Master’s in Criminal Justice Online MS Degree Programs

A criminal justice master’s degree can prepare you for leadership roles in law enforcement and public safety. By earning your degree, you’ll be equipped with the critical thinking, data-driven decision-making and organizational management skills necessary to succeed in an evolving law enforcement landscape.

While many criminal justice careers don’t require a college degree, law enforcement agencies are increasingly looking for college graduates when hiring. Earning a master’s degree can give you a leg up when applying for top jobs or seeking a promotion and can prepare you to adapt to an evolving field.

Depending on your career goals, a master’s degree concentration in advanced counterterrorism or public safety administration could help you enjoy an even wider range of opportunities.

A counterterrorism master’s degree will help you understand how to analyze foreign and domestic terrorism threats, gather, examine and interpret intelligence, and deconstruct biases and mindsets about terrorism.

With a public safety administration master’s degree, you’ll get a firm grasp on the behind-the-scenes workings of criminal justice and public policy, preparing you to guide and implement policy at local, state and federal levels.

At SNHU, tuition rates for online master’s degree programs are some of the lowest in the country.

It's important to note, though, that the actual cost of your degree will vary based on the specific courses you take, the materials required for each course and your prior educational experience. You may, for example, transfer up to 12 credits of relevant graduate coursework, saving you tuition, as well as time, to complete your program.

Many courses also include additional costs for learning resources. While SNHU’s online college degree programs aim to utilize free resources whenever possible – including e-books, websites and training videos – some courses will require textbooks.

It depends. With an online master’s degree program, you can fit your learning into your current schedule, earning a master’s degree in as few as 15 months.

We like to manage student expectations by saying that most master’s degree programs can be completed in about 2 years. That said, with 5 graduate term starts per year, you can move at a slower pace if you'd like. This can be especially helpful to those earning their degree while balancing a career and family.

At the end of the day, we want to make your goals more accessible. That means allowing you the flexibility to complete your program at whatever pace works best for you.

With a public safety administration master’s degree from SNHU, you’ll be ready to apply your law enforcement experience to leadership positions that address public policy.

Whether you hope to take on a leadership role at the local, state or national level, you’ll be prepared to navigate the complexities of the U.S. criminal justice system across a variety of agencies and in-demand careers.

With a job as an emergency management director, you could prepare for and lead the response to natural disasters and other emergencies for a city, county or state. Emergency management jobs are expected to grow 3% through 2032, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.¹

You could also guide the day-to-day workings and long-term growth of a city or county as a county administrator, mayor or city manager. Management jobs like these are projected to grow 3% through 2032, according to BLS data.¹

A criminal justice master’s degree will prepare you for a variety of jobs across many industries, including law enforcement, corrections, public safety and administration.

Earning a criminal justice master’s degree can give you the critical thinking and problem-solving skills you need to stand out in the evolving law enforcement, corrections and public safety fields.

According to the BLS¹, some of the top criminal justice jobs include:

• Police officers and detectives: Protect lives and property, investigate to gather facts and collect evidence of possible crimes.
• Corrections officers: Manage operations and staff at jails, prisons and other parts of the corrections system, overseeing those who are awaiting trial or serving a sentence.
• Forensic science technicians: Aid criminal investigations by collecting and analyzing evidence from crime scenes and testifying about the results in court proceedings.
• Private investigators: Conduct investigations for private citizens about legal, financial and personal matters.
• Probation officers: Assist in the rehabilitation of criminal offenders in custody or on probation or parole.

The best online college for criminal justice is one that treats you as an individual and can be tailored to help you reach your personal career goals.

At SNHU, we started offering online classes in 1995 to help active-duty military students pursue their degrees from anywhere. We've since taken great pride in our ability to evolve our online learning solutions to suit the needs of all learners.

Our online programs are:

• Affordable. As a university built for people, not for profit, we strive to keep our programs as affordable as possible.
• Flexible. Our graduate degrees are built to fit your busy life. You can access your coursework online, on your own time – and finish your master's in as few as 15 months.
• Transfer-friendly. We want to make earning your degree as seamless as possible. That's why we accept up to 12 credits toward your master's – so you can pick up where you left off.

We understand that a career in law enforcement often requires long hours and shift work. To help you succeed in the criminal justice master’s degree program, we'll help you find the right balance between work and school, and support you along the way whenever you need it.

Our faculty will also insert real-world examples and experiences into the learning process to take your knowledge from the classroom to your career. At SNHU, criminal justice courses are taught by law enforcement and public safety professionals with years of hands-on experience – including many who are still actively working in the field.

Finally, a capstone project required before graduation ensures you’ll get the chance to apply the skills and knowledge you’ve learned toward a real-life challenge impacting your organization or community.

While many may think these terms are interchangeable, there are, in fact, some important differences between criminology and criminal justice.

Criminology is the study of crime, or the "why" behind criminal behavior. As such, criminology involves the research and analysis of all aspects of deviant human behavior, from the causes of crimes to their consequences. By understanding these factors, a criminologist can then use these findings to inform policies to help mitigate crime.

Criminal profiling and forensic psychology are possible careers that fall under the category of criminology.²

Criminal justice, on the other hand, hones in on the practical applications. Criminal justice takes the "why" from criminology and explores the real-life responses to it. This may include any number of complex areas, such as local and federal policies, law enforcement, incarceration, rehabilitation and more.

There is a broad range of criminal justice careers, including police officers, investigators and detectives.²

Our online MS in Criminal Justice explores concepts relevant to both criminal justice and criminology careers – helping prepare you for the role you want.

Yes and no. There are, in fact, professionals responsible for creating criminal profiles. However, these jobs are typically called "criminal investigative analysts," not "criminal profilers."

Criminal investigative analysts use data to identify likely characteristics of a suspect in a crime. Several resources are used to compile these criminal profiles, such as the testimonies of witnesses or victims and forensic crime scene evidence.

According to Indeed, most criminal investigative analysts are employed by the FBI in the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) and work in the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) in Quantico, VA.³ Some analysts may also work for the Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms to identify arsonists and bombers.³

While there may not be as many "criminal profilers" in real life as you see depicted on TV, there are still many fascinating career opportunities that a degree in criminal justice can prepare you for.