2025 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools
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 7,387 master's degrees in criminal justice & corrections during the 2021-2022 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
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 school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of different 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 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 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.
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.
25 Top Schools for a Master's in Criminal Justice
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections needs to take a look at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. John Jay is a large public college located in the large city of New York.
Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their master's degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice earn $8,296 more than the average criminal justice graduate.
More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections needs to check out University of New Haven. University of New Haven is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of West Haven.
Master's recipients from the criminal justice & corrections degree program at University of New Haven make $2,971 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of New Haven
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections needs to take a look at University of Cincinnati - Main Campus. Located in the large city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the criminal justice program state that they receive average early career earnings of $51,130.
More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
University of Massachusetts - Lowell is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. UMass Lowell is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Lowell.
Those criminal justice & corrections students who get their master's degree from University of Massachusetts - Lowell earn $39,305 more than the standard criminal justice graduate.
More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of Massachusetts - Lowell
Located in the large city of Boston, Northeastern is a private not-for-profit 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 $47,269.
More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Northeastern University
