Ranked #30 in popularity, criminal justice & corrections is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 156 master's degrees in criminal justice & corrections to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality criminal justice program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to criminal justice & corrections students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of criminal justice & corrections students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt criminal justice & corrections students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice & corrections related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for criminal justice & corrections students working on their master's degree.
The criminal justice school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Illinois.
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Lewis University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the suburb of Romeoville, Lewis is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their master's degree from Lewis University earn $23,374 more than the typical criminal justice student.
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections has to take a look at Western Illinois University. WIU is a medium-sized public university located in the remote town of Macomb.
Students who graduate with their master's from the criminal justice program report average early career income of $49,381.
It is hard to beat Loyola University Chicago if you wish to pursue a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the criminal justice program state that they receive average early career income of $45,302.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality criminal justice program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
