Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice online

Prepare for success in criminal justice and related professions with the practical, analytical, and theoretical tools and cultural awareness this degree provides. You will graduate with the skills needed to enter leadership roles and make a difference within organizations and your community.

Apply by: 4/29/24
Start class: 5/20/24

Program Overview

Learn more about our online BA in Criminology & Criminal Justice

$360 Per Credit Hour
120* Credit Hours

In the Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice online program from William Paterson University, you will explore the U.S. justice system, criminal law, the causes and consequences of criminal behavior, and learn evidence-backed ways of reducing harm in communities. This online degree sets you apart in the job market by building your career-ready data analysis skills, giving you advanced insight of crime statistics and prevention strategies.

The bachelor's in criminology and criminal justice online program allows you to focus on investigating inequalities within the criminal justice system and learn how to enhance community safety. Coursework is designed for working adults and prepares you for continued study in fields such as law, social work, and forensics.

Graduates of the BA - Criminology & Criminal Justice program will:

  • Understand criminal justice data analysis
  • Utilize theoretical analysis of crime and crime prevention
  • Conduct analytical research
  • Communicate effectively
  • Gain an in-depth knowledge of criminal justice subfields (terrorism, white collar crime)
  • Develop knowledge of criminal law
  • Understand criminal justice data analysis
  • Utilize theoretical analysis of crime and crime prevention
  • Conduct analytical research
  • Communicate effectively
  • Gain an in-depth knowledge of criminal justice subfields (terrorism, white collar crime)
  • Develop knowledge of criminal law

Criminology & Criminal Justice career opportunities:

  • Law enforcement (federal and state)
  • Social services or social worker
  • Non-profit organization employee or manager
  • Corrections officer
  • Probation or parole officer
  • Criminal justice administrator
  • Court officer
  • Law enforcement (federal and state)
  • Social services or social worker
  • Non-profit organization employee or manager
  • Corrections officer
  • Probation or parole officer
  • Criminal justice administrator
  • Court officer

Also available:

William Paterson University offers a variety of specialized bachelor's degrees. Check out all of our online undergraduate programs. In addition, we have minors available to help you meet your undergraduate credit requirements by integrating coursework that enriches your educational experience.

$360 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

How WP makes an online criminology & criminal justice bachelor's affordable

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

Tuition breakdown:

$360 Per Credit Hour

Tuition breakdown:

$360 Per Credit Hour

Calendar

Start your path with these important dates for our online students

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

Now enrolling:

4/29/24 Apply Date
5/20/24 Class Starts
TermStart DateApp DeadlineDocument DeadlineRegistration DeadlineTuition DeadlineClass End DateTerm Length
Spring II3/25/243/3/243/6/243/15/243/20/245/12/247 weeks
Summer I5/20/244/29/245/1/245/10/245/15/247/7/247 weeks
Summer II7/15/246/23/246/26/247/5/247/10/249/1/247 weeks
Fall I9/9/248/18/248/21/248/30/249/4/2410/27/247 weeks
Fall II11/4/2410/14/2410/16/2410/25/2410/30/2412/22/247 weeks

Now enrolling:

4/29/24 Apply Date
5/20/24 Class Starts

Have questions or need more information about our online programs?

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

Admissions

Follow our streamlined admission requirements

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 and Criminal Justice online, including what additional materials you need and where you should send them.

The requirements include:

  • Online application
  • Transcripts from all colleges and universities previously attended
  • Minimum 2.0 GPA
  • Must be at least four years post high school

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

  • 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 2 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

The degree plan for our BA in Criminology & Criminal Justice online program

For the BA in Criminology & Criminal Justice (CCJ) major online, you must complete 36 credits of major courses (18 credit hours of CCJ core courses and 18 credit hours of CCJ electives). Additional University Core Curriculum and elective credits will be required to complete the 120-credit BA degree. You may transfer up to 90 approved credit hours to decrease cost and time to completion.

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. Topics covered shall include: elements of a crime, mens rea, actus reus, crimes against the person, crimes against property, inchoate crimes, affirmative defenses, and insanity, among others. In addition to studying the common law system in the United States, this course will also take a comparative look at the way other countries differ in their approach to criminal law.
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
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.
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 is designed to help students apply criminology theory and concepts to the criminal justice system, learn the cultural competency and ethical skills necessary to work in the criminology field, and prepare for the post-college job market in the criminal justice system.  The semester prior to registration, students arrange an internship placement with the assistance and approval of the Department Internship Coordinator. The course requires a minimum of 120 hours of fieldwork during the semester in which the student is enrolled. In addition to completing their fieldwork hours, students attend several 75 minute in-person classes and three-to-four one-on-one meetings with the course instructor in which they receive feedback on their written work.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
In this course, we will examine the functions and the structure of primary agencies involved in the crime prevention and control process, which include the police, courts and corrections. We will also explore some contemporary challenges of the criminal justice system.
Students must take 18 credit hours.
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 gives an overview of juvenile offending. It covers the nature, extent, causes, and patterns of juvenile delinquency and status offending. The course also gives an overview of juvenile justice. It covers the structure and functioning of the juvenile justice system and the role of the community in responding to juvenile offending. Included are discussions of major debates and controversies surrounding juvenile offending and justice.
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.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Examines the concept of deviance in society through a study of the issues of value judgements, abnormality and eccentricity. Implications are found for the causes of the behavior of groups socially labeled as deviant.
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 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 course examines corrections as a component of the criminal justice system. The structure, functioning, and socio-historical context of prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, and community corrections such as probation and parole will be covered. Included is the effectiveness of correctional approaches in achieving the goals of corrections—offender rehabilitation, punishment, and incapacitation and victim restoration for example—as demonstrated with empirical evidence and considered within a human right and social justice frameworks

Take your degree even further. Choosing a minor will allow you to enrich your experience while meeting your undergraduate credit requirements.

Explore your options.

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