Criminal Justice & Corrections is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #4 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 16 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Associate Degree Schools in New Jersey ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 823 associate degrees in criminal justice & corrections to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of criminal justice & corrections for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 - The number of criminal justice & corrections students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
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 associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice & corrections related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for criminal justice & corrections students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Associate Degree Schools in New Jersey list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Every student who is interested in an associate degree in criminal justice & corrections needs to look into Middlesex County College. Middlesex County College is a large public college located in the suburb of Edison.
Associate recipients from the criminal justice & corrections degree program at Middlesex County College make $4,149 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in criminal justice & corrections needs to check out Essex County College. Essex is a moderately-sized public college located in the city of Newark.
Associate recipients from the criminal justice & corrections program at Essex County College get $3,345 above the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
It is difficult to beat Berkeley College - Woodland Park if you wish to pursue an associate degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the large suburb of Woodland Park, Berkeley College - Woodland Park is a private for-profit college with a small student population.
Soon after graduating, criminal justice associate recipients usually earn around $29,460 at the beginning of their careers.
Brookdale Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Lincroft.
Criminal Justice & Corrections associate degree recipients from Brookdale Community College earn a boost of about $2,032 above the typical earnings of criminal justice & corrections majors.
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 associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
