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
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.
Outlook for workers with a criminal justice bachelor's degree
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
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.
Student experience
“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.
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
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, EdD
Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Franzi Walsh, DBA
Associate Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Institutional accreditation
University of Phoenix has been continually accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), hlcommission.org since 1978.
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.
