You probably won’t believe me, but I am considering taking on my PhD in Australia. Since I am really passionate about organized crime like terrorism, identity theft, and trafficking of humans and drugs, I found one of the best schools in the world to delve into my interests.

University of Wollongong Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention is offering graduate level courses and degrees. This university is ranked among top 200 colleges & universities in the world, and for me, it offers a very specialized degree option; one that is not easily found in United States.

Masters Degree (48 credit points)

• Full-time 1 year
• Part-time 2 years

Graduate Certificate (24 credit points)

• Full-time 6 months
• Part-time 1 year

Subjects Include:

• Studies in International Criminal Law (Compulsory)
• Issues in Comparative Criminal Justice (Compulsory)
• International Cooperation and Transnational Crime
• Security Intelligence and policy
• Transnational Financial Transaction Crime
• Terrorism and Counter Terrorism
• International Corporate Crime
• Cyber Crime
• Issues in Transnational Organised Crime
• Financial Investigations
• Major Research Project
• Minor Research Project

The graduate degree I would like to pursue is research based and is offered as a PhD at the University of Wollongong. A Master level research option is also available.

** the information above is taken from University of Wollongong – Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention Website **

A little bit more about the University of Wollongong

Another reason I would love to spend the next three years at this Australian university is its location. Look at the map below. Yes, it’s less than a mile away from the pristine shores of the South Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea. On top of that it’s about 2 hours drive from Sydney, Australia.

View Larger Map

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

I was looking for more information on doctorate programs in Criminal Justice. So, I went and scoured the Net for the best Doctorate / PhD programs in Criminal Justice and related fields. I went to the Temple University site and inadvertently stumbled upon the following information:

Temple University is pleased to announce the availability of the 2009 Distance-Learning Courses offered by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) and the Deputy Sheriffs’ Education and Training Board. The enrollment period begins February 1, 2009 and continues through July 31, 2009. There is no tuition cost for the training. A Temple University Certificate of Completion and Transcript of Training are issued to each deputy, and a copy to his/her Sheriff, at the end of the enrollment period for each course successfully completed.

As far as I can tell, this program is only available to the Sheriff Deputies in the State of Pennsylvania. But, even though the scope of the program may be geographically limited, the opportunity to get additional training from one of the best Criminology institutions (at no cost) is outstanding.

If you would like more information please visit Temple University’s Website.

In the future, I plan on getting more information about these and similar programs from other colleges and universities.

As some of you have seen I have made changes to The Criminal Justice Online Blog, and I am still making them in 2009. The first few days of the year have finally sunk in and I got going to work.

My mission is to provide an online resource that is unmatched. This project will aid many many people for decades to come, who just like you, are interested in law enforcement and online criminal justice courses and online degree programs.

For the month of January I am planning on starting a significant criminal justice online school list. This will include every possible college and university that is serving up education in online academia. The schools will have a rating system that will look somewhat like this:

Regional accreditation for any college and university is one of the top things a school and/or a program strives for. Online schools are no different. Read this post on criminal justice online accreditation as it applies to any U.S. based higher-learning institution online and off.

This rating is very important for those that are strapped for time. Life has so many unexpected twists and turns and thus requires many to go into online education. An asynchronous criminal justice online course or program is one that you can complete at your own leisure, but within an allotted time frame set for turning in your assignments, discussions, and quizzes.

Synchronous online programs are those which you have to attend at a specified time. Such programs defeat the purpose of distance learning programs and are recommended for those that can make it to a lecture or a discussion at, for example, 7pm consistently. But in the end, synchronous criminal justice programs online are very very rare… just like Yeti.

Going to an online college or an online university for many rests on this final point. Does the school have a traditional, or a campus based, presence? It makes a tremendous difference if the school is purely online or the online program is an extension of a brick and mortar college or university. Even so, there are some online only schools that offer accredited criminal justice degrees, certifcates, and courses that do make an impression on the potential employer. I’ll be sure to mention that when the right time to do so comes.

Simple… The school and/or the program are highly respected. I am looking for the WOW factor, good praise, and chances for further learning in a graduate academic setting. Whenever you see me use this rating rest assured that the online school and/or program is golden. You just need to keep an A average. Look at the resources and essays to help you get some ideas.

This is obvious as well. The rating represents that the school or the program is good enough, even for me. It might not make the heads turn, like coveted “Highly Respected” rating, but it is worth pursuing.

Umm… this one is easy. The online school or the online program doesn’t meet my high standards. But in all likelihood, the school, program, or both are not properly accredited; may represent a scam or a “quick” online diploma promise; maybe it is going out of business. If you see this rating, you’ll also see my reasoning behind it.

In a meanwhile check out this eye-opening post on criminal justice online schools — it’s a must read.

So with the many changes at the Criminal Justice Online Blog we will start seeing an index of online schools and programs that pertain to the criminal justice field. Let me know how I can make this blog better for law enforcement professionals and those who aspire to be one. Hope to have you along for the ride.

Are online degrees accepted in law enforcement careers / jobs? The simple answer is: YES! But, there’s more…

Why would you ask that question? I know the answer to this one, too… If you are worried, please read the About Criminal Justice Online page — first.

Online colleges and universities, especially those that have traditional presence, are highly sought after by those who are trying to get into law enforcement. Despite the unwarranted stigma online academia gets, there are millions of online students pursuing distance learning to obtain new careers or to advance in one.

The criminal justice field is looking for individuals that are highly educated, and they don’t care if you went to school online or off. Many don’t even care that you obtained an associates or bachelors degree in criminal justice entirely online, as you may have chosen business, computers, education, or arts for your major.

Since most entry level positions require college level education nowadays, you should consider the Internet as a portal that will meet your personal needs. Not everyone has the time to go to a traditional college, so these individuals reach for help into the online world. The results are often better than if they had gone to a regular college or university. It’s true!

If law enforcement is what you want, then graduate level education related to the field is in order, especially for those wanting to advance in their careers:

• Criminal Justice Online
• Homeland Security Online
• International Relations Online

There are outstanding Masters and PhD programs online to meet your needs.

Online degrees don’t say “Online” on them

Some worry that if they go to an online institution to obtain their degree that they will have the inherent stigma of their online experience on their graduation diploma. This is entirely false, for the most part. There are just a handful of schools that may have the word “online” on their diploma, but these are a very rare exception.

You can always ask your online admissions advisor about this issue, and go for it, ask other questions as well.

• How long will the program be?
• How much will the online degree cost me?
• Is it synchronous or asynchronous learning format?
• Does the online college or university have proper accreditation?

Don’t listen to the online education naysayers

I know for a fact that the uninformed public tends to diss the distance learning concept. This is because they don’t really know that much about it. They think that online universities are virtual learning centers that offer an easy way to obtain a degree quick.

Well, they are almost right about the latter, but they don’t know or don’t care to acknowledge that:

• Traditional universities (those with initial brick-and-mortar presence) are the major contenders in the online academia that provide a challenging learning environment.
• Boston University, Michigan State University, Texas A&M University, Arizona State University, University of Massachusetts, University of Illinois (Urbana & UIC), University of Pennsylvania, University of California and many, many others have online classes, certificate courses, and degree majors – do these ring a bell. I thought so.
• Ivy League universities like Harvard, Cornell, and Columbia are proud to offer courses, certificate programs, and even degree majors — entirely online.
• Online education encourages students to actually work harder. I know so through personal experience, but I wasted no time on commute — New York, Chicago, & LA traffic avoided — what would an hour, two, or more / per day, do for you? A lot, right?

The days of misinformation are gone. You can Google or Yahoo virtually anything and find your answer in a matter of seconds. So don’t listen to your disenfranchised source of info, and let your fingers to the walking.

And, yes, you can always ask me a question — via email (contact us — look up) or through your insightful comment. No question is too stupid — so go on and ask away!

If you are looking to expand your criminal justice education, or are in need of that much-needed promotion, a criminal justice certificate course may not be enough. If you have been immersed in the criminal justice work environment for quite some time, like law enforcement, you have probably noticed that your rookie counterparts are starting out with an education in their hand. The required 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours of college-level courses is often a requirement for you to obtain a job in the criminal justice field. However, many of those newly hired law enforcement officials have a bachelors or a masters degree.

It is my contention that criminal justice certificate courses are only good for career promotion purposes. In the near future, criminal justice certificate holders will be overpowered by those that have a college degree. But, certificate courses may come useful after you obtain your bachelor or a master degree. In essence, obtaining them will show your employer that you are serious about your career.

So what do you do if you don’t have a degree?

If you don’t have at least a bachelor degree, you should not start your education by taking random courses that may offer a certificate. In my opinion, this could be a major waste of time and financial resources. Farther, I believe that you should start your education on a degree path. Doing so only if you deem yourself ready. At this time, ready may mean a lot of things to you, but I’m sure that after a mindful debate you will be able to come to a conclusion about if you are ready or not to invest in yourself.

The future of the criminal justice field

The criminal justice field, like many others, is expanding with a ferocious speed. The required education level has been progressively increasing and it will continue to increase in the future. I remember, that in the past, all you needed is a high school diploma in order to obtain a job as a police officer. Then, in the 90s requirement of some college education was presented, especially in urban areas. More rural areas stayed with the high school degree requirement, as those with some college education went to bigger cities that paid better.

Now, in the new millennium, the standards have risen again. Majority of midsize to large cities now require at least a bachelors degree in order to obtain a position at the starting level of the law enforcement field. more and more of small townships, villages, and other rural areas are retreating from the high school degree requirement. Many would like for their potential employees to have the minimum 60 semester college hours, and some, would prefer a completed degree.

The good the bad and the ugly

Certificate courses are a great addition to an already educated individual. They are also of significant importance to those that would like to start a career in criminal justice, but are still on the fence. Additionally, they are a great resource to those that like to learn about the ever evolving criminal justice field. However, with the new demands imposed by the law enforcement and the criminal justice community, a potential prospect has the desired education requirements completed. Unfortunately, these new requirements require much more than a certificate course or courses in criminal justice.

But don’t worry. If you are really serious of starting a career in criminal justice, you don’t necessarily have to complete a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Nearly all establishments that require a bachelor degree, require just that, a bachelor degree. It could be a bachelor degree in business, biology, language arts, politics, or something you like. I would recommend sticking with the popular degree paths and would urge you to stay away from a degree in basket weaving. Criminal justice, although highly desirable in the law enforcement field, isn’t the only degree accepted.

Moreover, there is an added incentive in pay for those that do have a bachelor degree or a graduate degree. In smaller towns or rural communities a prospect with a bachelor or a graduate degree is often considered as a pristine candidate. And, no matter if you work in a big city or a Small Town USA, your degree will often offer you the bargaining power for career advancement. This is something a certificate course alone cannot achieve.

In the off-line and online arena not all criminal justice schools are created equally. There is no mystical formula that brought me to this assertion, but there are hard facts that stood the test of time, especially when it comes to online education. You see, there are academic institutions out there that are very for-profit. Their main concern is how much money they make and not how many well-educated students they graduate. It is my opinion that this phenomenon is very well visible in the online world and much less visible off-line.

There are literally thousands of universities, colleges and other learning institutions, that offer degree programs, courses, and certificates. With the proliferation of the Internet these academic institutions started to become very competitive. Notice that when you search for terms like: online education, online university, online college, criminal justice online, criminal justice degree online, and other similar terms, that you are inundated with hundreds of offers from many great and not so great institutions.

If you are looking to start your career in law enforcement, go into the academic side of criminal justice, or venture into other CJ arenas, then you should consider your education to be one of the most important factors. This education should be filled with as much exploration as possible, yet affordable. Your college studies should be very interesting, engaging, and challenging. However, not all schools can do that. It takes a different breed of school to achieve those feats and the majority of online education institutions cannot deliver.

Several questions should be instilled in your mind when considering online education:

• Which institution is going to give me the best bang for my buck?
• Is the school I want to attend accredited nationally or regionally?
• Will my degree be recognized anywhere in the nation and overseas? – Meaning, will individuals and organizations know where I graduated from and accept my diploma’s credibility?
• Is it a fly-by-night type of school?
• Should I go to a public criminal justice school or a private criminal justice school?

An honest assertion needs to be made when selecting the type of school you would like to go to. You should pull out all the stops and make sure that the decision you are making is really the right decision. Consider the following to be the making or breaking points of your decision-making process:

1. It is not true that academic institutions that cost more are really better educational venues. Private universities set their own prices in their curriculum and may seem like the program is out of this world, but in reality, many public universities are the ones that are able to provide better education. Public colleges and universities in the criminal justice arena like University of Cincinnati, Boston University, and Michigan State University are very well known for their brick-and-mortar presence. However, these same institutions are not very visible in the online criminal justice circle, even though they offer Criminal Justice degrees online. The only exceptions to this are the universities that are also well-known brick-and-mortar universities, but are privately administered. The reason I make this point is because there are hundreds upon hundreds of privately owned universities and colleges that smear the image of online education. In the end, it is very hard to distinguish which school is really good for you.
2. Accreditation is one of the most important things you need to worry about when selecting your criminal justice university or college online. My rule of thumb, when it comes to educational institutions both online and off, is that the institution is accredited regionally. Regional accreditation is one of the best ways of knowing that your school is not serving up damaged goods. While you search for your criminal justice program online, you will find that many universities are accredited. However, accreditation doesn’t mean anything. There are plenty of those that are accredited, but they only maybe accredited locally or statewide. This is not good if you’re going to be looking for a job or farther education out-of-state or out of the country.
3. That brings us to the degree recognition fiasco. Will my degree be recognized everywhere? This depends on a couple things. First, is the accreditation mentioned above. Second, is the prominence and prestige of the educational institution you are planning on attending. If you go to some online university, which is not well known in the criminal justice field, both nationally and internationally, then you are setting yourself for possible problems that may be detrimental to your career seeking, career advancement, or farther educational pursuit. You want to go to a university or college which has a great track record in education.
4. How do you determine if your school is a fly-by-night type of deal? You would be very surprised to how many schools there are online that have no business to exist in the education field. Trust me, they are there. If you don’t know how to spot them, let me help you. They are the type of schools that offer a degree choice to the students for little or no work at all. They are the type of schools that offer life experience credit. I know some of you might be very immersed in the criminal justice field, and would like your experience to count towards your graduation credits. However, I personally don’t advise going to a school that offers such a deal. In the end it may cost you more than your hard earned money. It may cost you precious time, career opportunities, promotions, and farther academic advancement.

My best recommendation, which will help you avoid any unnecessary dilemma, is to research each college or university you plan on attending, thoroughly. Don’t pick the easy school over the harder school. Lookout for scams or lures. And last but not least, make sure that you have some spare change left after you finish your schooling. All these steps plus an ounce of common sense will aid you in your journey to obtaining your criminal Justice degree. Good luck!

Yes, it’s true. Contrary to the popular belief, Criminal Justice programs online may only take in the select few. The concept of scarcity still prevails, so you better hurry in making your decision about applying. Online colleges & universities are operating in much the same way like their brick and mortar counterparts. In fact, some of the most prominent universities are venturing into the online world in order to reach more of those who are seeking education, but perhaps can’t do it on standard terms.

So what’s all the fuss about? Well, the truth is that not all colleges & universities want to have a class size composed of thousands of students. It expands their resources which often may dilute the quality of the education you will receive. When you apply for a Criminal Justice degree granting program, Criminal Justice certificate course, or a even a single class you must consider that there are potentially many more people doing the same. This means you need to distinguish yourself from the rest and act now. No, not later, NOW!

How do I make myself to be a top candidate for Criminal Justice degree granting schools?

It’s easy!

1. Type up your application, answering every possible question in detail
2. Send in everything the school requests from you – no excuses.
3. Promptly follow up with the admission counselors – usually done via email or over the phone
4. If writing an admission paper make sure to follow the directions provided
5. Be genuine & state you intent when writing or during the interview process – take time to prepare for both
6. Again – just be yourself – this is key

When applying for associate & bachelor courses or programs you will have great odds of getting in if you follow the six simple steps above. You must be aware that your high school grades may play a role in your application process, as well as any college grades or GPA you may have acquired over time. In most cases the application process is seamless and won’t interfere with your current lifestyle, at least not much. You can expect the process to last a week to several weeks, maybe more in some instances.

If a masters or doctorate degree in Criminal Justice is in your stars than you have to step up your game. The steps above are there to guide you, but chances are that limited number of candidates will be accepted. At this level it is a different ball game and you should expect to play with the pros. Your undergraduate GPA is often considered and your GRE score (if applicable) is equally important. However, even if you don’t have a pristine educational record the required essay is where you get to shine the most. Most often the essay is about you and/or your life experiences. The questions may vary but the premise is the same: tell us about yourself. It is this important piece of your application that gets the faculty to determine who you are, what your intentions are, and if you fit in the program.

My advice is to follow this blog for updates, tips, and all-around advice about how to get into a Criminal Justice program. Click around or search to find precisely what you need. You will find it here, as I have done everything, and then some, to get into The Top 3 Criminal Justice Universities. These universities are world renowned for their academic and scientific achievements, and most importantly for you, in the field of Criminal Justice:

• University of Cincinnati
• Michigan State University
• Boston University

Three application, three “Congratulations!” letters. I ended up going to Boston University. For some of you these three schools are very well known and some of you may care less. In the end, it does matter where you graduate from. Your income and position may depend on it. I know you will follow my blog so you too can get a chance of getting into some of the best online schools. Yes, I think you’ve made a great choice!