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Bachelor of Arts in Criminology & Criminal Justice – Accelerated Professional Track online

Designed for law enforcement professionals, the accelerated bachelor's in criminology and criminal justice program leverages your prior experience as transferrable credit hours toward your degree. Fortify your career experience with the academic qualifications you need to prepare for leadership roles.

Apply by: 1/5/25
Start class: 1/27/25
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Program Overview

Explore our online BA in Criminology & Criminal Justice program

$372.75 Per Credit Hour
120* Credit Hours

Enhance your professional expertise with an online degree designed to assist law enforcement and corrections officers. The Bachelor of Arts in Criminology & Criminal Justice – Accelerated Professional Track online program from William Paterson University provides in-depth knowledge of the U.S. justice system, criminal law, causes and consequences of criminal behavior, evidence-backed harm reduction strategies, and data analysis skills.

Law enforcement and corrections officers have a head start on this criminology and criminal justice undergraduate degree. Leverage your police academy or department of corrections training in any state for up to 30 hours* of credit toward this online degree. Explore the U.S. justice system, criminal law, the causes and consequences of criminal behavior, and evidence-backed community harm-reduction methods while gaining practical, analytical, and theoretical tools and cultural awareness. This online degree program readies you for leadership roles in criminal procedure and related fields or for further study in fields such as law, social work, and criminal justice administration.

Graduates of the accelerated criminal justice degree online program will:

  • Understand criminal justice data analysis
  • Utilize theoretical analysis of crime and crime prevention
  • Conduct analytical research
  • Gain an in-depth knowledge of criminal justice subfields (terrorism, white collar crime)
  • Develop knowledge of criminal law
Graduates of the accelerated criminal justice degree online program will:+
  • Understand criminal justice data analysis
  • Utilize theoretical analysis of crime and crime prevention
  • Conduct analytical research
  • Gain an in-depth knowledge of criminal justice subfields (terrorism, white collar crime)
  • Develop knowledge of criminal law

Also available:

William Paterson University offers a variety of specialized bachelor's degrees, including an online Bachelor of Arts in Criminology & Criminal Justice for students who have not graduated from a corrections or law enforcement academy. In addition, we have minors available to help you meet your undergraduate credit requirements by integrating coursework that enriches your educational experience.

$372.75 Per Credit Hour
120 Credit Hours
Apply Now

Need More Information?

Call 833-960-0139

Call 833-960-0139

Add a minor to help meet your credit hour requirement and enrich your educational experience.

Tuition

An online criminology and criminal justice degree from WP is cost-effective

Undergraduate online programs from William Paterson University offer affordable, pay-by-the-course tuition. All fees are included in the total tuition.

Tuition breakdown:

$372.75 Per Credit Hour
View additional tuition information +

Program Per Credit Hour Per Course
BACCJPRO $372.75 $1,118.25

Tuition breakdown:

$372.75 Per Credit Hour

Calendar

Don’t miss these important deadlines

WP Online programs are delivered in an accelerated format ideal for working professionals, conveniently featuring multiple start dates each year.

Now enrolling:

1/5/25 Apply Date
1/27/25 Class Starts

View full calendar  + 

TermStart DateApp DeadlineDocument DeadlineRegistration DeadlineTuition DeadlineClass End DateTerm Length
Fall II11/4/2410/14/2410/16/2410/25/2410/30/2412/22/247 weeks
Spring I1/27/251/5/251/8/251/17/251/22/253/16/257 weeks
Spring II3/24/253/2/253/5/253/14/253/19/255/11/257 weeks
Summer I5/19/254/27/254/30/255/9/255/14/257/6/257 weeks
Summer II7/14/256/22/256/24/257/3/257/9/258/31/257 weeks
Fall I9/8/258/17/258/20/258/29/259/3/2510/26/257 weeks
Fall II11/3/2510/12/2510/15/2510/24/2510/29/2512/21/257 weeks

Now enrolling:

1/5/25 Apply Date
1/27/25 Class Starts

Have questions or need more information about our online programs?

Ready to take the rewarding path toward earning your degree online?

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Admissions

Follow our streamlined admission checklist

At William Paterson University, we've streamlined the admission process to help you get started quickly and easily. Please read the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in Criminology & Criminal Justice – Accelerated Professional Track online, including what additional materials you need and where you should send them.

The requirements include:

  • Online application
  • Graduate of police or department of corrections academy
  • Minimum 2.0 GPA
  • Must be at least two years post high school
View all admission requirements +

You must meet the following requirements for admission to this BA online program:

  • Graduate of state-approved police or department of corrections academy
  • Cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale
  • Students must be 4 years post-high school or 2 years post-high school and have earned 60 or more college credits.
  • Official transcripts from each college attended or high school transcript if no prior college experience
    o Applicants must be at least two years post high school to enroll in our WP online accelerated programs
  • Complete online application and submit $50 application fee

Official transcripts, test scores, and other documents should be sent from the granting institutions to:

Email address: [email protected]

Mail address:

Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Enrollment Services
Morrison Hall 102
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, NJ 07470

Courses

Online Criminology & Criminal Justice – Accelerated Professional Track coursework

For the BA in Criminology & Criminal Justice – Accelerated Professional Track (CCJ-ACPT) online – *The University will award up to 30 professional experience credit equivalencies as supported by American Council on Education standards, with 15 credits (5 courses) being applied to the major in CCJ-ACPT and an additional 15 credits (5 courses) being applied toward degree requirements. New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and Police Academy Graduates will automatically receive 30 credits applied to their degree upon submission of proof of graduation. Students from other states are welcome. Your credentials are assessed by William Paterson University’s Admissions Office to determine credit equivalences upon application OR you may call to speak with a Degree Completion and Adult Learning (DCAL) Team member about how you can receive the most credit for your criminal justice training.

The CCJ-ACPT major is 39 credits – 15 ACE credits applied toward the major and student must complete 24 credits of major courses (18 credit hours of core courses and 6 credit hours of electives).

Note: Transfer credit is given for all earned credits except in such cases where the earned grade does not meet major program requirements. There is no limit to the number of credits that may be transferred. A total of 30 credits used to complete a William Paterson University degree must be William Paterson University credits.

Expand All

Students must complete the following courses.

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course will introduce to the students an overview of (1) the concepts of crime, law and criminology; (2) theories of crime causation; (3) the nature and extent and patterns of different kinds of crimes and social reactions towards the crimes in the American society; and (4) relevant crimes and social policies in other countries. As a writing intensive course, students will engage in writing both as a means to learn the concepts and theories outlined above and as a way to train themselves in conventional styles of criminological writing.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Criminal law is focused on statutory construction and the elements of a crime, as well as defenses. We will explore how states construct their criminal codes and the policy reasons behind the elements of a statute. Students will also learn the theories behind criminalization, legal moralism, culpability, intent, causation, mental capacity, and criminal penalties.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course seeks to provide students with an overview of intersectional inequalities such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual identity in crime and the administration of justice, focused primarily in the United States. It also addresses differences in offending and victimization among disadvantaged populations. Students will examine historical and current criminal justice policies and the impact of such policies on community of color, poor people, women, the LGBTQ community, and other disadvantaged groups (e.g. persons with disabilities and the elderly). In addition, the course will examine theoretical perspectives on class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, and justice. Students will leave this course better understanding the role systems of inequality place in criminal justice policy and practice, and how criminal justice policies and practice impact marginalized populations."
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This capstone course is the culmination point for students’ theoretical, methodological, and substantive knowledge of the discipline. It reinforces, applies, and extends previous coursework and key concepts. Students will examine select contemporary empirical and theoretical questions or problems in criminal justice and criminology, with an emphasis on data literacy, in order to propose policy or theoretical solutions. They will demonstrate the ability to integrate information and subject mastery through a combination of written and oral communication and research. This is a writing intensive course that includes one substantive paper. Course content will vary by instructor.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course teaches students the process of social scientific inquiry. Students will learn the fundamentals of social science research methods, including the process by which research questions are formulated, relevant literature is reviewed, data are collected and analyzed, and results are written up. As this is a writing intensive course, students will learn methods in part through weekly writing assignments. The end product of the course will be a paper or proposal that has been improved through an iterative process of feedback by the professor and revision by the student.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course introduces students to approaches for assembling, analyzing and presenting qualitative and quantitative data. Students will become familiar with a variety of sociologically relevant data that are available online. Students will learn how to conduct basic data analyses in SPSS or Excel in order to address questions of sociological and criminological significance.

Choose two courses from the following options:

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
With a comparative approach, this course analyzes how the criminal justics systems interconnect to countries’ crime and crime control issues and to their broader economic and social issues and institutions. It focuses on how countries that have faced major political and social upheavals during the past several decades have struggled to develop workable crime control methods as well as methods of conflict resolution that provide justice for victims, fairness for those accused, and avenues for reconciliation. It also analyzes how global terrorism and internal criminal threats affect countries’ ability to maintain and improve their citizen’s civil liberties and human rights.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course examines the actual and symbolic role of organized crime in American society. It begins with an overview of the distribution, structure and operation of organized crime over time, including patterns of ethnic succession in the control of organized criminal activities. The course goes on to explore the changing nature of organized crime in the global era. Theories of organized crime are presented and assessed, and the tactics used to combat organized crime are examined. Myths surrounding organized crime are scrutinized critically, and prominent role of organized crime in popular culture is considered. Special attention is paid to a critique of the stereotypes that link organized crime and ethnicity in the popular mind and to the consequences of these stereotypes for the groups involved
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course provides a broad introduction to white-collar crimes: illegal acts motivated primarily by financial gain, business advantage or power, which are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust, which are not dependent on the direct application or threat of violence. These crimes nevertheless result in great harm, from physical, economic, and emotional harm to environmental degradation and threats to democracy.  It provides students with an historical and sociological overview of such crimes, an understanding of the major types of white-collar crime, and the key theoretical tools developed to diagnose and explain the problem. It also delivers a critical overview of the scope and societal impact of white-collar crime both in the U.S. and internationally; an analysis of public responses to these crimes; and a discussion of the efficacy of strategies to prevent white-collar offenses from governmental and business organizations.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course introduces the study of terrorism from the perspectives of sociology and criminology. Through an overview of international and domestic terrorism and case studies, the course will first examine controversies in defining terrorism and in distinguishing it from other forms of political violence, and provide a typology for understanding the breadth of terrorist organizations. It then explores the historical and sociological roots of terrorism, examines terrorist motivations as well as their organization, strategies, tactics and the effects of these actions. Counterterrorism—both military and law enforcement responses to terrorism—is critically assessed. Last, the class analyzes the framing of terrorism within political, media, and popular discourses.

*The University will award up to 30 professional experience credit equivalencies as supported by American Council on Education standards, with 15 credits (5 courses) being applied to the major in CCJ and an additional 15 credits (5 courses) being applied toward degree requirements. New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and Police Academy Graduates will automatically receive 30 credits applied to their degree upon submission of proof of graduation. Students from other states are welcome. We will have your credentials assessed by William Paterson University’s Center for Degree Completion and Adult Learning to determine credit equivalences upon application. Or, call to speak with a Prior Learning Assessment Team member about how you can receive the most credit for your criminal justice training.

Interested in adding a minor to your coursework?

Explore your options.

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