2024 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Alabama

Ranked #30 in popularity, criminal justice & corrections is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 7 schools in Alabama to determine which ones were the best for criminal justice & corrections students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 211 master's degrees in criminal justice & corrections to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality criminal justice program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to criminal justice & corrections students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of criminal justice & corrections students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How much debt criminal justice & corrections students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice & corrections related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for criminal justice & corrections students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Alabama ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Criminal Justice & Corrections in Alabama

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections.

Top Alabama Schools for a Master's in Criminal Justice

1

Columbia Southern University
Orange Beach, AL

53 Annual Graduates

$58,501 Median Starting Salary

Columbia Southern University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the fringe town of Orange Beach, Columbia Southern University is a private for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their master's degree from Columbia Southern University make $12,218 more than the typical criminal justice graduate.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Columbia Southern University

2

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL

9 Annual Graduates

University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the midsize city of Birmingham, UAB is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of Alabama at Birmingham

3

Faulkner University
Montgomery, AL

71 Annual Graduates

$50,828 Median Starting Salary

Faulkner University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the city of Montgomery, Faulkner is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at Faulkner University earn $4,545 above the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Faulkner University

4

Troy University
Troy, AL

41 Annual Graduates

$34,655 Median Starting Salary

Troy University is a great option for students interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. TROY is a large public university located in the town of Troy.

Master's students who receive their degree from the criminal justice program earn about $34,655 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Troy University

5

Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville, AL

15 Annual Graduates

Located in the small suburb of Jacksonville, Jacksonville State University is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Jacksonville State University

6

University of North Alabama
Florence, AL

13 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Florence, UNA is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of North Alabama

7

Auburn University at Montgomery
Montgomery, AL

5 Annual Graduates

$48,317 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize city of Montgomery, AUM is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at Auburn University at Montgomery get $2,034 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Auburn University at Montgomery

Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	577
Georgia	190	127
Virginia	182	568
North Carolina	178	81
Tennessee	166	109
Kentucky	147	110
Louisiana	147	201
South Carolina	146	61
Mississippi	145	41
Arkansas	121	18
West Virginia	112	176

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice & Corrections is one of 4 different types of Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting programs to choose from.

Criminal Justice Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Criminal Justice	182
Criminal Justice Studies	20
Other Corrections & Criminal Justice	9

Majors Similar to Criminal Justice

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Homeland Security	235
Security Science and Technology	7

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.