Criminal Justice & Corrections

Types of Degrees Criminal Justice & Corrections Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many criminal justice and corrections graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	52,492
Associate Degree	29,944
Basic Certificate	18,056
Master’s Degree	7,135
Undergraduate Certificate	4,846
Graduate Certificate	444
Doctor’s Degree	204

What Criminal Justice & Corrections 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

When studying criminal justice, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• 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

A major in criminal justice will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• 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 & Corrections Major?

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

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Accountants	10.0%	$70,500
Auditors	10.0%	$70,500
Business Intelligence Analysts	9.3%	$90,270
Child, Family, and School Social Workers	14.2%	$46,270
Compliance Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Criminal Investigators and Special Agents	4.5%	$81,920
Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Professors	12.1%	$61,900
Document Management Specialists	9.3%	$90,270
Emergency Management Directors	7.9%	$74,420
Financial Examiners	9.7%	$80,180
Fire Inspectors	7.3%	$62,510
Fire Investigators	7.3%	$62,510
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives	6.6%	$89,030
First-Line Supervisors of Protective Service Workers	4.7%	$49,640
Forensic Science Technicians	16.9%	$58,230
Immigration and Customs Inspectors	4.5%	$81,920
Information Security Analysts	28.5%	$98,350
Information Technology Project Managers	9.3%	$90,270
Intelligence Analysts	4.5%	$81,920
Investment Fund Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Loss Prevention Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers	7.0%	$61,380
Police Detectives	4.5%	$81,920
Police Identification and Records Officers	4.5%	$81,920
Police Patrol Officers	7.0%	$61,380
Private Detectives and Investigators	10.6%	$50,090
Regulatory Affairs Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Security Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs	7.0%	$61,380
Transit and Railroad Police	8.2%	$74,030

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

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 55% 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	1,409
Black or African American	9,258
Hispanic or Latino	13,814
White	22,929
International Students	552
Other Races/Ethnicities	4,530

Geographic Diversity

Criminal Justice appeals to people across the globe. About 1.1% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• Saudi Arabia
• Canada
• China
• South Korea
• United Arab Emirates

How Much Do Criminal Justice & Corrections Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The U.S. Department of Education found that students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and corrections made a median starting salary of $34,135 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $31,389 (25th percentile) and $37,472 (75th percentile).

We don’t know for sure if all of these people took jobs related to criminal justice so take that into consideration.

Salaries According to BLS

Criminal Justice majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $56,810 to $90,310 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Criminal Justice & Corrections

Some degrees associated with criminal justice may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to criminal justice have obtained the following education levels.

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 & Corrections Programs

In 2020-2021, 1,915 schools offered a criminal justice program of some type. 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)	534	68
Certificate (2-4 Years)	8	0
Associate’s Degree	1,523	300
Bachelor’s Degree	89	36
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	355	139
Post-Master’s	6	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	36	8
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Criminal Justice & Corrections Worth It?

The median salary for a criminal justice grad is $72,390 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 81% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $649,800 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Criminal Justice & Corrections

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

Major	Number of Grads
Fire Protection	13,766
Homeland Security	7,140
Security Science and Technology	6,888
Other Homeland Security	1,695

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.