About

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been recognized as a center for interdisciplinary studies related to law and legal institutions. The Center for Law, Society, and Justice (CLSJ) is the organizational home for two undergraduate academic programs related to law, legal institutions and criminal justice.

The Legal Studies Program is an undergraduate major that provides a liberal arts education across traditional disciplines, focusing on law, legal processes, legal institutions, and how they operate in society.

The Criminal Justice Certificate Program is an undergraduate certificate program available to students from a variety of majors who wish to enhance their academic training related to the criminal justice system. The Program consists of a special sequence of courses and field work for students seeking to learn about the dynamics of criminal and juvenile justice systems.

The faculty teaching courses in both programs come from a wide variety of departments and schools including Sociology, Political Science, History, Social Work, Economics, Journalism and Mass Communication, Philosophy, Psychology, Gender and Women’s Studies, Communication Arts, Languages and Cultures of Asia, and Anthropology.

History

The Center for Law, Society, and Justice was founded in the mid-1960s as the Center for Law and Behavioral Science (CLBS). Starting in 1976 CLBS served as the institutional home of the Behavioral Science & Law Program, the predecessor of the Legal Studies Program. The original Center drew on resources provided by grants from the Russell Sage Foundation and the Walter Meyer Foundation. Its early activities included providing the first institutional home for the Law & Society Association (Wisconsin faculty were instrumental in starting the Association), organizing a series of faculty seminars intended to develop a “rigorous empirical approach to law,” conducting three NSF-supported Summer Institutes on Behavioral Science and Law (led by Joel Grossman, Jack Ladinsky, and Stuart Scheingold), and housing the editorial offices of the Law & Society Review (1978-1982) during the editorship of Professor Joel Grossman.

For over 20 years, the two programs that currently comprise the core of the Center’s activities were directed by Professor Jack Ladinsky. Professor Ladinsky was instrumental in both the operation of the programs and in the development of the Criminal Justice Certificate Program which, starting in 1983 functioned as a replacement for a long-standing specialized major in Correctional Administration within Sociology. The Correctional Administration program was founded in the 1930s by Professor John L. Gilliam, and was directed for many years starting in 1952 by Professor Michael Hakeem.

Today, there are over 3,000 alumni of the various recent and more distant programs that have evolved into the Legal Studies Program and the Criminal Justice Certificate Program. These alumni have gone on to distinguished careers in law, public service, and business.

Leadership

The Center for Law, Society, & Justice is a unit of the College of Letters and Science. It is directed by a member of the faculty, Professor Ralph Grunewald (pictured above).

Martine Delannay and Micha Schwab serve as undergraduate advisors for Legal Studies majors and Criminal Justice Certificate students and oversee the day-to-day operation of these programs. Kiara Hibler and Josh Mayers teach our internship course and support students with the internship process. The governing body of the Center is a committee of faculty.

Learn More About Professor Grunewald & his goals as director!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am a professor in two units, the Department of English and the Center for Law, Society, and Justice. I did not get here via a straight journey. I am a German-trained lawyer with a Ph.D. and never had intentions of leaving German law or academia. That all changed when I heard of the problem of wrongful convictions in the United States. An American law professor (in Germany) told me that the only place to learn more about them is here (the U.S.) So, I came. Initially, my interest was legal (e.g. why is it so difficult in the American system to reopen a case when new evidence comes to light?). Once I worked with the Wisconsin Innocence Project as part of my Master of Laws degree, I realized how much storytelling plays a role in these cases. So, I decided to focus on that more. After a few more twists and turns, I was able to develop this passion for law and humanities into a career. This is how I became a professor in the Center for Law, Society, and Justice and the Department of English (English being the discipline that traditionally studies narrative). I can’t think of a better place to work.

What are you most excited about as the new director of CLSJ?

We have incredibly committed staff and instructors who make our program one of the best on campus. While many humanities and social science programs have seen a decline in enrollment for the major, we have been growing. We have more majors and students in the Criminal Justice Certificate than ever, and that is because of my very dedicated colleagues who teach, advise, and engage with our students with an eye on critical thinking and making interdisciplinary connections. Our internship program provides insights into the (broader) legal field in a way that prepares our students for being out in the “workforce” while helping them to critically reflect on how our “justice” system functions. We do not only live the Wisconsin Idea, it has always been part of our programming. I love how interdisciplinary we are and how we have recently started offering students positions to help professors with their scholarships.

What are your priorities as director?

Our main goal is to maintain excellence, which is intrinsically linked to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for students, staff, and faculty from different social and academic backgrounds. For our internship program, we rely a lot on partnerships with agencies (like police departments, attorneys, the public defender’s office, etc.), and since we have more students interested in the Certificate than we can place, we need to keep working with our community partners and explore new ways to find placements for students. I am glad that we have excellent staff (looking at you, Kiara and Josh!) who are so creative and dedicated to that task.

Another goal is to continue building strong partnerships across campus. We are very good at that now given the interdisciplinary setup of our program, but there are areas like AI (and law) and sustainability (and law) that we’d like to integrate more. In the end, of course, my main priority will always be the ability to provide a learning environment that emphasizes academic rigor and intellectual curiosity so that our students learn to understand the way law functions in our communities.

What does the future of the CLSJ program look like for you?

I believe we are on a great path, especially when it comes to student-centered learning (a shout-out to all the peer mentors!) and individualized advising (a shout-out to Martine and Micha!)I’d like to support that as best as possible. When it comes to our programming, I believe we can expand in various ways. For instance, in the past years, the major has broadened its scope. Beyond the law and society focus, we now offer excellent courses in the area of “law and humanities.” That is an exciting, growing area of study, and I am sure we can channel that growth effectively. Then, race, immigration, faith, and social justice are important fields that overlap with law, and I’d love to develop that further as well. Another goal is to build a solid network of alumni and foster stronger relationships. Our alumni know our program and would be excellent resources and supporters of our current students.

Lastly, are you reading or watching a lot of crime fiction or true crime? Can you recommend anything?

Given what I teach and work on, I sometimes experience a bit of a criminal justice overload and need to read something else. However, I like podcasts that focus on the human-interest aspect of crime—Criminal is my favorite. And I just finished reading David Grann’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which depicts the serial murder of members of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. The narrative is interwoven with the story of the creation of the FBI. I found that fascinating.