AS in Criminal Justice from the University of Phoenix
Degree Description: An associate degree in criminal justice from the University of Phoenix gives students a basic knowledge of the criminal court system, juvenile justice, and policing and corrections practices. Students in this program will receive an overall introduction to the concepts surrounding the justice system while also being required to solve and complete assignments that ask them to interact with these concepts. Students in this program will develop their critical thinking skills as they examine how criminal justice careers affect our communities nationwide. Courses in this program include Foundations of the Criminal Justice System, Introduction to Juvenile Justice, and Fundamentals of Policing. Each course is offered with another, and the pair is administered in nine weeks. University of Phoenix charges $365 per credit hour, and usually students will have to pay an $80 fee per course for their study materials. The associate degree in criminal justice program will probably take students around two years to complete.
Degree Outlook: Once students have completed their associate degree with a concentration in criminal justice, they are able to continue their studies to earn a bachelor’s degree or they can immediately enter the workforce as a member of our nation’s criminal justice system. Because careers within the criminal justice system are so various, graduates have quite a few options when looking for work. For example, they can find work as a correctional officer, of which there were about 454,500 in the United States in 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. This is a quickly growing profession, with a 9 percent increase in job opportunities expected by 2018. Correctional officers made a median annual salary of $38,380 in 2008. However, if a graduate can wait to enter the workforce, then he or she should consider earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, as the associate degree will certainly have prepared him or her for the academic work required to receive such a degree.
