Spring 2027

Criminal Justice in America

Examines the day-to-day functioning of the U.S. criminal justice system, focusing on the sociology of police, lawyers, courts, and corrections, as well as the nature, causes, and solutions of crime.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Ralph Grunewald

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Irene Katele

The class was not easy but manageable if students attended every lecture, completed all readings, and studied regularly.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Assess evidence and critically evaluate research-based arguments concerning criminal justice in academic journals, policy studies, or popular media.

  • Build arguments clearly and effectively and critically analyze evidence in both oral presentations and papers.

  • Think critically about the functioning of law and its effects on society, going beyond the surface of crime as a social phenomenon, discovering the “why” and “how” of the socio-legal order, and assessing alternate explanations for phenomena.

  • Analyze sentencing and carceral practices of the United States criminal legal system in the context of larger political, social, legal, and economic forces.

  • Evaluate social phenomena and diversity in global perspective, comparing how different cultures, groups, and societies understand and respond to crime.

  • Work effectively in groups, responding to group dynamics among people from different backgrounds with different strengths and weaknesses.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
LEGALST/SOC 131 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.19 GPA, 48.8% A/AB (n=166 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.33 GPA, 58.7% A/AB (n=361 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.37 GPA, 64.4% A/AB (n=188 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

IRENE BIRUTE KATELE is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KARL B SHOEMAKER is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RALPH GRUNEWALD is recorded teaching in Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. 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 001Classroom Instruction0 / 3000
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 309Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 310Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 311Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 312Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 3000
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 309Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 310Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 311Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 312Classroom Instruction0 / 250

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Irene Katele

Students described the course as interesting and engaging, with instructors who made the material thought-provoking and ensured everyone felt like they understood the content.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.19 GPA, 48.8% A/AB (n=166 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.33 GPA, 58.7% A/AB (n=361 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.37 GPA, 64.4% A/AB (n=188 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Irene Katele

The class was not easy but manageable if students attended every lecture, completed all readings, and studied regularly.

Past student reviews · Karl Shoemaker

One student found lectures lacking substance and delivered without visuals, while noting that exams consisted of essay questions.

Topics

  • Nature, causes, and solutions of crime in the U.S.
  • Sociology of criminal justice components: organization and roles of police, lawyers, courts, and corrections.
  • Global perspectives on crime and cross-cultural responses.

Skills

  • Critically evaluating research-based arguments and evidence in criminal justice contexts.
  • Building clear and effective arguments in oral and written formats.
  • Analyzing US sentencing and carceral practices within broader societal forces.
  • Working effectively in diverse groups and managing group dynamics.

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 5 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.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.28 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 · Spring 2026 · 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

1280 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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
LEGALST/SOC 131 · Spring 2027

Criminal Justice in America

Recorded 2026-10-14
LEGALST/SOC 131 · Spring 2027

Criminal Justice in America

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:535:017530",
    "course_id": "LEGALST/SOC 131",
    "course_uid": "course_d4e6d32bb5057443da12d62d",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017530",
    "source_subject_id": "535",
    "title": "Criminal Justice in America",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:900:017530",
    "course_id": "LEGALST/SOC 131",
    "course_uid": "course_d4e6d32bb5057443da12d62d",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017530",
    "source_subject_id": "900",
    "title": "Criminal Justice in America",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "f4e8443ce66eab9954704976edcc59aa8565376620caef1001c9a01ff6207639",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}