Patti Coffey is consistently praised as an excellent, knowledgeable, and engaging lecturer who draws on her forensic psychology experience. Reviewers highlight her fairness, kindness, and clear grading, noting that exams are manageable if students attend lectures and take notes. The course is described as rewarding and highly recommended for those interested in criminal justice.
Fall 2026
The Criminal Mind: Forensic and Psychobiological Perspectives
Overview of criminal psychology and forensic/psychobiological processes addressing criminal behavior.
Summary
1 / 7
The workload includes weekly readings, multiple exams, and a paper, which can initially seem daunting but is generally considered manageable if students keep up. Exams are typically multiple-choice and based on lecture material.
Grade history
↗ average GPA
letter grades
letter grades
A
AB
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BC
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapPSYCH 401, 403, 405, or 456
“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Professors
Fall 2026No course-specific feedback yet.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.89 GPA, 94.1% A/AB (n=188 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.81 GPA, 91.6% A/AB (n=190 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Historical reviews for Patricia Coffey describe her as knowledgeable, passionate, and approachable, with clear and engaging lectures. Some students found the content dry or boring later in the term, and noted that her private practice made out-of-class meetings difficult.
AVERY WRIGHT is recorded teaching in Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
PATRICIA COFFEY is recorded teaching in 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, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, 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
Fall 2026Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | Classroom Instruction | 190 / 192 | 64 |
| DIS 301 | Classroom Instruction | 24 / 24 | 6 |
| DIS 302 | Classroom Instruction | 24 / 24 | 10 |
| DIS 303 | Classroom Instruction | 24 / 24 | 7 |
| DIS 304 | Classroom Instruction | 23 / 24 | 10 |
| DIS 305 | Classroom Instruction | 23 / 24 | 10 |
| DIS 306 | Classroom Instruction | 24 / 24 | 10 |
| DIS 307 | Classroom Instruction | 24 / 24 | 6 |
| DIS 308 | Classroom Instruction | 24 / 24 | 6 |
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
Reviewers consistently praise Dr. Patti Coffey as an engaging and knowledgeable instructor who makes criminal psychology interesting. Students find the course rewarding, with fair exams and high-quality lectures that draw on her professional experience.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.85 GPA, 93.0% A/AB (n=157 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.89 GPA, 94.1% A/AB (n=188 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.81 GPA, 91.6% A/AB (n=190 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
The workload includes weekly readings, multiple exams, and a paper, which can initially seem daunting but is generally considered manageable if students keep up. Exams are typically multiple-choice and based on lecture material.
Students appreciate the fair grading, clear expectations, and significant extra credit opportunities. The course is highly recommended for those interested in criminal justice, with many noting the empathetic and treatment-focused approach to difficult content.
Topics
Skills
Grades
Fall 2026 · 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 · 0.09 GPA average error.
Grades over time
Through Fall 2026
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
1283 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
The Criminal Mind: Forensic and Psychobiological Perspectives
Recorded 2026-09-07Raw records
[
{
"run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
"semester": "1272",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"offering_id": "1272:820:023833",
"course_id": "PSYCH 526",
"course_uid": "course_f4bee73bb22fcf1ff1ba3468",
"term_id": "1272",
"source_course_id": "023833",
"source_subject_id": "820",
"title": "The Criminal Mind: Forensic and Psychobiological Perspectives",
"credits_min": 4,
"credits_max": 4,
"typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
}
]Rate My Professors
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Madgrades
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesModel outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
{
"model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
"model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
"task_version": "14",
"output_id": "9890421577ddd01b618e85f2f93b3fd68c8a5d0162e26cb7ba5d4d695c317b64",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}