| For web-based criminology and criminal justice related | | | | Virgin Islands and Panama), the North Central |
| distance education programs, the Criminal Justice | | | | Association of Colleges and Schools (Arkansas, |
| Distance Learning Consortium (CJDLC) has laid down | | | | Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, |
| accreditation guidelines. These guidelines are | | | | Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, |
| themselves based on those developed by the | | | | Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, |
| Southern Regional Electronic Campus (SREC), the | | | | Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming), the Western |
| Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) and | | | | Association of Schools and Colleges (California, Hawaii, |
| regional academic acrrediting agencies including thezz | | | | the territories of Guam, American Samoa, Federated |
| Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) | | | | States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, |
| and the Western Association of Colleges and Schools. | | | | Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the |
| The CJDLC guidelines without actually duplicating them, | | | | Pacific Basin and East Asia) and the Northwest |
| incorporate the basics of these organizations. The | | | | Association of Schools and Colleges (Alaska, Idaho, |
| premise is that the applying institutions have already | | | | Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington). |
| fulfilled the quality standards of these local and regional | | | | There are also two additional bodies within the main |
| accrediting agencies. | | | | RA, which are behind the Best Practices movement in |
| Regional Accrediting agencies refer to six main bodies, | | | | distance education and include the Western |
| the New England Association of Schools and Colleges | | | | Association's Accrediting Commission for Senior |
| (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, | | | | Colleges and Universities and North Central's Higher |
| Rhode Island and Vermont), the Southern Association | | | | Learning Commission. |
| of Colleges and Schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, | | | | Accreditation from any of these eight groups is |
| Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South | | | | considered to be the best accreditation possible for a |
| Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia), the Middle | | | | school. They are also recipients of the US Department |
| States Association of Colleges and Schools | | | | of Education funding and their method of operation is |
| (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New | | | | mainly by site visit-peer review. |
| Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the US | | | | |