Dear Future Criminal Justice Student:

     Congratulations on your decision to enter the exciting field of criminal justice!  At Broward Community College we offer four different Associate Degrees in Criminal Justice. (An Associate degree is a two-year college program.  Some students finish the Associates degree in less than two years.  Other students, especially those with family or work obligations, take longer than two years. It does not matter how long you take - what matters is that you achieve your goal and get a college education.)

     One degree is the Associates in Arts (A.A) in Criminal Justice Studies.  This degree is good if you plan to continue your college education beyond the A.A. degree.  In addition to some criminal justice courses, it gives you all the required courses, such as English, humanities, math and science that you will need to eventually get a four-year Bachelors degree.

     Our other degree programs are Associates in Science (A.S. degrees).  We offer A.S. degrees in three areas:  1)  criminal justice, 2) crime scene and 3)  polygraph examination.  The A.S. degree is good if you're not sure you will continue your college education after you receive the A.S.  Unlike the A.A., which is more general, the A.S. offers a heavy emphasis in your field of study and better prepares you for immediate employment in criminal justice.  In an A.S. degree program, you would take between eight to ten criminal justice courses.

     Types of jobs for which you might qualify with an A.S. in Criminal Justice include:  police officer, state police/state trooper, deputy sheriff, corrections (jail/prison) officer, US Customs inspector, US Immigration and Naturalization inspector, polygraph specialist, crime scene technician, community/police service aide and private security position.  Jobs that require a four year Bachelors degree, for which an A.A. satisfies the first two years, include:  probation/parole officer, juvenile counselor, social case worker and Special Agent for most of the Federal agencies, such as FBI, DEA or US Customs.