Prof John Pratt

Professor,
School of Social and Cultural Studies

Qualifications

LLB (Hons) (Lond), MA (Keele), PhD (Sheff)

2010 Teaching

John has been appointed James Cook Research Fellow in Social Studies, beginning July 2009 and ending June 2011. He will not be teaching in this period but instead will be undertaking research for his new project on comparative penology. This explains the differing levels of imprisonment and differing conditions of an Anglophone and Scandinavian societies.

He has been awarded the 2009 Radzinowicz prize for the best article in the British Journal of Criminology 2008 (his two-part article on Scandinavian exceptionalism, see publications below).

Research Specialties

History and sociology of punishment

Biography

Professor John Pratt graduated in law from London University before studying criminology for graduate degrees at the universities of Keele and Sheffield in England. His research interests are in the areas of the sociology and history of punishment, and criminological and social theory.

Professor Pratt has published extensively in these areas, including 'Punishment in a Perfect Society' (1993), 'Governing the Dangerous' (1998), 'Dangerous Offenders: Punishment and Social Order (with Mark Brown, 2000), 'Punishment and Civilization' (2002).

Since 1997, Professor Pratt has been editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology.

Recent Publications

Pratt J D, 'From abusive families to internet predators? the rise, retraction and reconfiguration of sexual abuse as a social problem in Canada', Current Sociology, 57, 1 (2009), pp. 69-88. http://csi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/57/1/69.

Pratt J D, Eriksson A, 'Den skandinaviska exeptionalismen i kriminalpolitiken', Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kriminalvidenskab, 96, 2, August (2009), pp. 135-151.

Pratt J D, 'Scandinavian exceptionalism in an era of penal excess. Part 1: the nature and roots of Scandinavian exceptionalism', British Journal of Criminology, 48, 2, March (2008), pp. 119-137.

Pratt J D, 'Scandinavian exceptionalism in an era of penal excess. Part 2: does Scandinavian exceptionalism have a future?', British Journal of Criminology (2008), pp. 275-292.

Pratt, John, 'Elias, punishment and decivilization', in Pratt, John., Brown, David., Brown, Mark., Hallsworth, Simon. and Morrison, Wayne (eds), The New Punitiveness (London: Willan Publishing), (2005), pp. 256-271.

Pratt, John and Clark, Marie, 'Penal populism in New Zealand', Punishment and Society, 7, 3, (2005), pp. 303-322.

Pratt, John, 'Child sexual abuse: purity and danger in an age of anxiety', Crime, law and social change', 43, 3, (2005), pp.1-25.

Pratt, John, 'Explaining the History of Punishment' in Godfrey, Barry and Dunstall, Graham (eds), Comparative Histories of Crime, vol 2, (London: Willan Publishing), 2005, pp. 25-42.

Pratt, John, 'Beyond evangelical criminology' in Aertson, Ivor., Daems, Tom. and Robert, Luc (eds), Institutionalizing restorative justice, (London: Willan publishing), 2005.

Pratt, John, 'Review of Fairweather, L. and McConville, S. (eds), Prison architecture: policy, design, experience, in Punishment and Society, 7, 1 (2005), pp. 98-100.

Gilligan, George and Pratt, John (eds), Crime, truth and justice: official inquiry, discourse, knowledge (Cullompton, Willan Publishing, 2003), 280pp.

Pratt, John. 'Introduction', in Gilligan, G. and Pratt, J. (eds), Crime, truth and justice: official inquiry, discourse, knowledge (Cullompton, Willan Publishing, 2003), pp. 1-7.

Pratt, John. 'The acceptable prison: official discourse, truth and legitimacy in the nineteenth century', in Gilligan, G. and Pratt, J. (eds), Crime, truth and justice: official inquiry, discourse, knowledge (Cullompton, Willan Publishing, 2003), pp. 71-88.

Pratt, John. 'The decline and renaissance of shaming in modern penal systems', in B. Godfrey, C. Elmsley and G. Dunstall (eds), Comparative Histories of Crime (Devon, Willan Publishing, 2003), pp. 178-194.

Pratt, John. 'Norbert Elias and the Civilized Prison', in Dunning, E. and Mennell, S. (eds), Norbert Elias (London, Sage, 2003), pp.

Pratt, John. 'The Disappearance of Prison: an episode in the Civilizing Process', in C. Strange and A. Bashford (eds), Places of Exclusion (London, Routledge, 2003), pp. 23-39.

Pratt, John. 'Theories of Law, Criminology and Penal Reform', in Claeys, G. (ed), Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Thought (London, Routledge, 2003)

Selected Publications

Pratt, John. Punishment and Civilization (London, Sage, (2002), 213pp.

Pratt, John. 'The Abusive Society: a review essay', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 35 (2002), pp. 383-402.

Pratt, John. 'The Globalization of Punishment?', Correction Today, 64 (2002), pp. 64-68.

Pratt, John. 'Critical Criminology and the Punitive Society: some new "Visions of Social Control" ', in K. Carrington and R. Hoggs (eds), Critical Criminology (London, Willan, 2002), pp. 168-184.

Pratt, John. 'Corporatism: the third model of juvenile justice', in E. McLaughlin and J. Muncie (eds), Youth Justice: A Reader (London, Sage, 2002), pp. 404-412.

Pratt, John. 'Beyond 'gulags Western style'? A reconsideration of Nils Christie's 'crime control as industry'', Theoretical Criminology, 5, 3 (2001), pp. 283-314.

Pratt, John. 'Dangerosite, risqué et technologies du pouvoir', Criminologie, 34 (2001), pp. 103-121.

Brown, M. and Pratt, J. (eds). Dangerous Offenders: Punishment and Social Order (London, Routledge, 2000), 197pp.

Pratt, John. 'The Return of the Wheelbarrow Men; or, the Arrival of Postmodern Penality?', British Journal of Criminology, 40, 1 (2000), pp. 127-146.

Pratt, John. 'Emotive and ostentatious Punishment: its decline and resurgence in modern society', Punishment and Society, 2 (2000), pp. 417-439.

Pratt, John. 'Civilization and Punishment', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 33 (2000), pp. 183-201.

Pratt, John. 'Sex crimes and the new Punitiveness', Behavioural Sciences and the Law, 18 (2000), pp. 135-151.

Pratt, John. 'Introduction', in M. Brown and J. Pratt (eds), Dangerous Offenders: Punishment and Social Order (London, Routledge, 2000), pp. 1-14.

Pratt, John. 'Dangerousness and Modern Society', in M. Brown and J. Pratt (eds), Dangerous Offenders: Punishment and Social Order (London, Routledge, 2000), pp. 35-48.

Pratt, John. 'Norbert Elias and the Civilized Prison', British Journal of Sociology, 50 (1999), pp. 271-296.

Pratt, John and Priestley, Zoe. 'The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Thirty years on', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 32 (1999), pp. 315-324.

Pratt, John. 'Governmentality, Dangerousness and Neoliberalism', in R. Smandych (ed), Governable Places (Aldershot, Dartmouth, 1999), pp. 133-162.

Pratt, John. 'The rise and fall of homophobia and sexual psychopath laws in postwar society', Psychology, Law and Public Policy (1998), pp. 25-49.

Pratt, John. 'Towards the Decivilizing of Punishment', Social and Legal Studies, 7 (1998), pp. 487-515.

Pratt, John. 'Assimilation, Equality, Sovereignty. The Maori and the Criminal Justice and Welfare Systems', in P. Havemann (ed), New frontiers: consitutionalising aboriginal rights in Australia, Canada and New Zealand 1975-1995 (Auckland, Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 316-328.

Pratt, John. 'Dangerousness, Risk and Technologies of Power', in P. O'Malley (ed), Crime and the Risk Society (Bristol, Ashgate, 1998), pp. 300-327.

Pratt, John. Governing the Dangerous (Annandale, Australia, Federation Press, 1997), 218pp.

Pratt, John and Dickson, Marny. 'Dangrous, Inadequate, Invisible, Out: Episodes in the criminological career of habitual criminals', Theoretical Criminology, 1 (1997), pp. 363-384.

Memberships, Appointments and Other Work

• Member of the International Editorial Board for the journal of Theoretical Criminology
• Member of the International Editorial Board for the journal of Punishment and Society

Recent Awards

• 2002 Victoria University award for excellence in research
• 2000 Victoria University award for excellence in research