Best Criminal Justice Schools in Wisconsin (2027)

Both degrees spend the first 60 credits mostly on general education plus the first core criminal justice courses, then move into chosen coursework in policing, corrections, criminological theory, law, forensic investigation, alcohol and other drug abuse counseling, and private security. Required courses in the catalog include Introduction to Criminal Justice, Foundations of Policing, Foundations of Corrections, Criminal Law, and a Criminal Justice and Forensic Investigation Senior Seminar. An optional emphasis directs a student's elective credits, and the catalog says the Law Enforcement and Corrections emphases are available at the Platteville, Wisconsin campus and online through the Distance campus.

The university takes both freshman and transfer applicants. Students who completed a Wisconsin law enforcement academy approved by the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Training and Standards Bureau receive 15 credit hours of lower-level transfer credit toward the bachelor's degree. On-campus students can work through simulated crime scenes at the Forensic Investigation Crime Scene House, and an accelerated pathway lets students apply undergraduate credits toward the university's master's degree in criminal justice.

Students complete at least 120 credits, and the major is built around required courses such as Introduction to Policing, Introduction to Corrections, Introduction to Criminal Courts, and a Criminal Justice Capstone Seminar. Students can add a crime analysis specialization, and field placement, which is elective but strongly encouraged, lets students work in a criminal justice setting and earn three credits for each semester. The degree is taught on the Milwaukee, Wisconsin campus and online, and the online version starts in fall, spring or summer.

Applicants need to meet UWM's general admission requirements, and intended majors spend their first two years building a liberal arts foundation, so the degree can be started as a first-year student. The online format is aimed at working professionals such as police officers and crime analysts, and students transferring from the UW System or the Wisconsin Technical College System can bring up to 72 credits.

The major requires 42 credits: 27 credits of required core courses and 15 credits of electives, with coursework in law, corrections, policing and criminology. UW Oshkosh describes it as an academically centered major rather than a professional training program, and it awards the degree as a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Applied Science. Online courses run in seven-week sessions with no live classes or scheduled meeting times, and students can start at the beginning of any session; campus classes meet in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Acceptance into the major requires a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 or greater on a minimum of 30 credits. With an advisor's permission, students can earn up to eight elective credits through an internship in a criminal justice or related service agency.

The degree requires a minimum of 120 semester credit hours: 64 hours of required courses, at least 15 hours of open electives, a 3-credit capstone project or internship, at least 36 hours of general education and 2 hours of professional development courses. Required courses include Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Law, Ethics in Criminal Justice, Predictive Policing and Crime Technology, Criminal Investigation, Victimology, Restorative and Transformative Justice, Cybercriminology and The Globalization of Crime. All courses are delivered 100% online through the Canvas learning management system, Herzing lists the program length as 36 months, and online students in some states may not be allowed to take the internship.

Applicants need a high school diploma, GED or equivalent, must show they can succeed in college-level courses through prior ACT/SAT scores, prior college credit or additional entrance testing, and interview with a Herzing admissions advisor. Transfer students can bring in up to 90 approved credits, and students in the program can take up to 9 credit hours of dual-credit graduate coursework toward Herzing's MBA or MSW. Herzing offers classes during the day or in the evening for busy non-traditional students and admits on a rolling basis with no application deadlines.

Marian's criminal justice program stresses five core areas of the U.S. criminal justice system: law enforcement, correctional institutions, probation and parole, juvenile justice and general criminal justice study. The bachelor's degree requires at least 120 credits, and the major's 30-credit criminal justice core includes Introduction to the Criminal Justice System, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Critical Issues in Criminal Justice, Criminology, Corrections, and Race, Gender, and Ethnicity, along with Applied Statistics for Social Science, Research Methods and a capstone, plus 15 credits of electives. Campus students attend 15-week semesters with lectures and hands-on, field-based learning and are strongly encouraged to complete a criminal justice internship, while the online version runs in 7-week courses.

First-year students enter through Marian's traditional undergraduate admission, which is contingent on a final official high school transcript. Online students can transfer up to 90 credits. In the online program, those currently working in law enforcement are eligible for a 10% tuition discount on all courses, and transfer credit is available to those who have completed the recruit academy. Through agreements with Wisconsin state technical colleges, Marian lets transfer students apply associate degrees in police science, corrections, and probation and parole toward the bachelor's degree, and credits may be awarded for prior certified training in law enforcement and corrections.

The 62-credit program's course list covers Survey of Criminal Justice, Police in America, Criminal Procedure, Juvenile Justice, Criminology, Substantive Criminal Law, Justice Administration, Ethics in Criminal Justice, CJ Investigative Strategies, Corrections in America, Relationship-Based Policing, Victimology, CJ Research Methods, CJ Technology, Criminal Justice Report Writing and Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice, alongside English Composition I, Intro to Psychology, Intro to Sociology, Oral/Interpersonal Comm, Quantitative Reasoning and a Strengths Seminar; Western notes that the list shows the expected coursework but is not the official list. Western lists the learning format as hybrid, the location as La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the typical start as fall, and it teaches most courses in seven-week sessions, two in each term, so listed courses may not be taken at the same time.

Admission to the program's core courses requires a high school or GED/HSED transcript, the program's technical standards and a criminal justice background check, which Western says is used only for career advising, not to decide admission. Western says graduates can continue their training in its Law Enforcement or Jail Officer certification academies; its Criminal Justice-Law Enforcement 720 Academy, a separate technical diploma held in person in Sparta, Wisconsin, is designed for students with at least 40 accredited college-level credits who seek to meet Wisconsin certification requirements as law enforcement officers. For students who plan to continue their education, the program lists articulation agreements for university transfer with the University of Wisconsin-Stout, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Viterbo University.

CVTC's Criminal Justice associate degree is 61 credits over two years, taught face-to-face with an August start at its Eau Claire, Wisconsin and River Falls, Wisconsin locations. The program covers various types of law, community policing, corrections, investigations, report writing and professional communication, with sample courses such as Law Enforcement Crisis Management, Patrol Procedures and Criminal Investigation I and II, and its core program courses must be taken in sequence. Students also choose a selective: a criminal justice internship with an agency of their choice (summer only), Law Enforcement Academy Prep (spring only) or a CJ Human Service Seminar.

Applicants who did not graduate from high school, are not high school seniors and hold no HSED or GED diploma can contact CVTC's Adult Education and College Prep to explore options to demonstrate college readiness, and applicants who complete the admission steps are considered for enrollment based on current openings in the program; students accepted to the college but not yet to the program can take general education courses as pre-core students. A criminal background check is required on entry into core courses, and CVTC tells applicants that a felony conviction, a domestic-related criminal conviction or a juvenile violation from 1994 or later that would be a felony as an adult will prevent a person from being certified as a law enforcement officer. Students can apply to CVTC's separate Law Enforcement Academy, a face-to-face technical diploma in Eau Claire, Wisconsin whose 720-hour training CVTC says meets the criteria of the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Standards Board, after completing at least 60 college credits or the associate degree.