Best Criminal Justice Schools in Utah (2027)

The B.S. requires 120 semester credits: 30 credits of general education, a 77-credit discipline core and 13 credits of electives. The core includes courses such as Introduction to Corrections Process, Criminal Law, Criminal Investigations, Introduction to Policing, Juvenile Justice, Laws of Evidence, Criminology, Victimology, Constitutional Criminal Rights, Research Methods in Criminal Justice and a Criminal Justice Capstone Seminar, and within it students choose 18 credits (12 upper-division) from criminal justice, national security studies or intelligence studies courses, with an internship strongly recommended. The department says students can complete their criminal justice degrees online, in person or through a mix of both, and the catalog publishes a separate online graduation plan.

UVU is an open-admissions university that enrolls students starting college after high school. Students need a C- or higher in all discipline core and criminal justice elective courses and a 2.0 overall GPA. Credits from UVU’s criminal justice associate degree count toward the bachelor’s, and fully online students living outside Utah pay a flat per-credit online rate.

The department’s degree page sets out the criminal justice curriculum as 31 credit hours of required courses and 18 hours of electives (49 credit hours), within the 120 total credit hours a bachelor’s degree requires. Required courses include Introduction to Criminal Justice; Corrections: History, Theory and Practice; Criminal Law and Courts; Policing: History, Theory and Practice; Theories of Crime and Delinquency; Victimology; CJ Research Methods; Constitutional Rights; and Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice, finishing with either a senior thesis or an internship. The Crime Scene Investigation concentration has its own degree requirements and mixes criminal justice, basic science and forensic science courses, and Weber State also offers the bachelor’s fully online.

Weber State is an open-enrollment university, and new freshmen apply with official high school transcripts or GED documentation. Students need a C or better in all courses for the major and an overall GPA of 2.5 or higher. The degree page says it is strongly recommended that students declare a minor, while students in the Crime Scene Investigation concentration are not required to have one. The online page addresses both students enhancing a current career and those starting down a new path, and it notes that law enforcement employees may qualify for a Public Safety Officer Career Advancement Grant.

The Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice sits in SUU's Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice and gives an in-depth understanding of law enforcement, courts and corrections, with a choice of a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science. Students can earn up to twelve credits through internships with public or private agencies, and summer study abroad is offered. The program is listed both on campus in Cedar City, Utah and online through SUU Online, and online courses are also open to on-campus students.

SUU admits first-time freshmen who have graduated from high school or taken the GED or HiSET, and those with a cumulative unweighted high school GPA of 2.4 or higher are fully admitted. SUU says online tuition is the same for in-state and out-of-state students. SUU says the program’s curriculum is designed to meet prerequisites for law school and other advanced study in criminal justice, and the department also offers a criminal justice minor.

Each bachelor’s degree requires 120 credits, and the two emphases are built differently. The Criminology emphasis pairs a criminal justice core (Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Law or Criminal Investigation, Criminology, a choice of Criminal Justice Reform, Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice or Current Issues in Criminal Justice, and Criminal Justice Sr Practicum) with 33 emphasis credits, including Introduction to Statistics, Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Capstone Research in Criminal Justice and 24 elective credits from courses such as Victimology, Juvenile Justice and Crimes Against Humanity. The Law Enforcement emphasis totals 45 credits: Interpersonal Communication, Communication and Conflict, Criminology, a choice of Criminal Justice Reform, Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice or Current Issues in Criminal Justice, Technical Writing, Social Ethics and General Psychology or Introduction to Sociology, plus three social and behavioral science classes, three ethical communication classes and two policy and practice classes.

Utah Tech is an open-enrollment institution, and first-year applicants submit high school transcripts or GED scores. The catalog says the Law Enforcement emphasis builds skills that supplement academy training, and it cautions that the degree does not automatically qualify a graduate for law enforcement work: police officers must also complete POST (Police Academy). Each emphasis can be earned as a BA, which adds a foreign language requirement, or a BS.

The department's degrees page, which covers both the AS and the AAS, lists required criminal justice courses (Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Law, Criminal Investigations, Introduction to Forensic Science and Laws of Evidence) and elective courses that include Introduction to Corrections, Introduction to Policing, Juvenile Justice and Crime Scene Processing. SLCC says most criminal justice lecture courses meet at the Miller Campus and online. Students headed for sworn law enforcement or corrections work must attend a Law Enforcement Academy (CJ 1910 and CJ 1920), and SLCC says the criminal justice major alone does not lead to that employment.

SLCC is an open enrollment college: the only admission requirement is a state-recognized high school diploma or a GED. The AS is designed to transfer and satisfy general education requirements for a bachelor's degree at any four-year public institution in Utah, while the AAS carries fewer general education courses, so students who later transfer with it will need additional general education courses.

The Criminal Justice, A.S. and Criminal Justice, A.A. each require 60 semester credits: general education, a 15-credit discipline core of Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Investigations, Introduction to Forensic Science, Criminal Law and Laws of Evidence, and electives. The A.A. adds 8 credit hours of course work in one foreign language. UVU lists the A.S. among its online degrees, and the department says students can complete their criminal justice degrees online, in person or through a mix of both. An 18-credit Criminal Justice, Undergraduate Certificate pairs Introduction to Academic Writing and a quantitative literacy math course with Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Law, Criminal Investigations and Introduction to Forensic Science.

UVU is an open-admissions university that enrolls students starting college after high school. The department describes its programs as stackable: a one-year certificate counts toward a two-year degree, and a two-year degree counts toward the Bachelor of Science. Students need a C- or higher in all discipline core and criminal justice elective courses. UVU also says it is a sanctioned provider of the Utah Law Enforcement Academy, which the catalog lists as the Law Enforcement, Undergraduate Certificate, a by-permission-only class that requires the State POST application.

The degree takes 60 total hours and requires at least 21 criminal justice credits: 12 credit hours of core courses (Introduction to Criminal Justice; Corrections: History, Theory and Practice; Criminal Law and Courts; and Policing: History, Theory and Practice) and 9 credit hours of criminal justice electives, from courses such as Criminal Investigation, Introduction to Forensic Science, Juvenile Justice, Crime Scene Investigation and Laws of Evidence. Students need a C or better in every CJ course and an overall GPA of 2.5 or higher. Weber State's online criminal justice page lists the associate degree in person or online, and the department is in Ogden, Utah.

Weber State is an open-enrollment university, and new freshmen apply with official high school transcripts or GED documentation. The associate degree suits students who want a two-year credential covering the whole criminal justice system, and Weber State also offers a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, a criminal justice minor and certificates of proficiency in juvenile justice and victim advocacy.