BA vs. BS in Criminal Justice

If you expect the BA to be "more liberal arts" and the BS to be "more technical," you will sometimes be right and sometimes not. In criminal justice, the letters mostly reflect how an individual college sorts its degree requirements. Two schools can give a BS to very different curricula, and one school can award both a BA and a BS with nearly the same major. The letters are a hint, not a rule.

What the letters often change

At many colleges, the BA and BS share the same criminal justice major and differ in the surrounding requirements. The usual levers are foreign language, mathematics or science, and social science electives.

Sam Houston State University is a clear example. Its page says both the BA and BS in criminal justice "are offered in person on our Huntsville campus or online," and states that the BS "requires additional hours of a social science," while the BA requires additional hours of a foreign language. The criminal justice courses are the same for both. The difference lies in the extra courses around them.

Penn State lists a B.A. and a B.S. in Criminal Justice separately. Both require a minimum of 120 credits, both describe study of "law enforcement, courts and corrections," and both state that every student completes an internship at a host agency. The directory's record summarizes the B.A. as having a liberal arts framing, and lists it as a campus program, while the B.S. is also available online through World Campus. Here the letters tell you more about the college's structure and delivery than about the criminal justice content.

The University of Central Florida takes a third approach: it presents a single "BA/BS in Criminal Justice" page, with a student choosing one of the two awards. One department, one program, two diploma options.

When the letters do signal something

In criminology, the split can be clearer. Penn State's Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Criminology are both offered by the Criminology Program in the Department of Sociology, and both require at least 121 credits. The directory's record summarizes the B.S. as emphasizing research methods, quantification and the sciences. That is a program-level statement, and it applies to that program only.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) shows how names can be more informative than the letters. It offers a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice (Crime Control and Prevention) with a 42-credit major, and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice (Institutional Theory and Practice) with a 45-credit major covering police, courts and corrections. The titles in parentheses and the course lists describe the emphasis; the BA and BS labels alone would not.

Other bachelor's awards you will see

Not every criminal justice bachelor's is a BA or a BS.

• BSCJ. The University of Mississippi awards a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice (B.S.C.J.) with a 42-hour major and emphases in corrections, homeland security and law enforcement.
• BCJ. Tiffin University awards a Bachelor of Criminal Justice. The degree title is the same, but the major varies: its Contemporary Justice major is delivered online, its Criminalistics major is on crime scene processing and forensic evidence, and its Forensic Psychology major combines psychology and criminal justice coursework. Tiffin's Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science is a separate, science-heavy degree.
• BAAS. Sam Houston State's Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in Criminal Justice is "designed for transfer students, working professionals" and active-duty and military veterans, and states that up to 36 credit hours of technical coursework from an applied associate degree may be applied. That makes it a completion-style program rather than a first-year entry point.

For how completion programs work, see transfer and degree-completion pathways.

What the letters do not tell you

• Quality or difficulty. Nothing in a BA or BS label ranks one above the other, and no published source here supports such a ranking.
• Career eligibility. Neither award qualifies you for a police academy, a federal position, a security clearance or a forensic laboratory job. Each has separate requirements. See degrees vs. police academy training.
• Forensic science content. A BS in criminal justice is not a laboratory forensic science degree, even if the college offers a forensic concentration. See criminal justice vs. forensic science.
• Graduate admission. Master's programs set their own prerequisites. Marshall University's online criminal justice master's, for example, gives preference to applicants with criminal justice or closely related social science majors and requires a C or better in an undergraduate research methods course. The letters on your diploma are not the stated criterion.
• Delivery. Both can be offered on campus, online, or both. Always check the delivery for the specific program, not the school.

How to compare two programs

Use the same four checks on each program:

1. Required major credits. John Jay's range of 42 to 48 credits across majors shows how much this varies.
2. The non-major requirements. Language, math, science and social science requirements are where the BA/BS distinction usually lives.
3. Internship or capstone. Required, optional or absent, as printed on the program page.
4. Delivery and format. Campus, online or hybrid, plus any placement or attendance requirement.

Use the comparison tool to put two programs side by side, or browse all bachelor's degrees and online bachelor's programs. Then open the curriculum page for each program and read the required courses before you decide.