It was a most unusual class.
Half the students were academic stars at the University of Washington, selected for the highly competitive honors program.
The other half were felons — people who had served time behind bars for crimes such as manslaughter, assault, forgery and drug possession.
The instructor for the UW course was Claudia Jensen, an expert in Russian music. And the focus was the Washington criminal-justice system, a subject alien to half the class and one the rest knew all too well.
"I didn't think we would have any common ground," said Gina McConnell, 42,...
