Spring 2027

Crime, Gender and Justice

Explores the intersection of gender, crime, and justice from a cross-cultural perspective, examining women's experiences in the criminal justice system and theoretical implications.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Frankie Frank4.2/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Frankie Frank

Students described the class as extremely hard, with tough grading and difficult tests. One student noted that assignment descriptions often arrived only 3-5 days before due dates.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Analyze the U.S. criminal justice system, including incarceration, sentencing, and policing, through the lens of gender studies

  • Identify and describe criminological theories, specifically those focused on gender, race, class, and feminist academic thought

  • Explore inequalities amongst gender groups and various other social intersections (race, class, ability, sexuality, age, parenthood, etc).

  • Investigate topics related to gender and justice by conducting thorough literature reviews and preparing policy briefs with recommendations for legal change.

  • Examine and discuss real-world experiences in criminal justice systems, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2 UW Guide 3

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

SOC/​LEGAL ST 131,GEN&WS 101, 102, 103 or graduate/professional standing

GEN&WS/LEGALST/SOC 425

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.70/5 from 23 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 3.7/5 raw quality · 4.3/5 difficulty · 3 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Frankie Frank

Frankie Frank taught this course with mixed feedback on workload and grading. One student found lectures rambling and noted that assignment descriptions were provided only 3–5 days before due dates, while another described the tests as extremely hard despite finding the content interesting. A third student found the lecture style engaging and reported that exams were manageable with lecture notes, though the course required a long paper worked on throughout the semester.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Melanie Murchison

Historical instructor Melanie Murchison taught this course with a heavy weekly workload of reading and videos. Students reported that the single term paper was heavily weighted and harshly graded, with feedback described as vague or critical of flaws only. Tests were writing-heavy and required specific knowledge of the readings. While some students found her accommodating and the content fascinating, others criticized the course as unorganized and the grading as unfair.

MELANIE MURCHISON is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Online Only0 / 400
LEC 001Online Only0 / 400
LEC 001Online Only0 / 400

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Frankie Frank

Frankie Frank's passion and knowledge are engaging, and students found they learned well with her despite initial intimidation from her lecture style.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.17 GPA, 50.8% A/AB (n=63 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.57 GPA, 85.4% A/AB (n=82 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.72 GPA, 88.8% A/AB (n=89 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Frankie Frank

Students described the class as extremely hard, with tough grading and difficult tests. One student noted that assignment descriptions often arrived only 3-5 days before due dates.

Past student reviews · Frankie Frank

The course included one long paper worked on throughout the semester, and exams were online and manageable if students read the material and took lecture notes.

Topics

  • Gendered nature of the criminal justice system and female experiences of crime, prosecution, and incarceration
  • Theoretical implications of offending behavior and intersections of gender with sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class
  • Real-world experiences in criminal justice systems in the U.S. and abroad

Skills

  • Analyze the U.S. criminal justice system through a gender studies lens
  • Identify and describe criminological theories focused on gender, race, class, and feminist thought
  • Conduct literature reviews and prepare policy briefs with recommendations for legal change

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 4 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

4 earlier forecasts · 0.14 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1316 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records
GEN&WS/LEGALST/SOC 425 · Spring 2027

Crime, Gender and Justice

Recorded 2026-10-14
GEN&WS/LEGALST/SOC 425 · Spring 2027

Crime, Gender and Justice

Recorded 2026-10-14
GEN&WS/LEGALST/SOC 425 · Spring 2027

Crime, Gender and Justice

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records
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    "credits_min": 3,
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Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
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