Emeritus Professor John Pratt

Professor John Pratt joined the Institute of Criminology in 1988 as a Senior Lecturer. He was promoted to Reader in Criminology in 1995 and was awarded a Personal Chair in Criminology in 2003.

Over the course of his career his research has become well-known internationally for its originality, productivity and high level outputs in his distinctive and highly regarded prose style. He has published seven research monographs which have covered ground breaking subject areas such as British colonization and the development of the New Zealand criminal justice and penal systems (still one of the very few studies in this area in this country), the relationship between populism and criminal justice, an explanation for the different approaches to punishing crime between Anglophone and Nordic societies (the only research of its kind comparing two clusters of societies), and the impact of risk and insecurity issues on the development of Anglophone criminal justice systems.

The first half of 2020 saw the publication of two books with Palgrave-Macmillan, both of which have received outstanding endorsements that are indicative of the international stature of his work: Criminal Justice, Risk and the Revolt against Uncertainty – an edited collection (with one of his PhD students) based on papers presented at an international symposium held at Victoria University of Wellington in 2018 and which he organized with his student Jordan Anderson, and his sole authored Law, Insecurity and Risk Control: Neo-liberal governance and the populist revolt. Both these books were the result of research funded as part of a Marsden award Professor Pratt received in 2016.

The acclaim his research has received can be judged from the national and international awards he has received including four Victoria University of Wellington Research Excellence Awards and two Marsden awards. In 2009 he received the Sir Leon Radzinowicz award from the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Criminology for the article in 2008 that ‘most advanced the discipline of criminology’, in 2012 he was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and in 2013 he received the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Mason Durie medal - ‘awarded annually to the nation’s pre-eminent social scientist’ for his ‘renowned international reputation in the sociology of punishment and comparative penology.’

Throughout his 33 years at the Institute of Criminology, Professor Pratt has taught courses across the curriculum spectrum, more latterly concentrating on 3rd and 4th year students, where his courses are informed by his research interests: criminological theory, comparative penology and the history and sociology of penal policy and legal punishment. He has been very innovative with his teaching methods (particularly use of audio-visual material) and has expanded curriculum development. His teaching has always been highly regarded by students and in 2004 he was awarded a VUW Teaching Excellence award. He has also held a range of administrative positions within the Institute of Criminology, including two periods as Institute Director.