Traditional and Online Criminal Justice Bachelor’s Degrees
Updated September 29, 2026
An online bachelor’s in criminal justice generally takes full-time students about four years and 120 credit hours, covering criminology, law, policing, and corrections before you choose a specialty. Nationally, 966 institutions report a bachelor’s program in this field, per federal education data, though hiring, licensing, and academy requirements vary by state and agency. Confirm your target employer’s requirements before enrolling.
Picking a criminal justice bachelor’s program online means weighing the same trade-offs you’d face on campus: cost, specialty, and how the credential fits your career plan, plus one more question: whether your schedule and self-discipline suit remote coursework better than a lecture hall. Use the search tool above to find a program in your state, or start with what a criminal justice bachelor’s degree actually covers below.
What a Criminal Justice Bachelor’s Degree Covers
A criminal justice bachelor’s curriculum gives you a broad view of the field: criminology, the legal system, policing, corrections, and administration, plus alternatives to incarceration like rehabilitation and community service programs. Many programs let you choose a specialization, though this varies by school. Examples include:
- Corrections, which can prepare you for roles within the prison system
- Legal processes, which can prepare you for legal research and court administration roles
- Loss prevention, which can prepare you for private security work
A bachelor’s in criminal justice can be one path into local and state policing jobs, and it can help meet the education component for some federal agency positions, including at the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service, and Department of Homeland Security. Each agency sets its own combination of education, experience, and background requirements, so a bachelor’s alone doesn’t guarantee eligibility. Graduates also work in victim advocacy, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, and halfway houses. Some go on to a master’s, a doctorate, or law school.
Related majors worth considering, if a general criminal justice track isn’t the right fit:
- Forensic Science: criminal procedure, legal research, and crime scene evidence processing for court cases
- Homeland Security: coursework focused on protecting the country from threats like terrorism
- Law Enforcement: coursework aimed at law enforcement careers, though police hiring requirements are set at the state and agency level, not nationally
- Crime Scene Investigation: fingerprint analysis, behavior theory, and crime scene technique
- Cybercrime: the concepts behind computer-related criminal activity
- Security Studies: security problems and homeland security career preparation
Traditional Classroom or Online: What Changes
Online and traditional programs both qualify for criminal justice scholarships and financial aid, but online tuition isn’t automatically cheaper. Compare each school’s actual per-credit rate rather than assuming a discount. The real tradeoff is that online coursework demands more self-motivation. If you’re the kind of student who needs a set classroom schedule to stay on track, that’s worth weighing honestly before you enroll.
Police education requirements are set at the state and often the individual department level. There’s no universal national minimum, so check your target department’s specific requirements rather than assuming a degree floor. Many departments also require ongoing training and continuing education throughout an officer’s career.
How to Confirm a Program Is Accredited
Check the school’s website for its accreditation status. Institutional accreditation is separate from any criminal-justice-specific occupational certification or licensing you may need later, and it’s not a guarantee that credits will transfer, since transfer decisions are made by the receiving school under its own policies. If the site isn’t clear, call and ask directly, then cross-check the accreditor against the federal government’s list of recognized accrediting organizations.
Admission Requirements and How Long It Takes
Admission requirements vary by school, but commonly include some combination of:
- A high school diploma or GED
- Official transcripts from all previous schools
- A minimum GPA (often around 2.0, though this varies)
- Letters of recommendation
- A personal statement on your career and education goals
- A completed application
- SAT or ACT scores, depending on the school
A full-time online bachelor’s in criminal justice commonly runs about four years and roughly 120 credit hours, split between general education and criminal justice coursework, such as criminal law, legal research, ethics, and criminology, though exact requirements differ by program. Some programs also include an internship or hands-on experience component, and a subset will substitute prior law enforcement or military service for it. Check your specific program’s policy. Before you finish, meet with your academic advisor to map your next step. Depending on your state and target agency, that could mean applying for sworn positions, with academy training happening before or after hire depending on the jurisdiction, a graduate program, or other job applications.
Example Courses You Might Take
Course names and requirements vary by program, but many criminal justice bachelor’s curricula include courses like:
- Introduction to Law and Policing: the historical and legal foundation of American law enforcement
- Criminology: what drives criminal behavior and how society responds to it
- Security: how officials protect borders and the public, including cybercrime and homeland security topics
- Ethics in Criminal Justice: real-world ethical dilemmas and the checks and balances built into the system
- Sociology: how sociology applies to everyday life and communication
- Juvenile Justice: delinquency, detention, court process, and prevention for minors
- Law & Society: the relationship between legal, political, and social systems
Some programs add a capstone project so you apply what you’ve learned to a real case or scenario before graduating.
What You’ll Pay and How to Cover It
Program costs vary widely by school, and online tuition isn’t automatically cheaper than on-campus tuition, even though you’ll skip commuting and childcare costs either way. Confirm current per-credit pricing directly with each program you’re considering.
If cost is a barrier, look into financial aid, scholarships, and loan forgiveness before taking on more student debt. Some federal grants may apply automatically. Other options worth checking, though amounts and eligibility change year to year, so confirm current terms directly with each provider:
- Captain James J. Regan Memorial Scholarship: historically a $500 award for students demonstrating leadership and extracurricular involvement, with a personal statement on technical experience in law enforcement
- The Evalee C. Schwarz Charitable Trust for Education: historically a $15,000 award for strong academic performance and financial need, requiring FAFSA eligibility and top-tier standardized scores
- The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS): offers student awards from time to time, check their current awards page for what’s active and the eligibility criteria
- The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: forgives remaining federal Direct Loan balances after qualifying payments while working full-time for a qualifying government or nonprofit employer. It isn’t limited to law enforcement, and eligibility depends on loan type and payment plan
- Private scholarships from local businesses or police departments, which you can search on our criminal justice scholarship page
Where to Study an Online Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice
Per U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard data, 966 institutions nationally report a bachelor’s-level program in the Criminal Justice and Corrections CIP family. Of those, 19 are classified as distance-only institutions in the same dataset. That classification describes the institution’s overall reporting status, not confirmation that this specific bachelor’s program is currently delivered fully online, so treat the list below as a starting point for research, not a verified directory of online programs:
| Institution | State | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Amridge University | AL | Private nonprofit |
| Columbia Southern University | AL | Private for-profit |
| University of Arkansas Grantham | AR | Public |
| American InterContinental University System | AZ | Private for-profit |
| Arizona State University Digital Immersion | AZ | Public |
| Abraham Lincoln University | CA | Private for-profit |
| Los Angeles Pacific University | CA | Private nonprofit |
| Colorado State University Global | CO | Public |
| Charter Oak State College | CT | Public |
| Florida Institute of Technology-Online | FL | Private nonprofit |
| South University-Savannah Online | GA | Private for-profit |
| Capella University | MN | Private for-profit |
| Walden University | MN | Private for-profit |
| University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies Online | NH | Public |
| Bryant & Stratton College-Online | NY | Private nonprofit |
| Excelsior University | NY | Private nonprofit |
| Johnson & Wales University-Online | RI | Private nonprofit |
| National American University-Rapid City | SD | Private for-profit |
| American Public University System | WV | Private for-profit |
Plenty of schools not on this list also offer online coursework without registering as fully distance-only, so use the state search tool below to check programs in your area too. Confirm current enrollment status, delivery format, and admission requirements directly with each school’s own catalog before applying, since Scorecard data can lag catalog changes. School and program data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, institution file May 2025 and field-of-study file April 2025. Data accessed September 2026.
Career Paths After Graduation
A bachelor’s in criminal justice can be one step toward roles across law enforcement, the courts, and corrections, though each path carries its own separate education, experience, certification, or licensing requirements that a degree alone doesn’t satisfy.
In law enforcement, that can include local police, sheriff’s deputies, and state patrol, each governed by that state’s or agency’s own hiring and academy requirements. If you’re aiming at forensics work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics identifies a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry-level education for forensic science technicians, often in a natural science or forensic science program specifically. A general criminal justice degree alone may not be sufficient for lab-based forensic roles.
In the court system, options include bailiff, victim’s advocate, paralegal, jury consultant, and court clerk, though requirements differ by state and employer. Paralegal work in particular can carry state-specific statutory requirements, California being one notable example, so a criminal justice bachelor’s isn’t itself a paralegal credential.
Corrections covers prisons, jails, and detention centers, and requirements vary by employer and jurisdiction, from entry-level officer positions to supervisory roles. Probation and parole positions also vary by jurisdiction in terms of what’s required to apply.
The U.S. Department of Justice has a full overview of federal criminal justice careers, and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences covers professional development and research in the field. For more on specific career paths and their individual requirements, browse our full library of criminal justice career guides.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does an online bachelor’s in criminal justice actually take?
Most programs run about four years full-time at 120 credit hours, similar to a traditional on-campus degree. Some schools offer accelerated tracks for students transferring in an associate degree or relevant work or military experience, which can cut that timeline. Confirm the actual credit requirement and any accelerated options directly with each school, since these vary.
Is a criminal justice degree a B.A. or a B.S.?
It depends on the school. Liberal arts colleges often grant a B.A., while others grant a B.S. Coursework and requirements vary by program, and whether the distinction matters to an employer depends on that employer’s own preferences, so check with your target agency if this factors into your plans.
How do I confirm a school’s accreditation before enrolling?
Use the U.S. Department of Education’s Database of Accredited Post-Secondary Institutions and Programs to check a school’s institutional accreditation. This covers institutional accreditation, not a guarantee of separate programmatic accreditation, which not every criminal justice program carries. You can also look up the relevant accrediting body directly: the Higher Learning Commission covers colleges across much of the Midwest and parts of the West, and the Department of Education keeps a full list of recognized accrediting agencies by state.
What jobs can I actually get with this degree?
A bachelor’s in criminal justice can be a starting point toward patrol officer, correctional officer, probation or parole officer, or paralegal and legal assistant roles, though each carries its own separate hiring, licensing, or certification requirements set by the employer or state. Detective and criminal investigator roles are frequently promotional assignments that come after time on patrol, rather than direct entry points for new graduates.
Key Takeaways
- Expect about four years and 120 credit hours – for a full-time online bachelor’s in criminal justice, similar to a traditional program, though exact requirements vary by school.
- Institutional accreditation and occupational licensing are separate things – check accreditation through the federal database, and check certification or licensing requirements with your target state or agency.
- Nineteen institutions nationally are classified as distance-only – in federal reporting and separately report a criminal-justice-family bachelor’s program, per Department of Education data. Confirm current online delivery with each school before applying.
- Graduates can pursue roles across law enforcement, courts, and corrections – but each path carries its own separate hiring, licensing, or certification requirements beyond the degree itself.
Still comparing degree levels? Our full guide walks through associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral options side by side before you commit to one path.
Explore Online Criminal Justice