Best Universities for Criminal Justice Degree 2022

In this article, I’ll be sharing with you the best Universities for Criminal Justice Degree.

Criminal Justice programs combine principles of sociology, law, and psychology to prepare students to deal with criminals.

Moreover, it also helps them to understand the justice system and work to prevent crime.

The course is home to many of those perennial career options.

Criminal Justice degrees are largely interdisciplinary by necessity, as a full understanding of the justice system requires not only knowledge about government and law, but also of technology and human behavior.

With the rise in demand, many new universities for criminal justice are being established yearly alongside the old guard.

What is Criminal Justice?

Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have committed crimes.

However, the criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions.

Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other crimes, and moral support for victims.

The criminal justice system consists of three main parts:

  1. Law enforcement agencies, usually the police
  2. Courts and accompanying prosecution and defense lawyers
  3. Agencies for detaining and supervising offenders, such as prisons and probation agencies.

How Does Criminal Justice Work?

The three pieces of the criminal justice work sequentially.

For instance, once a crime has been committed law enforcement investigates.

Once a suspect is apprehended, they are handed over to the court.

Although police and detectives may offer testimony in a trial, it is really the court’s show until a verdict is reached.

Then, if the accused is found guilty they are sentenced and turned over to corrections.

After release, law enforcement then works in conjunction with a parole officer if further attention is needed.

How is criminal justice related to criminology?

Criminology and criminalistics are both centered in law enforcement.

However, criminology explores the nature of crime and prevention, while criminalistics involves the collection and analysis of evidence.

Why Study Criminal Justice?

A career in criminal justice is a great way to give back to your community.

The field is full of jobs that help others; from law enforcement to working in the court system, you’re protecting people from criminal activity, helping crime victims, and ensuring justice for them and society.

A criminal justice major learns research methods for criminology, criminological theory, and the psychology behind criminal behavior.

A criminal justice major gives students an understanding of the three main elements of the justice system:

The courts, policing, and corrections.

Four Reasons to Study Criminal Justice

Below are just some of the reasons to study criminal justice and enter an interesting career path:

  1. Variety of Career Options
  2. Opportunity to Help Others
  3. Job Stability and Benefits
  4. Excitement and Challenge

Who Works in Criminal Justice?

Working in a field like criminal justice requires you to have a wide variety of skills, as there are many job duties you will take on in a role in this field.

A few of the skills that are relevant for a degree in criminal justice includes;

  • Strong verbal and written communication skills,
  • The ability to research excellent computer knowledge.
  • The ability to collaborate with other departments or agencies as well as the general public.

Top Careers in Criminal Justice

The following are the top careers in criminal justice:

  • Lawyer
  • CIA Officer
  • Information Security Analyst
  • First-Line Supervisor of Police and Detectives
  • Crime Scene Investigator
  • Criminal Investigator
  • Homicide Detective
  • ICE Agent
  • Forensic Psychologist
  • Forensic Accountant

10 Best Universities for Criminal Justice Degree

The Best Universities for Criminal Justice ranking is based on rigorous analysis of academic, admissions, financial, and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education along with millions of reviews from students and alumni.

Below are the 10 best universities for criminal justice degrees:

  1. CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice
  2. Marist College
  3. George Washington University
  4. Northeastern University
  5. Michigan State University
  6. Liberty University
  7. West Chester University of Pennsylvania
  8. Park University
  9. Sam Houston State University
  10. Rutgers University

1. CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice

The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City.

It is a senior college of the City University of New York and one of the top 10 best universities for criminal justice in 2021. John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts college with criminal justice and forensic focus in the United States.

Moreover, the college is known for its criminal justice, forensic science, forensic psychology, criminology, and public affairs programs. There is no college anywhere in the U.S. or the world quite like John Jay.

Founded in 1964, John Jay College of Criminal Justice a senior college of The City University of New York has evolved into the preeminent international leader in educating for justice in its many dimensions.

The College offers a rich liberal arts and professional curriculum that prepares students to serve the public interest as ethical leaders and engaged citizens.

Visit their website to learn more about them https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/

2. Marist College

Marist College is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators.

Just over a century ago, the Marist Brothers came to New York’s Hudson River Valley to train young men to continue the Brothers’ vocation as great educators.

What started as a seminary for the training of future Marist Brothers has developed into one of the leading colleges of the arts and sciences in the country.

Now nonsectarian in nature, Marist College is home to approximately 4,900 traditional undergraduate men and women, 1,000 graduate students, and 400 adult students.

In 1947, the first graduating class of modern-day Marist College consisted of four Marist Brothers.

Today, more than 44,000 alumni and alumnae call Marist alma mater.

Marist has a proud tradition that laid the foundation for a state-of-the-art campus for students preparing to enter the workforce of the 21st century.

Marist College follows in the tradition of many great institutions that were founded as seminaries and developed into independent academies of higher learning.

Kindly visit their website for more information https://www.marist.edu/

3. George Washington University

George Washington University is a private research university in Washington, D.C.

It was chartered in 1821 by an official act of the United States Congress.

The first President of the United States, George Washington, long favored the establishment of a university in the capital of the United States.

He wrote to the U.S. Congress and others in favor of it, and included a bequest in his last will and testament, though the shares lost their value and no educational institution ever benefited from them.

The Baptist missionary and leading minister Luther Rice raised funds to purchase a site in Washington, D.C. for a college to educate citizens from throughout the young nation.

Later on, a large building was constructed on College Hill, which is now known as Meridian Hill.

The first commencement in 1824 was considered an important event for the young city of Washington, D.C.

In attendance were President Monroe, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Marquis de Lafayette, and other dignitaries.

However, George Washington University, like much of Washington, D.C., traces many of its origins back to the Freemasons.

The Bible that the President of the George Washington University uses to swear an oath on upon inauguration is the Bible of Freemason George Washington.

Visit their webpage for more info https://www.gwu.edu/

4. Northeastern University

Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts.

Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus in Boston.

But there are few satellite campuses in Charlotte, North Carolina; Seattle, Washington; San Jose, California; San Francisco, California; Portland, Maine; and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.

Critics have argued that Northeastern’s recent rise in the rankings shows that the university has “cracked the code” to academic rankings, while others suggested it figured out how to “game the system.

The 2021 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked Northeastern 49th in its annual ranking of national universities.

Whether or not the rise was an effort to reverse-engineer the controversial rankings formula.

Critics would likely agree that the positive feedback effect of its placement, in turn, allowed the institution to significantly increase its endowment, admit a more competitive student body, hire new faculty, add to its campuses and expand its flagship co-op program.

Visit their website for more info https://www.northeastern.edu/

5. Michigan State University

Michigan State University was established in 1855, and by 1862, it stood as the nation’s premier land-grant university.

Over the decades, the university has continued to be a model of what a land-grant university can and should do.

As a university of, for, and by the people, Michigan State University began a long tradition of empowering people through educational opportunity.

On May 14, 1857, five faculty members taught 63 students in three now nonexistent buildings: College Hall, Saints’ Rest, and a brick horse barn.

Kindly visit their website for more info https://msu.edu/

6. Liberty University

Liberty University is a private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia.

It was founded by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns in 1971.

Although the university’s physical campus is in Lynchburg, most of its students are online.

Through those founding years, students and faculty were inspired to influence the moral and ethical course of America.

Subsequently, the school’s name officially changed to Liberty Baptist College in 1976, and the colors were changed to red, white, and blue.

The college achieved accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in 1980.

By 1985, the school had become recognized as an accredited university, adding programs and garnering recognition from both mainstream culture and the world of academia.

Liberty also pioneered a distance learning program that year, launching what is now known as Liberty University Online.

With the passing of the founder in 2007, his son, Jerry Falwell Jr., became chancellor and president of the university.

Please kindly visit their website for more info https://www.liberty.edu/

7. West Chester University of Pennsylvania

The West Chester University of Pennsylvania is a public university in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

It is the largest of the 14 state universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the sixth-largest university in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The university traces its roots to the private, state-aided school that existed from 1812 to 1869

As the state began to take increasing responsibility for public education, the academy was transformed into West Chester Normal School, still privately owned and state-certified.

However, the school admitted its first class, consisting of 160 students, on September 25, 1871.

In 1913, West Chester became the first of the normal schools to be owned outright by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

West Chester was ranked 55th in the Master’s Universities (North) category by U.S. News and World Report for 2020 and ranked 10th for Public Universities (North).

The University is ranked number 1 in the PASSHE by Forbes as well as being ranked among the best public institutions in its region by both Forbes and U.S News & World Report.

West Chester is one of only three Pennsylvania schools ranked in the top 100 Kiplinger “top buys” in American public education.

Please kindly visit their website for more info https://www.wcupa.edu/

8. Park University

Park University is a private university in Parkville, Missouri.

It was founded in 1875. In the fall of 2017, Park had an enrollment of 11,457 students.

The school which was originally called Park College was founded in 1875 by John A. McAfee on land donated by George S. Park with its initial structure being the stone hotel Park owned on the bluff above the Missouri River.

The original concept called for students to receive free tuition and board in exchange for working up to half-day in the college’s farm, electrical shop, or printing plant.

According to the terms of the arrangement, if the “Parkville Experiment” did not work out within five years, the college grounds were to revert to Park.

For many decades the school was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church but it no longer has that affiliation.

The college has had a relationship with the military since 1889.

However, the relationship was greatly expanded in the late 1960s with the establishment of a Military Degree Completion Program and later in 1972 with the Military Resident Center System.

Moreover, the school’s total enrollment has grown from its small base since 1996 when it first began offering online courses.

In 2000, it was renamed Park University.

Kindly the school website for more info https://www.park.edu/

9. Sam Houston State University

Sam Houston State University is a public university in Huntsville, Texas.

It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas.

Moreover, it is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and the first in Texas.

Named for Sam Houston, Texas’ greatest hero, Sam Houston State University continually strives to honor its historical roots through academic excellence that includes exceptional teaching from faculty.

For more than 140 years, SHSU has been preparing students for meaningful lives of achievement.

Its motto, “The measure of a Life is its Service,” resonates among its 21,500+ students and echoes across eight colleges and beyond its Huntsville roots.

With over 90 bachelor’s degree programs, 55 master’s degree programs, and 10 doctoral programs, including the nation’s first Ph.D. in Forensic Science, SHSU offers an exceptional college experience.

SHSU continually strives to meet the needs of contemporary students, both traditional and online.

Please kindly visit the school website for more info https://www.shsu.edu/

10. Rutgers University

Rutgers University, formally known as Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university based in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen’s College

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, stands among America’s highest-ranked, most diverse public research universities.

The oldest, largest, and top-ranked public university in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area.

You’ll find them at their main locations in three New Jersey cities, and our footprint can be seen around the region.

With hundreds of degree programs, locations across New Jersey, and 71,000-plus students, Rutgers delivers something for everyone.

And because their campuses come in all sizes ranging from small, medium, and large, you can choose the one that fits you best.

Please kindly visit their website for more info https://www.rutgers.edu/

Conclusion the Best Universities for Criminal Justice Degrees

I’m so happy to share with you the best universities for criminal justice degrees and I know for sure that I’ve answered your questions.

Please kindly drop your review in the comment section below.

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