Centre History

Previous Directors, Professor Antje du Bois-Pedain, Professor Andreas von Hirsch and Professor Sir Anthony Bottoms.

The Centre was founded by Professor Andreas von Hirsch in 2000 to add a decidedly theoretical and normative dimension to the Institute of Criminology. In 2016, Professor Sir Anthony Bottoms took over as Director and significantly expanded the Centre’s interactions with judges and criminal justice practitioners, particularly in the area of sentencing policy. With Professor Jonathan Jacobs (CUNY), he also organised the Centre’s Institute-wide conference on Moral Understandings, Criminal Careers and Societal Responses to Criminal Careers held in 2018. After Professor Bottoms stepped down as Director of the Centre, Prof. Antje du Bois-Pedain, took over as Interim Director, and she led projects on Criminal Law and the Authority of the State, Penal Censure, and Re-reading Beccaria. Upon becoming the inaugural Andreas von Hirsch Professor of Penal Theory and Ethics in 2022, Prof Leo Zaibert also assumed then the Directorship of the Centre.