Best Online Criminal Justice Degree Programs (2027)

The 120-credit-hour degree is taught 100% online, with courses available 24/7. Major courses include Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminology, Introduction to Court Security, Victimology, Judicial Process, Criminal Law, Criminal Investigation, Criminal Evidence and Legal Issues, Constitutional Law for Criminal Justice and Police and Community Relations. Students may add an optional concentration in Arson Investigation, Communication, Criminology, Forensic Psychology or Forensics.

First-time freshmen submit an official high school transcript or its equivalent, and transfer students submit transcripts from every college they attended. The catalog says the degree is eligible for Accelerated Program Enrollment, CSU's accelerated bachelor's to master's option, which leads into the M.S. Criminal Justice Administration. The university says the program is not designed to meet the educational requirements for a specific professional license or certification.

The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice requires 120 credits. The required core is The Criminal Justice System, Introduction to Policing, Introduction to Corrections, Systemic Issues in Criminal Justice, Criminology, Criminal Law and a capstone seminar, followed by Criminal Justice Research Methods, Statistics in Criminal Justice and Criminal Justice Data Analysis. UMass Lowell lists online, on-campus and hybrid delivery, and a version through its Division of Graduate, Online & Professional Studies is available entirely online. Majors can follow the General, Corrections, Crime and Mental Health, Homeland Security or Police option, and the Paralegal option is online only.

The online program accepts applications year-round with no deadlines, takes applicants with or without previous college experience and accepts up to 90 transfer credits. Majors need at least 36 criminal justice credits. Juniors and seniors with a 3.000 GPA and a B or better in Statistics in Criminal Justice can apply to the bachelor's-to-master's program.

The B.A. and B.S. share a criminal justice foundation (Introduction to the Criminal Justice System, Criminology, Fundamentals of Criminal Law, Correctional Systems and Practice, Police Systems and Practices, and Introduction to Methods of Research) plus Victimology and advanced criminal justice electives; the B.S. adds social science hours and the B.A. adds foreign language hours. Each totals 120-121 hours, and both are offered in person on the Huntsville, Texas campus or online. The Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) in Criminal Justice totals 120 semester credit hours and runs face to face, online, or through a competency-based pathway of self-paced online courses.

First-time college students apply to SHSU through ApplyTexas or Common App with a high school transcript. The BAAS is designed for transfer students, working professionals and military-affiliated students: it can apply credit from an applied associate degree (AAS, AOS, AAB or AST), TCOLE-certified law enforcement training, corrections training and military training on a Joint Services Transcript. Its competency-based courses carry a lower tuition rate, and the university says that pathway is fully online.

The residential B.A. builds from criminal law, procedure, policing, courts and corrections into Criminal Justice Ethics, U.S. Constitutional Law, Research Methods and Elementary Statistics, and electives let students shape their direction within the field. Students may add one or two optional concentrations, Emergency Management and Victim Services, and minors such as criminology, transnational crime, cybercrime and computer forensics, environmental criminology and pre-law. The B.S. is completed entirely online, ends in a capstone project and requires at least 120 semester credits including transfer credits; Norwich says it can be completed over 18 to 24 months.

The B.A. starts with first-year coursework, and Norwich's residential admissions publishes first-year deadlines and requires no SAT or ACT scores. B.A. students with at least a 2.75 cumulative GPA can apply to an accelerated track into Norwich's Master of Public Administration, and Norwich says the B.A. qualifies for the Massachusetts Police Career Incentive Pay Program, known as the Quinn Bill. Norwich's catalog says it designed the online B.S. for experienced law enforcement and criminal justice professionals completing a bachelor's degree, naming soldiers in Army Special Operations and members of the Marine Corps with law enforcement, security or intelligence training, but applicants with no college or military credit can enter with a high school diploma or GED, and the program accepts up to 90 semester credits for training and prior learning.

The degree requires at least 120 credits, including a criminal justice major of at least 42 credits in which every course needs a grade of C or higher unless the catalog says otherwise. Major courses are Criminal Justice, Criminology, Race, Class, & Gender in the Criminal Justice System, Ethics in Criminal Justice, a statistics course, Constitutional Law, Psychology, Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences and the Criminal Justice Major Capstone, plus a 15-credit concentration: General Criminal Justice, with courses such as Forensic Science, Homeland Security and Criminal Justice, Criminal Law and Abnormal Psychology, or Victim Advocacy, built on Sexual and Domestic Violence, Victimology, Mental Health/Substance Abuse in Criminal Justice, and Victim’s Rights and Services. All coursework is online, part time or full time.

Degree candidates must be at least sixteen, able to speak and write standard English, and hold a high school diploma or its equivalency, which they attest to on a form submitted with their application. Charter Oak gives credit for qualified training such as police or fire academy, military, EMS/EMT/paramedic and Judicial Marshal training, and students can also earn credit through a portfolio or standardized exams. Qualifying active-duty personnel pay a flat per-credit tuition rate, and qualifying Connecticut veterans receive a 100% tuition discount.

Both degrees are 120 semester hours and are offered online, with courses that start monthly and run 8 to 16 weeks; APU says the Bachelor of Arts curriculum is delivered entirely online. The Bachelor of Arts requires 27 semester hours of major courses, among them U.S. Law Enforcement, Criminology, Criminal Investigation, Ethics in Criminal Justice, Corrections and Incarceration, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Criminal Legal Process, plus a General, Entrepreneurship, Maritime Law Enforcement or Organizational Law Enforcement Leadership concentration. The Bachelor of Science pairs 30 semester hours of major courses, including Criminal Profiling, Crime Analysis and Criminalistics, with a 27-hour Digital Forensics concentration focused on cybercrime and computer forensics.

APU undergraduate programs require a high school diploma or equivalent, and up to 90 transfer credits may count toward either degree. APU says students can usually finish a criminal justice bachelor's degree in four years when attending full time. It also says these degrees are not designed to meet the educational requirements for professional licensure, and that aspiring law enforcement officers typically need to complete a law enforcement academy.

The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration requires at least 120 semester credit hours, 30 of which must be completed in residence at National University. Topics include forensic science, research methods, juvenile justice and corrections, and students complete at least 7 elective courses (21 semester credit hours) from the program's list. The major closes with a capstone course that runs two months and meets once per week. Classes are offered online and in hybrid form, and in person at locations including Chula Vista, California and Los Angeles, California.

National University accepts and reviews applications year round and welcomes transfer students. Through its transition program, students in the bachelor's with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 who are within their last six courses can take two graduate courses in criminal justice, forensic sciences or public administration as bachelor's degree electives, limited to courses with no prerequisite.

The major is 36 credits on top of the general education core: Foundations of the Criminal Justice System, Building an Integrated Criminal Justice System, Cultural Considerations in Criminal Justice Systems, Ethical Dilemmas and Fundamental Leadership in the Criminal Justice System, Contemporary Issues in the Criminal Justice System, Forensic Exploration in the Criminal Justice System, Exploring the Criminal Mind and Identifying Suspect Behavior, Juvenile Justice, Constitutional and Criminal Law and Justice, Minnesota State Criminal Law and Traffic Codes and Research Methods, plus an internship or a capstone portfolio. The degree totals a minimum of 120 credits, and the 90-credit version keeps the same major courses with fewer electives. Online students choose the Minnesota POST Licensing Eligibility Track or the Non-POST Criminal Justice System Track and study in a fully online, asynchronous format; the degree is also offered on campus.

Online applicants send official transcripts from all institutions attended, with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0, and CSP says online students starting with zero college credits typically finish in about three to four years full time. For the online degree, CSP accepts up to 90 transfer credits toward the 120-credit version and up to 67 toward the 90-credit version. Concordia says the major meets the Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board's academic requirements for those pursuing Minnesota police officer licensure, and that online students who finish the POST track are eligible for the SKILLS component and the MN POST Licensing Exam; it describes the Non-POST track as preparation for criminal justice careers outside law enforcement and an option for officers who are already licensed.

The major starts with a foundation in the whole criminal justice system, including police, courts and corrections, and adds topics such as terrorism, homeland security and white-collar crime. Courses like Crime Scene Investigation and Criminal Investigation give hands-on practice in evidence collection and analysis, and students also complete an approved minor and open electives. The degree is offered at the Macomb, Illinois campus and online.

WIU welcomes first-year and transfer students and does not require SAT or ACT scores. Majors must earn a C or better in each LEJA core course and need a 2.25 cumulative GPA and a 2.50 GPA in the major to be assigned an internship, and an integrated program gives undergraduates the opportunity to earn the bachelor's and a master's degree in five years.

The major pairs criminology, the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes and consequences of crime, with criminal justice science, the study of official responses to crime in law, policing, courts, corrections, and treatment and advocacy. Its 39 credits include 21 credits of core courses such as Essentials of Criminal Justice, Explaining Crime: Theories and Evidence, Criminal Law, Research Methods, Evidence-based Crime Policy and an Internship in Criminal Justice taken once students reach senior status, plus two systems and institutions courses (for example Policing, Penology or U.S. Criminal Courts), two advanced electives and two enrichment electives, within 120 total credits. WP Online delivers the degree in an accelerated format with multiple start dates each year, and its internship course calls for at least 120 hours of fieldwork plus several in-person class sessions and one-on-one meetings with the instructor.

The university processes freshman decisions on a rolling basis and may consider applicants who hold a GED. WP Online applicants need a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher and must be four years past high school, or two years past high school with 60 or more college credits; applicants with no prior college send a high school transcript, and online students can transfer up to 90 credits. The Accelerated Professional Track admits graduates of state-approved police or corrections academies and awards up to 30 credits for that training, with New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania academy graduates receiving 30 credits automatically.

The degree requires a minimum of 120 total units, 60 of them in the criminal justice major: 12 lower division units, 24 upper division units and 24 elective units, with electives drawn from at least two of the listed areas of interest. The coursework covers the causes and prevention of crime, investigation, legal process, treatment and rehabilitation, research, and the institutions of the justice system and their administration. Some campus classes are offered online or hybrid, but the campus program cannot be completed entirely online. The College of Continuing Education version is a 60-unit degree completion program: students transfer in 12 units of prerequisite courses and complete the remaining 48 units online, in accelerated eight-week courses delivered through Canvas with no required meeting times.

Students admitted to Sac State as freshmen enter as criminal justice pre-majors and declare the major after completing the prerequisite courses CRJ 1, 2, 4 and 5 with a C or better, 45 units and an overall GPA of 2.5 or higher. The online program is for transfer students who have finished all four lower division CRJ courses and a majority of CSU general education coursework with a minimum 2.5 GPA, and it requires at least 45 transferable units. It charges a per-unit program fee and not the mandatory campus fees, and the division says students in it earn a degree identical to the traditional program.

The Criminal Justice, B.S. requires a minimum of 120 semester hours and examines crime, criminals, courts, policing, corrections and victims. The 8 Semester Plan includes Research Methods, Statistical Analysis, Theories of Crime and a Senior Seminar, and an internship can earn up to 12 hours of academic credit. Students choose the residential program or the online program, whose courses are accessed through Canvas; online students take an Administration of Justice concentration offered only to distance learning students, and WCU does not offer the introductory CJ 150 course online.

Residential transfer students need an A.A., A.S. or A.A.S. from an accredited community college or substantial progress toward the 44 General Core courses of a North Carolina community college. The online program is more selective: students apply to WCU first, the department then reviews them, and admission is not guaranteed. Online applicants must document one year of criminal justice experience on a supplemental application and hold an associate degree or have completed the 44 General Core courses. Online applications are due by June 1st for fall and November 15th for spring, with no summer admission.

The major requires at least 36 units. Its core is Construction of Crime and Justice; Crime, Data, and Analysis; Criminal Justice: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective; Research Methods in Criminal Justice with its activity course; and Capstone in Criminal Justice Studies. Students then choose a Power and Inequality elective, a Criminal Justice Law and Administration elective and four more Criminal Justice Studies electives, and Bachelor of Arts students also complete at least 12 units of Complementary Studies outside the major's prefix. The first-time student roadmap totals 120 units. The online degree completion program is offered by the College of Professional & Global Education with the Department of Criminal Justice Studies, follows the same curriculum with the same faculty, and runs fully online and asynchronously as a cohort that takes 2 online courses every 8 weeks; its roadmap covers 60 units.

The department says Criminal Justice Studies is open to all students admitted through the university's admissions process, and the bulletin includes a four-year roadmap for first-time students and two-year roadmaps for transfer students who hold an associate degree for transfer in a related field; SF State students changing into the major need junior standing and at least 52 units. The online completion program admits students from any major who have completed at least 60 transferable semester units with a 2.0 GPA and all lower-division and Ethnic Studies general education, and who live in California or another authorized state.

The online Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice is a 120-credit degree taught in 8-week terms. Students choose the general track or add a concentration in Corrections, Criminology & Crime Analysis, Cybercrime, Homeland Security & Counterterrorism, Human Services & Advocacy, Police Administration & Operations, Security Management or Substance Abuse. Major courses may include Introduction to Criminal Justice, Policing in the United States, The United States Judicial System and Technology in Criminal Justice, and a criminal justice communication certificate is embedded in the program.

Undergraduate applicants submit an attestation form stating they graduated from high school or received a GED, and SNHU accepts up to 90 transfer credits toward this degree, with a minimum of 30 credits taken at SNHU, including prior learning assessment for police academy and corrections academy training. On campus, the Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies covers the justice system, criminal law, corrections systems, legal and social science research and international criminal justice, with concentrations in Crime & Criminology, Law & Legal Process, Policing & Law Enforcement, and Terrorism & Homeland Security.

The online Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice requires a minimum of 120 credits, with at least 30 taken at UNH. Major courses include Introduction to Criminology, The Criminal Justice System, Statistics, Law and Society, Crime Prevention and Control, Crime Victim Rights and Remedies, Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences, Corrections, Probation and Parole, Constitutional Law and Ethical Decision Making in the Criminal Justice System, and the degree ends with an integrative capstone, either a project or an internship in criminal justice.

Admission requires a high school diploma, homeschool equivalent or GED, and the college runs five terms a year with rolling admissions. Students can transfer up to 90 credits. The college pitches the degree both to current criminal justice professionals who want to complete a degree and to people entering the field, including those preparing to attend a police or correctional academy.

The degree covers the three main components of the justice system (police, courts and corrections), with an interdisciplinary look at the causes and prevention of crime, legal processes and the rehabilitation of offenders. The core includes Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminological Theory, Research Methods and Analysis, Professional Development in Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice and the Constitution, and a Senior Capstone in Criminal Justice, followed by upper-division criminal justice electives, and the department strongly encourages an internship. Students can take it on campus or fully online.

Students who arrive with an Associate of Arts degree from a Florida college have FIU's general education requirement already satisfied; others complete the University Core Curriculum. Majors need a grade of C or higher in every core and criminal justice elective course, and students can apply to a combined bachelor's and master's program after completing 75 to 90 credits in the bachelor's degree.

The major consists of 42 credits: six core courses (18 credits) in Introduction to Criminal Justice, Theories of Crime, Law Enforcement and Society, Introduction to Corrections, the American Judicial System and Research Methods in Criminal Justice, then 21 credits of upper-level electives, alongside the university's general education requirements. A concentration is optional, and students may take only one: Criminology, Law Enforcement and Homeland Security, or Rehabilitation and Restoration. Internships for credit are available locally, in Washington, D.C., or through study abroad options.

First-year applicants are reviewed on their high school record, and students transferring into the major must complete at least 24 credits at Westfield State with a 2.3 GPA or greater. Westfield State also lists the Criminal Justice, B.S. among its online degree completion programs: graduates of a Massachusetts community college or the Mass transfer compact can finish the bachelor's degree entirely online, and students from other institutions can be admitted after working out an individual plan of study with an advisor. The online degree completion programs run classes in 15 week fall and spring semesters, two 6 week summer sessions and a 2 week winter session, and a 4+1 option leads to both the bachelor's and the Master of Science in Criminal Justice in five years.

The B.S. requires 120 credit hours, counted in semester hours, and covers the systems and procedures of the criminal justice system, the judicial process and criminology. Online courses run 8 weeks, with 8 start dates a year and no set login times. Liberty's catalog offers the general degree and the Crime Scene Investigation, Homeland Security, Juvenile Justice, Public Administration and Strategic Intelligence Studies specializations both online and on campus; Business Administration & Management, Corrections & Human Services and Criminal Psychology are online only, and Advanced Investigative Studies is residential only. Liberty says the residential program gives hands-on experience in courses along with internship opportunities.

First-time college students need official high school transcripts; online students may enroll in up to 12 credit hours on unofficial transcripts with a high school self-certification form, after which a hold is placed until the official transcripts arrive. Transfer credit can cover up to 75% of the degree. Liberty frames the program around Christian values, so it suits students who want that perspective in their criminal justice study.

The degree is 120 credit hours, taken through ASU Online as 40 classes of 7.5 weeks each, and the program page links the 2026-27 curriculum. Its major core includes Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Crime Control Policies and Practices, Courts and Sentencing, Introduction to Policing, Introduction to Corrections, Research Methods, Statistical Analysis, Inequality, Crime and Criminal Justice, and Criminology, and electives range from terrorism and domestic violence to police accountability, organized crime and victimization. ASU Online also offers the degree with a policing concentration, which covers policing strategies, management and accountability, and with a community safety, law and social change concentration that it says is offered fully online.

Applicants count as first-year students if they have never attended college or have fewer than 12 transferable credit hours; ASU requires a high school diploma or equivalent and at least 14 of its listed competency courses, plus one of a top 25% class rank, a 3.00 GPA in competency courses or a qualifying ACT or SAT score. Applicants who miss those requirements can seek Earned Admission by completing online courses with a 2.75 GPA or higher. ASU Online accepts up to 64 credits from community, junior or two-year colleges, students must complete 30 credits at ASU to graduate, and ASU says its diplomas do not specify whether a degree was earned online or in person. The program is also available in person.

The degree totals 120 semester credits in each of its four emphases, including 40 upper division credits, a criminal justice core (Criminal Justice and Society, Research Methods and Statistics for Criminal Justice, Judicial Process, Criminology and Delinquency, and Criminal Law) and courses for one emphasis: Corrections, Police Science, Tribal Justice (a collaboration with the Indigenous Studies program) or Victimology. Bemidji State says the program is offered 100% online and 100% on campus, its online program is asynchronous with no required class meeting times, and its online degree list names the Corrections, Police Science and Victimology emphases.

Bemidji State says its online and hybrid degree-completion programs are designed for students who already have some college experience, although first-year students may still apply, and it offers in-state tuition rates to all qualified applicants. The university says the Police Science emphasis meets the Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (POST) academic requirements, though graduates still need a skills program from a provider outside BSU. Qualified bachelor's degree holders may be eligible to meet the same academic requirements through the Minnesota Peace Officer Certificate, 8 courses offered on campus and online that can be completed in one year, after first contacting the department's POST coordinator and completing a licensure advisory.

The BA and BS each require at least 120 credits and share a core of Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Ethics, Research Methods and Analysis in Criminology, Constitutional Law: Criminal Process and Rights, and a Capstone in Criminology, Law and Society. BA students complete 42 credits in the major and reach intermediate proficiency in a foreign language. BS students take more criminology courses and either complete 15 credits of internship coursework or add a related minor, second major or dual degree. Either degree can carry an optional concentration in Criminal Justice, Homeland Security and Justice, or Law and Society, earned with 15 of the elective credits.

Mason admits freshmen through a holistic review of high school transcripts and other application materials, and first-year students are advised to start with Introduction to Criminal Justice. Mason Online says both freshmen and transfer students have a path to enroll, and students who apply to the Mason Online campus can complete the BA entirely online, with most courses asynchronous and some held at set weekly times. Up to 18 credits of transferable ADJ courses from the Virginia Community College System can count toward either degree.

The 120-semester-hour degree pairs general education with criminal justice coursework in law enforcement; corrections, probation and parole; juvenile justice and delinquency; criminology theory and crime control; and criminal justice leadership and administration. It ends with a capstone that includes a practicum on a real problem or project in a criminal justice agency, or a research project for students not attached to an agency. Students can complete an optional focus area in Corrections, Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Public Administration or Special Populations to fill the major electives. Classes are 100% online in 6- and 12-week formats, and Franklin says 85% of the program can be completed in six-week courses taken one class at a time.

Franklin admits students with a high school diploma or its equivalent, or with an associate, bachelor's or master's degree, and the program accepts up to 90 transfer credits; a bachelor's degree requires at least 30 credit hours completed at Franklin. Besides the Ohio Police Officer Training Academy, Franklin lists college credit for corrections or bailiff training, the FBI National Academy course, Southern Police Institute courses and Northwestern command courses. Franklin publishes a lower per-credit rate for current service members, locks in a student's first-term tuition rate while the student stays enrolled, and offers three trimesters a year with several start dates in each.

The major is 61 units of criminology and criminal justice coursework. Core courses include The Criminal Justice System in Society, Research, Writing, and Reasoning for Criminology and Criminal Justice, Criminal Courts & Judicial Processes, Policing, Corrections: Theory, Policy & Practice, Criminological Theory, Criminal Justice Research Methods, Statistics for Criminal Justice and Criminal Justice Ethics, Values, & Diversity, plus one of Substantive Criminal Law or Constitutional Criminal Procedure. Students add 15 units of approved upper-division electives and a senior integrative experience taken as an internship or as directed research or independent study. The online version, offered in partnership with CPaCE, uses the same course requirements, is delivered entirely online with asynchronous classes, and has students take 12 to 16 units in each fall and spring semester as a cohort.

The online program admits fully qualified transfer students who have completed 60 lower-division units, including all lower-division general education courses and nine units of criminology and criminal justice prerequisite courses, with at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA. It admits students for fall only, and CSULB says students who do not live in California are not eligible to enroll in it. On the standard major, CSULB restricts all CRJU courses to declared majors and requires a C or better in every CRJU core course.

The degree requires 120 credits: 33 required major credits, 41 general education credits and 46 elective credits. Required major courses are Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Law in Action, Law Enforcement Administration, Introduction to Security Management, Ethical Behavior in Criminal Justice, Criminal Investigation, Correctional Administration and the Criminal Justice Capstone, plus Juvenile Delinquency, Victimology and Drugs and Crime, each of which can be swapped for any upper-level CCJS course. All courses are available online, select hybrid courses are available, and courses run year-round.

UMGC says no background, experience or prerequisite is needed: students who meet its undergraduate admission requirements, which a U.S. high school diploma or GED satisfies, can enroll. Students can transfer up to 90 credits into the degree, and the page notes that many law enforcement roles require successful graduation from a police academy.

The 120-credit degree includes 30 credits of general education and a 42-credit major core, and students either add a 15-credit concentration or take more electives without one; Excelsior lists courses such as Criminology, Judicial Process, Ethics in Criminal Justice, Multicultural Issues in Criminal Justice, Criminal Procedure and Evidence and Research Methods. Coursework integrates psychological, sociological and criminological theories with practical projects on the laws, processes and administration of the U.S. criminal justice system. The Homeland Security concentration covers domestic and international terrorism and emergency and disaster planning, the General option builds a personalized area of expertise, and the program is offered asynchronously online, with courses starting every 8 weeks.

Under New York State law, individuals who have not earned a high school diploma or its equivalent may be eligible for admission, though a degree cannot be conferred until preliminary education requirements are met. The program accepts up to 113 transfer credits, and Excelsior says students may receive transfer credit for criminal justice or law enforcement training.