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College of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Criminal justice bachelor's degrees

Answer the call for criminal justice

Learn skills to support and serve the criminal justice system with a criminal justice bachelor’s degree. Whether you’re looking for public administration or human services opportunities in the federal or state jurisdictions or your local municipality, our criminal justice bachelor’s degree can prepare you for administrative roles in the criminal justice system including law enforcement, criminal courts and corrections, as well as for opportunities in the private sector. Take the next step to play a bigger role in your community.

The best part? You’ll gain criminal justice insight from experienced professionals that serve as faculty including chiefs of police, captains, lieutenants, wardens, judges and detectives. And with all our coursework being 100% online and only 6 weeks long, you’ll have the flexibility to build criminal justice skills you're looking for, on your terms.

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Find the criminal justice bachelor's degree for you

12

The number of times a year you can start your degree based on your schedule.

120

credits

The number of credits required to complete a criminal justice bachelor's degree with UOPX.

credits

4 years

The program length of a criminal justice bachelor's degree with UOPX.

Skills you’ll develop with core criminal justice bachelor's degree courses

BACHELOR OF JUSTICE IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION 

  • Communication
  • Problem-solving
  • Innovation 
  • Research
  • Operations

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

  • Public administration
  • Management
  • Data-driven decision-making
  • Problem-solving
  • Budgeting

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN Correctional Program support services

  • Evidence-based practice
  • Advocacy
  • Service delivery
  • Behavioral health

 

Earn career-relevant skills in weeks – not years

Get value from your education before you even graduate. Update your resumé and LinkedIn profile with learned skills when you complete every 5- or 6-week course in our associate, bachelor's and master's programs.

Build skills on your way to your degree

Outlook for workers with a criminal justice bachelor's degree

BLS CATEGORY: First-line supervisors of police and detectives

JOB GROWTH: 3%

Bureau of Labor Statistics job growth for police and detective occupations is projected to be slower than average between 2021 and 2031.

JOB TITLES:

  • Police sergeant
  • Detective supervisor
  • Loss prevention manager
  • Patrol captain
  • Police shift commander

BLS CATEGORY: Social and community service managers

JOB GROWTH: 9%

Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth for social and community service manager occupations is projected to be much faster than average between 2022 and 2032.

JOB TITLES:

  • Community outreach coordinator
  • Nonprofit manager
  • Program manager
  • Operations manager
  • Regulatory affairs manager

BLS CATEGORY: Social and community service managers

JOB GROWTH: 9%

Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth for social and community service manager occupations is projected to be much faster than average between 2022 and 2032.

JOB TITLES:

  • Program eligbility specialist
  • Case manager
  • Social services manager

Criminal justice bachelor's degree course requirements

Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration

You’ll take 14 core courses with program-specific knowledge to help you gain confidence and skills to succeed. These core courses include topics like ethics in criminal justice, diversity in criminal justice, interagency communication, criminal justice policy analysis and program evaluation and more.

Bachelor of Science in Public Administration

You’ll take 14 core courses with program-specific knowledge to help you gain confidence and skills to succeed. These core courses include topics like: foundations of public administration, The public policy environment, fiscal management, program implementation and evaluation and more.

Bachelor of Science in Correctional Program Support Services

You’ll take 14 core courses with program-specific knowledge to help you gain confidence and skills to succeed. These core courses include topics like survey of corrections in the United States, foundations of criminal behavior, working with the correctional population and more.

Tuition and financial aid

Affordable, locked-in tuition

Tuition guarantee

Ways to pay — and save. Explore your options.

From scholarships to transfer credits and federal financial aid for those who qualify, there are a variety of ways to pay for school and save on tuition. 

Financial Aid

Federal Financial Aid is money from the U.S. Department of Education to help you pay for your college tuition and expenses.

Financial Aid

Military or Veteran Benefits

See if you qualify to use veterans’ education benefits or tuition assistance to help pay for school.

Military or Veteran Benefits

Credit for Prior Learning

Earn your degree without starting from scratch. Have previous relevant work and life experience evaluated for potential credit. If you have military or law enforcement training, such as Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), Basic Corrections Academy training or Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy training, you can apply to have that experience evaluated for up to 30 credits.

Credit for Prior Learning

Scholarships

Starting with your first course, every new qualifying student will be awarded one of our scholarships.

Scholarships

Employer Tuition Discounts

Check if your employer provides tuition assistance, benefits, or reimbursement programs toward your degree.

Employer Tuition Discounts

Transfer Credits

Your prior eligible credits could help you graduate from your bachelor's degree faster and for less.

Transfer Credits

Student experience

Sherita B.

Making the decision to enroll at University of Phoenix was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.” 

—Zebrick J. 
BSCJA, 2012

 

Over 1 million alumni have earned their degrees while balancing work, school and life. So can you. 

Manage Time with Flexible Courses

Manage Time with Flexible Courses

Use Robust Student Resources

Use Robust Student Resources

Learn Online

Learn Online

How to apply for your criminal justice bachelor’s degree program

Once you’ve selected your degree program, choose your start date from our calendar, apply for free and register before the deadline (usually one week before the program starts). Then you'll speak to an enrollment representative to begin class.

  • No application fee
  • No SAT, GMAT or essay required
  • Our risk-free trial lets eligible students try out University of Phoenix for three weeks with no financial obligation
Apply for your master's degree online

Meet your college deans

Our college deans focus on developing a career-relevant curriculum. They bring industry experience to the classroom and lead a faculty of academic professionals with one goal in mind—to help you earn the skills you need to pursue your career.

Christina Neider, Dean

Christina Neider, EdD

Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Franzi Walsh, Associate Dean

Franzi Walsh, DBA

Associate Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Accreditation

Accredited for 45+ years

Since 1978, University of Phoenix has maintained institutional accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), hlcommission.org. Learn more about the value of University of Phoenix accreditation and how it benefits our students.

Criminal justice bachelor's degree FAQs

A criminal justice bachelor’s of science degree (BS) focuses more on the technology and data-driven knowledge. These areas of study can be important to fields like law enforcement, criminology and public administration, which can be more helpful for anyone preparing for a career in criminal justice.

 

Having a bachelor’s degree has become an increasingly important way to gain the knowledge and critical skills today's workers need to stay competitive in growing fields like criminal justice, human services, public administration, and criminology. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, projects that  job growth for social community service manager occupations is projected to be much faster than average between 2021 and 2031.* So if you’re looking to build knowledge and career-relevant skills, a criminal justice bachelor’s degree could help.

 

 *The BLS Projected Growth for 2021-2031 is published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This data reflects the BLS’ projections of national (not local) conditions. These data points are not specific to University of Phoenix students or graduates.

 Yes, all our courses are available 100% online. Where most colleges expect you to take several courses at once, here you take one course at a time over five weeks in an innovative, virtual, asynchronous learning environment. You and your peers will engage in discussions, assignments and learning activities. Plus, you’ll learn from faculty who bring their own real-world experience and practice the same knowledge and skills they teach, all while learning industry-relevant skills necessary to promote your career growth. What’s more? Throughout the course of your learning experience, our academic counselors and finance advisors are always there to support and guide your decisions from your first day to your last.

You may be able to save time and money on your criminal justice bachelor’s degree by transferring eligible credits from an accredited institution or applying to have your relevant  work and life experiences evaluated for potential credit toward your degree. If you have military or law enforcement training, such as Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), Basic Corrections Academy training or Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy training, you can apply to have that experience evaluated for up to 30 credits.

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