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Business
One of the most versatile degrees available, your business degree will open doors to nearly every industry.
Criminal Justice & Law
Join the movement to keep the streets of your community safe with a major in criminal justice.
Design
Creative minds will find practical and enriching outlets for their artistic passions in this field.
Education
Enrich and inspire others, from young children to adults, and share your passions in the classroom.
Engineering
Engineering is for those who enjoy solving problems and building the technology of tomorrow.
Health
One of the fastest growing industries today, health care is home to some of the most prosperous and in-demand jobs.
Liberal Arts
Expand your knowledge, become more culturally aware, and enrich your life with an education in liberal arts.
Math
Moving beyond simple equations, mathematics is for those who love to solve complex numerical puzzles.
Science
Fight disease and develop solutions to social, environmental, and medical issues in the science field.
Technology
Make science fiction come to life with a degree in technology, where you will be pushing computers into the future.
Online Degree Programs in Criminal Justice & Law
Popular Majors in Criminal Justice & Law
Students interested in criminal justice and criminal law majors are students that are interested in the well-being of people around them. They care that wrongdoers are brought to justice, people’s rights are preserved and neighborhoods are safe. Two of the post popular majors in criminal justice and criminal law are law enforcement and law enforcement administration.
Law enforcement majors get a solid education in the history of U.S. law, including the court cases that shaped the law as we know it today. They also take courses teaching them the obligations, methods and practice of law enforcement and ethics relating to law enforcement. Another important part of the law enforcement major’s education are courses teaching them about corrections systems and juvenile justice systems.
Law enforcement administration majors will take many of the same courses as law enforcement majors, but will receive additional training in leadership, management, financial accounting, organization and other courses that focus on running successful law enforcement organizations.
How a Degree in Criminal Justice & Law Prepares You for the Real World
The more a student familiarizes themselves with U.S. law, the more effective he or she will be in a career where those laws must be enforced. Criminal justice and law students immerse themselves in the law, gain a thorough knowledge of how it came to be and are equipped with proven, effective methods of enforcing it.
Criminal justice students take courses giving them essential skills to complete the duties that will be expected of them in their future careers, like gathering, documenting and storing evidence and launching a criminal investigation. Criminology courses give students an understanding of how a criminal mind works and how criminals tend to follow certain patterns. In a real-world setting, these kinds of classes help you catch lawbreakers because you’ve learned to study their former behavior in order to predict their next move.
Many criminal justice and criminal law degree programs require students to take courses in law enforcement computer applications, which is also extremely useful to those in the field, as they will constantly be working with computers to file and search for police reports, witness statements and criminal histories, among other tasks.
Best Jobs for Criminal Justice & Law Degree Students
Some of the best and most respected jobs out there today for criminal justice degree students include police officers and detectives. Policing and detective work are also probably some of the best-known criminal justice careers. Job prospects for police officers and detectives are projected to remain excellent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many work as uniformed officers for city police departments, as sheriff’s deputies for county sheriff’s departments and as state troopers. Police officers and detectives are responsible for the safety of people and their property and the enforcement of local, state and national law. They have the right to exercise their authority as peace officers to place someone under arrest or to execute search warrants to uphold those duties.
Students with a criminal law degree can choose to move on to become criminal lawyers. Criminal lawyers defend people who are charged with crimes, arguing their case in a court of law.
