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 132 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 6,830 master's degrees in criminal justice & corrections during the <nil> academic year.
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Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Master's Degree
The criminal justice master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on criminal justice & corrections students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other criminal justice & corrections students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for criminal justice & corrections to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
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.
More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools
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.
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ADBLOCK #171
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Criminal Justice & Corrections in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections has to look into John Jay College of Criminal Justice. John Jay is a fairly large public college located in the city of New York.
Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their master's degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice make $8,296 more than the standard criminal justice graduate.
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections has to take a look at University of New Haven. University of New Haven is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of West Haven.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at University of New Haven make $2,971 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections has to check out University of Cincinnati - Main Campus. Located in the city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the criminal justice program state that they receive average early career wages of $51,130.
University of Massachusetts - Lowell is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. UMass Lowell is a large public university located in the large suburb of Lowell.
Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their master's degree from University of Massachusetts - Lowell receive $39,305 more than the standard criminal justice grad.
American Military University is a fairly large private for-profit university located in the fringe town of Charles Town.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at American Public University System earn $19,841 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
ASU - Skysong is a very large public university located in the city of Scottsdale.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections degree program at Arizona State University - Skysong get $10,652 more than the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Florida State is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Tallahassee.
Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their master's degree from Florida State University make $2,943 more than the standard criminal justice graduate.
Salve Regina is a small private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Newport.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at Salve Regina University get $23,417 above the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at American University get $7,442 above the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Michigan State is a very large public university located in the small city of East Lansing.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at Michigan State University make $20,810 above the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Queens, STJ is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from St John's University - New York receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,481 over the average earnings of criminal justice & corrections majors.
Located in the medium-sized city of Fort Lauderdale, Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the criminal justice program earn an average of $39,520 in their early career salary.
Columbia Southern University is a large private for-profit university located in the fringe town of Orange Beach.
Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from Columbia Southern University get an earnings boost of approximately $7,368 over the average earnings of criminal justice & corrections majors.
SNHU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized suburb of Manchester.
Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from Southern New Hampshire University receive an earnings boost of around $4,342 over the average earnings of criminal justice & corrections majors.
UofL is a very large public university located in the city of Louisville.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections major at University of Louisville make $26,977 more than the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
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Honorable Mentions
Here are some additional great schools for Criminal Justice & Corrections students that almost earned our Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools award.
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.
The criminal justice master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
