Criminal Justice

Types of Degrees Criminal Justice Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many criminal justice & corrections graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	48,312
Associate Degree	24,183
Basic Certificate	17,357
Master’s Degree	6,830
Undergraduate Certificate	5,360
Graduate Certificate	984
Doctor’s Degree	276

What Criminal Justice Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to criminal justice and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Criminal Justice Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in criminal justice should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Criminal Justice Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to criminal justice:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Abilities for Criminal Justice Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a criminal justice student include the following:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Criminal Justice Major?

People with a criminal justice degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Auditors	10.0%	$70,500
Compliance Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Criminal Investigators and Special Agents	4.5%	$81,920
Fire Inspectors	7.3%	$62,510
Fire Investigators	7.3%	$62,510
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives	6.6%	$89,030
Immigration and Customs Inspectors	4.5%	$81,920
Intelligence Analysts	4.5%	$81,920
Loss Prevention Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Police Patrol Officers	7.0%	$61,380
Regulatory Affairs Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Security Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Transit and Railroad Police	8.2%	$74,030

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice?

This is one of the most frequently chosen undergraduate majors. It is the 7th most popular in the country with 52,442 students graduating with a bachelor’s in criminal justice in 2021. The major attracts more women than men. About 58% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of criminal justice majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1,348
Black or African American	8,067
Hispanic or Latino	13,317
White	20,936
International Students	374
Other Races/Ethnicities	4,270

Geographic Diversity

Criminal Justice appeals to people across the globe. About 0.8% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Criminal Justice

Some careers associated with criminal justice require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for criminal justice careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.2%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	22.4%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	8.7%
Some College Courses	12.7%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	12.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	31.9%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	2.1%
Master’s Degree	8.8%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.5%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.3%
Doctoral Degree	0.6%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.1%

Online Criminal Justice Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	503	75
Certificate (2-4 Years)	8	0
Associate’s Degree	1,475	333
Bachelor’s Degree	106	44
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	367	160
Post-Master’s	5	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	39	8
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	2	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Criminal Justice

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to criminal justice.

Major	Number of Grads
Fire Protection	13,533
Security Science and Technology	8,130
Homeland Security	6,480
Other Homeland Security	1,416

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.