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Bachelor of Arts in Criminology Online

Gain a deeper understanding of the big picture of crime and its social contexts, particularly how inequalities (race, class and gender), the role of individual background, and social forces intersect. This degree can prepare you for many public service fields, including local, state and federal government or local police departments.

Next Apply Date: 2/24/25
Next Class Start Date: 3/10/25
Apply Now
Next Apply Date: 2/24/25
Next Class Start Date: 3/10/25

Program Overview

Check out the benefits of our 100% online criminology degree

Learn to reduce crime in the most effective way—prevent it before it starts. With an online bachelor's degree in criminology, you'll examine crime from a macro perspective as a social phenomenon and explore how society, psychology and even biology contribute to its cause and impact.

While a criminal justice major tends to focus on the after-effects of crime, such as law enforcement, the court system and correctional institutions, a bachelor's degree in criminology goes beyond to study the science of crime and the overarching root causes that promote its proliferation. By exploring the correlation between social justice and crime, you'll gain valuable insights into how inequalities—from race and socioeconomics to gender and sexuality—contribute to crime and its multigenerational effect on communities.

With a mix of criminology, sociology and political science courses, this 100% online program studies factors that lead to delinquent behaviors along with social research methodology, criminal justice systems and crime reduction strategies.

Interested in pursuing a double major? Pair your online B.A. in Criminology with other select A-State Online programs, including our B.A. in Communication Studies, B.A. in Political Science, B.A. in Sociology or B.S. in Business Administration.

By studying sociological theories and criminal justice practical applications, you will gain a broad-based understanding of crime, applicable to employment opportunities in both the public and private sectors.

+

Prepare for a broad range of professional roles, including:

  • Criminal Investigator
  • Recruiter
  • Community Supervision Officer
  • Community Service Manager
  • Police Officer
Prepare for a broad range of professional roles, including:+
  • Criminal Investigator
  • Recruiter
  • Community Supervision Officer
  • Community Service Manager
  • Police Officer

Gain the knowledge and industry-relevant skills employers seek:

  • Negotiation
  • Criminal law
  • Social research methodology
  • Relationship-building
  • Recruiting
Gain the knowledge and industry-relevant skills employers seek:+
  • Negotiation
  • Criminal law
  • Social research methodology
  • Relationship-building
  • Recruiting

Also available:

A-State offers a variety of undergraduate programs in a convenient online format. Explore our full range of online undergraduate programs.

Per Credit Tuition: $282
Transfer Credits: Up to 90 hours
Credit Hours 120
Apply Now

Need More Information?

Call 866-621-8096

Call 866-621-8096

Tuition

You may be eligible for financial aid

A-State's online programs are affordable and convenient. You may also qualify for financial aid. Learn more.

The B.A. in Criminology online program offers the same low, pay-by-the-course tuition to all U.S. residents. All fees are included. Tuition may be subject to change on a yearly basis.

Tuition breakdown:

Per Credit Hour: $282
Tuition Per Course: $846

Transfer your credits for lower tuition

Use our Tuition Estimator to see how affordable your degree could be. Slide the notch to the number of credits you've already earned—which may qualify for transfer credit—to get an estimate of what your degree might cost.

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Transfer Credits: 0
Your Estimated Tuition: $Your Estimated Tuition:
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Transcripts sent from other colleges and universities will be evaluated, and accepted credits will be added to the student's A-State record. The Tuition Estimator is not a guarantee or predictor of the number of credit hours that will be accepted.

You may be closer to Graduation than you think!

A-State-approved credit for prior learning recognizes your previous accomplishments, reducing your tuition costs and time to graduation.

Calendar

Jot down these key dates and deadlines

Our B.A. in Criminology is a flexible online program with accelerated coursework and multiple start dates per year.

View full calendar  + 

TermProgram Start DateApplication DeadlineDocument DeadlineRegistration DeadlinePayment DueLast Class Day
Spring 11/13/2512/16/2412/18/241/9/251/10/252/28/25
Spring 23/10/252/24/252/28/253/6/253/7/255/2/25

Now enrolling:

Next Apply Date 2/24/25
Start Class 3/10/25

Have questions or need more information about A‑State online programs?

Ready to take the next step toward earning your degree online from A-State?

Apply Now

Admissions

Check out the admission steps to enroll at A-State

A-State Online offers a streamline admission process for both new students and transfers. Review the requirements for admission to the B.A. in Criminology Studies online program below.


Admission Requirements:

  • Online application
  • Official transcripts
  • 2.0 GPA for transferring credits
View all admission requirements +

There are several paths to admittance at A-State:

  • If you have 13 or more transferrable college credit hours, you would be admitted if you have a cumulative college GPA of at least 2.0 on previous college coursework
  • If you have 0-12 transferrable college credit hours and have been out of high school for five years or more, you would be admitted if you:
    • Have a high school diploma or state-approved equivalent
    • Have completed 12 or fewer earned college hours
    • Have never enrolled as a student at A-State
    Note: If you’re admitted as non-traditional first-time freshman, you may be required to successfully complete a predesignated curriculum of 12 hours (Certificate or Non-Degree). Upon successful completion, you will be transitioned to a degree seeking program.
  • If you have 0-12 transferrable college credit hours and have been in high school within the last 5 years, you would be admitted if you have one of the following:
    • 3.0 cumulative high school grad point average (or GED test score equivalent), OR
    • 19 minimum ACT super score or minimum 990 combined SAT super score, OR
    • Class rank in the top 20% of your graduating class

​Application Submission Requirements

Submitting your application takes three easy steps: filling out the application, submitting your documents and paying the application fee.

  1. When completing the online application, select 100% online student and then complete all the steps on the online application.
  2. Pay $30.00 non-refundable application fee.
  3. Submit all official college transcripts.
  4. Submit official high school transcripts (if applicable).
  5. Submit official ACT/ SAT test scores (if applicable).

Note: If you have 0-12 transferrable college hours, test scores will still need to be submitted for reporting purposes to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE); however, they are not needed for an admission decision. Accuplacer test scores are an acceptable alternative to ACT/SAT scores.

If you have any questions along the way, call us at 866-621-8096 and we’ll be happy to help answer questions.

Document Submission Address

Submit all documents to:

A-State Online
P.O. Box 2520
State University, AR 72467

Fax: 870-972-3548
Email: [email protected]

For Non-US Postal Mail Overnight Delivery Only:

A-State Online
c/o Central Receiving
2713 Pawnee St.
Jonesboro, AR 72401

Courses

A look at the online criminology degree curriculum

To earn your Bachelor of Arts in Criminology, you need to complete 120 credit hours of coursework. The program includes 38 credit hours of general education courses and 48 credit hours of major courses. Also included is 34 credit hours of elective courses, which includes a foreign language requirement of up to 12 hours dependent upon transferring credits. Transferring previously earned credit hours may help you finish faster, and those transfer credit hours will be evaluated during the admission process.

Visit the Course Registration page to view the course schedule for this degree.

Expand All

Core Requirements:

These courses must be taken to complete your degree.

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
The introductory survey course in criminology, dealing with the main components of the criminal justice system including the police, courts, and corrections, as well as issues and procedures pertinent to the operation of these components.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Rules of Evidence of import at the operational level in law enforcement and criminal procedures, personal conduct of the officer as a witness, examination of safeguarding personal constitutional liberties.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Sociological patterns of crime and criminals, with emphasis on causes, effects, and prevention.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
General functions of the individual agencies and the duties and responsibilities of the individuals who perform these functions.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Social justice in the criminal justice system, including issues of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Must be arranged with the professor and approved by department chair.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Capstone course that focuses on the integration and application of theory and methodology. Fall, Spring.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Senior research project in Criminology intended to demonstrate student’s ability to formulate a proposal, collect and analyze data, and present findings. Prerequisites, Declared Criminology major, SOC 3383, SOC 4293
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Central concepts and techniques of conducting descriptive and inferential analysis employed in quantitative investigation to understand social processes and phenomena.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Overview of quantitative and qualitative tools used in the social sciences to analyze relationships among social variables.

Students must take 34 credit hours of electives to satisfy the 120 credit hours required for this program and may include up to 12 hours of a foreign language to satisfy the foreign language requirement. Courses may be chosen with the assistance of an advisor and per your degree plan. Electives can come from any courses offered so long as prerequisites are met.

Students must take 24 credit hours from the following courses.

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
An examination of the context, structure, and dynamics of local, state, and federal criminal confinement facilities.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
An examination of non-institutional correctional agencies and techniques including probation, parole, diversion, pretrial release, community service, restitution, halfway house, and similar programs.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Explores the relationship of the police to courts, probation, community corrections, institutional corrections, and parole. Also explores the relationship between police and other social institutions and the philosophy of police as an agent of social control.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Causative factors in home, school, and community, extent of the problem, and methods of prevention and treatment.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Historical and current trends in serial homicide, including viewpoints of offenders, victims, and law-enforcement community. Must be arranged with the professor and approved by department chair.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
General functions of the individual agencies and the duties and responsibilities of the individuals who perform these functions.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
An examination of state and federal police powers and how they are regulated by the Constitution and statutes.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Examines race, ethnicity and other bases for minority status in society, focusing on social inequality and the social construction of minority and majority group statuses and relations.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Examines various types of unusual group behavior, such as panics, riots, protests, fads, urban myths and legends, and millenarian groups. Must be arranged in consultation with a professor, and approved by the department chair.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
An overview of the causes, prevalence and consequences of child abuse, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse.

Students must take the following courses.

First-year course - Students must take the following Making Connections online course. If you transfer in more than 12 credit hours, you will not be required to take the Making Connections course. You may replace that 3-hour course with a 3-hour elective course.

First-year course (3 hours)
UC 1013

Departmental (3 hours)
12 hours of Social Sciences are required, including at least one of the following courses: GEOG 2613, POSC 2013, PSY 2013 or SOC 2213. 

Communication Requirement (6 hours)
ENG 1003
ENG 1013

Mathematics Requirement (3 hours)
Students must take MATH 1023 or any MATH course that requires MATH 1023 as prerequisite.

Arts and Humanities Requirement (6 hours)
MUS 2503
ENG 2003
ENG 2013

Social Sciences Requirement (12 hours)
HIST 1013
HIST 1023
HIST 2763
HIST 2773

Life Science Requirement (4 hours)
Students must complete BIO 1003 with BIO 1001 lab.

Physical Sciences Requirement (4 hours)
Students must complete CHEM 1043 with CHEM 1041 lab.

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 1
Laboratory, must be taken with BIO 1003. There will be a fee when purchasing the LabKit. Please visit the tuition and fees page for pricing.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
The major characteristics and processes of life emphasizing the human organism. Promotes understanding of diversity and unity among living organisms with focus on ecological interactions and responsibilities of people within their social and natural environment. Lecture three hours per week. Special course fees may apply. Must be taken with BIO 1001.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 1
Special course fees apply. Prerequisite or co-requisite of CHEM 1043. Fall only.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
An introduction to selected fundamental concepts including dimensional analysis, mole concept, atomic and molecular structure, nomenclature, chemical reactions, thermochemistry, intermolecular interactions, gases, mixtures, kinetics, equilibrium and acid base chemistry. Fall only.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Study and practice of fundamentals of written communication, including principles of grammar, punctuation, spelling, organization, and careful analytical reading. Prerequisite, with grade of C or better, for ENG 1013.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Continues the practice of ENG 1003 to develop further the skills learned in that course. Based on reading and discussion of various types of writing, the students’ essays will provide practice in different kinds of rhetorical development, including research and documentation.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Introduction to the analysis and interpretation of literary works from several historical periods ranging from early civilizations through the Renaissance.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Introduction to the analysis and interpretation of literary works from several historical periods ranging from the Renaissance to the present.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Emphasizes the physical and cultural patterns in the world. Fall, Spring, Summer.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
WORLD HISTORY. The pre-modern world, with emphasis on the economic, political, and cultural processes that shaped societies before the rise of global interdependence.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
WORLD HISTORY. The modern world, with emphasis on the economic, political, and cultural processes that have increased global interdependence.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
United States history. Social, economic, and political developments from Columbus to the end of Reconstruction.
Duration: Varies Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
The social, economic and political developments Social, economic, and political developments from Reconstruction to the present. Fall, Spring, Summer.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Equations and inequalities, functions and graphs, polynomial and rational functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, systems of equations and inequalities, matrices, and miscellaneous topics. No credit given if taken following MATH 1054.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course is an introduction to music for the listener who has had no formal training or experience. By exploring the history of Western Art music, learners will begin to connect the development of music with the changing of society and culture.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
American politics. The constitution, government, and politics of the United States.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Study of the important scientific, principles of individual human behavior from biological, cognitive, social, and behavioral perspectives.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Human society and social behavior.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Required course for all first semester freshmen. Course content is centered around the skills and knowledge needed to be a successful ASU student, including academic performance, problem solving, critical thinking, self-management and group building skills, university policies and other relevant issues.
Careers you can pursue with a criminology degree lorem ipsum.
Link URL
“Numerous job opportunities exist for individuals who have a degree in criminology. A B.A. in Criminology can give you a solid footing and competitive edge in a wide variety of career fields, not only in public service (at the local, state or federal level) but also in the private sector.”
– What Jobs Can You Pursue with a Criminology Degree?

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