Earn your degree in criminal justice on our award-winning online learning environment. Our online criminal justice bachelor’s degree equips you with the knowledge and skills to meet the exciting challenges of 21st-century policing.
You'll research and discuss current controversies such as Black Lives Matter, Gun Control and Mass Incarceration. You'll also gain real-world experience and develop your professional network through field placement.
This is a non-licensure program.
Modality
Criminal Justice Bachelor's Degree Program Overview
A criminal justice degree makes you a competitive candidate for a career in modern law enforcement. It also prepares you to make a difference in your community and beyond.
Justice is not always fair, especially to under-served communities and people at risk. Our criminal justice program recognizes that inequity. It explores social struggles such as addiction, mental health status, and easy access to weapons as contributing factors to crime.
This online degree program is an outgrowth of Cambridge College’s Justice Studies concentration and its long history of addressing the social inequities that impact our communities.
The Cambridge College online criminal justice degree includes a variety of exclusive courses not available in the hybrid degree program, including:
- Crime Scene Investigation
- Special Topics in Justice Issues
- Criminal Justice Capstone
Criminal Justice Program Highlights
This online criminal justice bachelor's degree program is designed for students interested in a career working within:
- Law enforcement
- The court or judicial system
- The correctional system
- Public service
- Community advocacy programs
This program can also serve as continuing education for police officers, probation officers, school security and community activists.
Online Criminal Justice Bachelor's Degree Tuition Information
*See curriculum sheet for a breakdown of credits and credit ranges.
- Choose your program of study. Browse our Program Finder to find your program.
- Complete and sign the online application.
- Pay the $50 application fee ($100 for international students) by the term start date.
- Send official transcripts directly to Cambridge College in a sealed, unopened envelope. Learn How to Send Transcripts
- Fulfill any additional program-specific admissions requirements.
- Ensure you have internet access, and a fully functional laptop or desktop computer that can play audio and video and access Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint).
Note: Your admission file must be complete and accepted before your financial aid may be awarded, before your transfer credit may be evaluated, and before you may register for classes.
Cambridge College undergraduate admission also requires at least one of the following:
- Original high school transcript showing graduation or a recognized equivalent such as a General Educational Development (GED) or HiSET certificate
- Or an affidavit confirming high school program completion in a state-approved homeschool setting.
- Or, if not required by state law, proof of high school education in a homeschool setting meeting state attendance exemptions
- Or enrollment in an eligible career pathway program
- Or proof of passing scores on an approved ability-to-benefit test (such as the Accuplacer Test administered by Cambridge College)
- Or nine credit hours of Cambridge College course work, applicable toward an undergraduate degree or certificate, completed with grades of B or better. (Non-matriculated students may not receive aid while earning credits.)
- Or 24 or more credits earned from a regionally or nationally accredited college or university. Note: Official college transcripts are evaluated for transfer credit. Courses not included in an earned associate degree must be earned at a grade of C or better to be eligible for transfer.
Careers in Criminal Justice
Interested in criminal justice as a career? This field offers high job security as these professionals are always needed. Because criminal justice encompasses many fields, salaries can vary significantly depending on your specialization, training and location.
These are average salaries for a small selection of careers in criminal justice, based on May 2022 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
- Corrections officer or jailer: $49,6101
- Police officer or detective: $69,1602
$69,160
Median annual salary for police officers and detectives2
1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Correctional Officers and Bailiffs, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/correctional-officers.htm (visited November 21, 2023).
2 Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Police and Detectives, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/police-and-detectives.htm (visited November 21, 2023).
Jobs in Criminal Justice
Jobs within criminal justice include:
- Local, state, and national law enforcement agencies
- Court probation
- Case management in juvenile and adult judicial processes
- Community-based alternative sentencing programs
- Youth diversion programs
- Pre-release and community reintegration services
- Drug treatment
- Victim advocacy
- Domestic violence services
- Corrections on county and state levels
Criminal Justice students will advance their careers by completing a supervised Field Education placement. Work within a courthouse, probation office, prison or jail, community service agency, post-release center or police department.
Faculty
Our faculty include:
- Police chiefs
- Attorneys
- FBI gang task force members
- Juvenile justice experts
- Prison chaplains
- Restorative justice advocates
- Administrators of post-release programs
- Decarcerated men and women
People who have experienced incarceration offer an opportunity for dialogue that is unequaled in most academic environments.
Faculty Spotlight
Daniel Ibarrondo
JD, EdS, EdD
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Program Chair for AAID, BAID, BAPSY, BSCJ, MSBEC, DEIB; Senior Instructor for CJ, Gen Ed, DEIB, and MTEL Prep
Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Dr. Daniel Ibarrondo’s experiences have synergistically centered on his multi-faceted areas of expertise in international relations, law, higher education, business, government, and technology. Upon graduation from law school, Dr. Ibarrondo was awarded the Dale S. Margulies Award for Leadership in the law school and the community, the Legal Methods Award, and an American Bar Association Journalism award. Returning to Harlem, he served as Director of the...