School of Public Affairs Launches Online Criminal Justice Degree Completion Program

In a collaboration between the School of Public Affairs and SDSU World Campus, San Diego State University is now offering an online program for students looking to complete their degree in Criminal Justice.

The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Online Degree Completion program is designed to encourage thoughtful exploration of the ways that criminal justice systems provide “justice,” or fail to do so. The program also focuses on criminal justice from a social justice perspective, allowing for the examination of policy issues as diverse as genocide, institutionalized racism, organized crime, and environmental destruction, in addition to traditional criminal justice issues.

The degree is ideal for students interested in working in law, law enforcement, corrections or other social service agencies, and is designed to be flexible enough for students looking to further their education while staying in the workforce. The program is comprised of ten eight-week modules, but the flexible schedule allows students to complete the program in as few as 12 months.

The program was originally developed by Dr. Stuart Henry, criminologist and Director of the School of Public Affairs from 2006 to 2017.

“There were basically three reasons we developed this program,” said Dr. Henry. “The first was because my analysis of SDSU undergraduate acceptance rates revealed that just 18% of applicants to the Criminal Justice major were accepted, and only half of those accepted actually enrolled. So, of the 3300 applicants in any one year, we only ended up with 9%. That means 82% were not getting accepted, and a further 9% were admitted but decided not to enroll.”

A 2019 report by Burning Glass Technologies found that there had been over 120,000 job postings for criminal justice and corrections positions within the last 12 months and predicted that the industry would grow by 7% over the next 10 years. With the demand for people to fill these positions on the rise, Dr. Henry wanted to provide an education to as many aspiring criminal justice professionals as possible.

“The second reason we created this degree option was that we’d had considerable success with an online Masters in Public Administration (MPA) that we ran through SDSU World Campus. The online MPA targeted a working population with careers in Public Administration, Government and Non-Profits, who were looking for advancement or promotion, or even a career change. We used to offer a bachelor’s in criminal justice for working adults that went through SDSU World Campus, but that was taught face-to-face and was offered in the evenings, nights or weekends. Its enrollment had declined due to growing competition from online programs,” said Dr. Henry.

The third reason for SDSU’s School of Public Affairs has always worked closely with criminal justice professionals in the community, including those working for the City of San Diego. According to Dr. Henry, many of them had suggested that SDSU begin offering a degree completion program for all their current officers who were going through the ranks with some college but no degree. More specifically, they advocated for a degree that combined criminal justice and public administration that was also practically grounded to teach in-service officers necessary and relevant skills and practices.

According to Dr. Henry, students should consider this program because it is suited both to their academic and career advancement and is designed to create well-educated criminal justice professionals that can effectively serve the public. “From this point of view, it is a win-win for anyone already working in criminal justice, law enforcement and other related fields such as the courts or corrections or probation and parole,” said Dr. Henry.

To learn more about the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Online Degree Completion program, visit: https://ces.sdsu.edu/government-politics/bachelor-science-criminal-justice-online-degree-completion-program

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.