2025 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools
If you pursue a bachelor's degree in
criminal justice & corrections, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #7 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 535 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 51,219 bachelor's degrees in criminal justice & corrections during the 2021-2022 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The criminal justice bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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 bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on criminal justice & corrections students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other criminal justice & corrections students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How easy is it for criminal justice & corrections to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
- 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 colleges for criminal justice & corrections students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools
The criminal justice school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor's Degree Schools.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Criminal Justice & Corrections in the United States
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice
Union Institute & University is a wonderful choice for students interested in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Union is a fairly small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cincinnati.
Bachelor's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at Union Institute & University get $85,537 above the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Union Institute & University
George Mason University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the large suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections degree program at George Mason University earn $4,913 more than the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from George Mason University
Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections needs to look into Arizona State University - Tempe. Located in the midsize city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections program at Arizona State University - Tempe get $3,488 above the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from Arizona State University - Tempe
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in criminal justice & corrections needs to check out George Washington University. Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Criminal Justice & Corrections bachelor's degree recipients from George Washington University get an earnings boost of approximately $12,557 over the average earnings of criminal justice & corrections majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from George Washington University
John Jay is a large public college located in the large city of New York.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the criminal justice program earn about $37,284 for their early career.
More information about a bachelor’s in criminal justice & corrections from John Jay College of Criminal Justice
