its relation to each level of government, along with theories of deviance, American philosophies of punishment, individual rights, constitutional provisions, crime data collection methods, and criminal procedure and due process. The program core is Introduction to Criminal Justice and Criminal Law, and recommended electives include Introduction to State and Local Government, Beginning Spanish I, Cultural Diversities, and Deviance, Crime & Delinquency, or any course with a CJ prefix. Murray State College Online delivers the degree through Blackboard with no set class times and no visits to campus, and the college's degree check sheet lists 60 total credit hours.

Murray State College Online admits first-time freshmen and students who have not yet earned transferable credit, and its Special Adult Admission policy covers students 21 and older, students on active military duty, and some non-high school graduates whose class has graduated and who have taken the ACT or SAT. The Law Enforcement option keeps the same core but lists Law Enforcement Skills courses among its electives, with their credit awarded through CLEET certification and credit for Criminal Law awarded through the SoTech BPOC program. Murray State says many of the courses can also be used to meet continuing education requirements for law enforcement and related fields.

The catalog's plan for the Criminal Justice associate in arts totals 60 degree program hours: 38 hours of general education, including Freshman Composition I and II, American history, American Government and Computers in Society, and 22 hours of program requirements. The program core is Freshman Year Experience, Introduction to Criminal Justice and Elementary Criminal Law, and students complete 15 more hours directed by an advisor from a list that includes Introduction to Corrections, Criminal Investigation, Report Writing, Criminal Legal Procedures, Juvenile Delinquency, Criminal Justice Research, General Psychology, Social Psychology and Introduction to Sociology.

Applicants who are graduates of an accredited high school or hold a high school equivalency certificate based on the GED test are eligible for admission to NEO A&M College, and high school students in their final semester may apply for early enrollment with a seven-semester transcript. The catalog advises students to consult the catalog of the college or university they plan to transfer to and choose courses that meet both the baccalaureate and associate degree requirements, and the program page says the program provides a foundation for a bachelor's or master's degree in criminal justice as well as for direct employment in the field.