Requirements to Get a Criminal Justice Degree

The requirements to get a criminal justice degree vary from school to school, but there are some things that remain consistent from one institution to the next, as there are certain standards for accreditation that require a certain level of consistency throughout the programs. Anyone who is considering getting one of these criminal justice degrees should definitely be prepared for the expectations of the program. Not all degree programs are alike, though, so it’s also important to understand the different options.

Criminal justice degree programs tend to be set up in either one of two ways. Some programs are more academic and focus on the many theories that explore the social dimensions of crime. Others are set up to prepare individuals for specific vocations. And with a criminal justice bachelor’s degree, there will also be general education and elective courses required. The criminal justice degree at Villanova University, for example, focuses on the perspective of criminology, with required courses including Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminology, Police and Society, Criminal Courts, Penology and Corrections and Criminological Theory.

The requirements to get a criminal justice degree like the one from Villanova will also require a course centered on statistics, but these aren’t just any stats classes that you’d normally take in college. Course options include Criminal Justice Research and Statistics, Data Analysis for Social Scientists and Applied Research Methods. Students must also choose from electives such as The Supreme Court, Capital Punishment, White Collar Crime, Victimology, Drugs and Society, Sociology of Deviance, Juvenile Delinquency, Sociology of Law and Race and Ethnic Relations.

Other schools such as the University of Southern Illinois have a very different approach with their criminal justice degrees, which use a much more pragmatic methodology. The required courses for this program include Introduction to Criminal Justice Administration, Policing in America, Analysis in Criminal Justice, Prosecution and Adjudication, Introduction to Private Security, Introduction to Corrections and Victims of Crime. These courses are designed for students who plan on entering vocations in the criminal justice field as soon as they graduate. Both of these programs, however, will require some standard criminal justice courses as well as general education courses.