Last Updated: 26 May, 2023

Colleges in California for Criminal Justice
Students in California who want to study criminal justice can choose from a number of top-ranked colleges and universities. Three California schools are featured in our 2023 Best U.S. Colleges for Criminal Justice ranking, and several others appear in our lists of the nation’s top public universities and best-value schools.
Criminal justice programs teach students about law, crime, and how the justice system works. This helps them prepare for jobs in law enforcement, corrections, and other criminal justice fields. In these programs, students learn about the origins of crime and how it affects society. They also learn about the history, structure, and functions of the American criminal justice system, as well as contemporary issues in criminal justice. Programs emphasize critical thinking and ethical reasoning so that graduates are prepared to enter the workforce as effective and responsible criminal justice professionals.
The Best Criminal Justice Colleges in California for 2023
Your choice to enroll in a criminal justice program is an investment in your future – one that can lead to immense satisfaction and fulfillment in many areas of the criminal justice system. With so many options available to students, it pays to conduct research before making a selection. To assist you in choosing the best college for your needs, we have carefully examined every college in California that offers a criminal justice degree.
We use information from reliable public sources, including the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), to evaluate and score each college in the state. The factors listed below are the most heavily weighted in our scoring methodology:
- Student satisfaction
- Employability of graduates
- Competition during the enrollment phase
- Credentials and experience of the faculty
- Cost of attendance (including tuition and fees)
- Graduation rates and the availability of financial aid
We also consider how committed each school is to diversity and inclusion. We take this action because we are aware that a criminal justice school ought to make an effort to foster an atmosphere in which each student is treated fairly and equally.
The following 10 institutions have been selected as California’s top 20 criminal justice programs for 2023 following a thorough review: