Nigel Walker (criminologist)

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Professor Nigel Walker,

CBE (6 August 1917 – 13 September 2014) was Wolfson Professor of Criminology at King's College, Cambridge.[1][2]

Biography

Walker was born in

vice-consul.[3] He attended Edinburgh Academy being awarded Dux in 1935.[3]

After school, he read classics at Christ Church, Oxford, and became a civil servant.[3]

During World War II, he served with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and Lovat Scouts, being shot on active service in Italy.[3]

In 1979, he was appointed CBE.[2]

Academic career

During his time the

DLitt by Oxford University, and honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.[1] His student textbook Crime and Punishment in Britain (1965) was also influential.[1]

Writing in 1965, Walker suggested the replacement of a single age of criminal responsibility by different minimum ages for varying forms of treatment.[5]

Between 1973 and 1984 he was Wolfson Professor of Criminology, and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.[1] His work challenged many accepted beliefs in the study of criminology, and he had an interest in the rehabilitation of offenders, writing Sentencing in a Rational Society (1969). He retired in 1984, but continued to teach and write, notably Why Punish? (1991) and Dangerous People (1996).[1] He wrote "in private I am as vindictive as any reader of The Daily Telegraph when some particularly evil offender is brought to justice, I simply question whether it is useful or morally justifiable to think in terms of desert rather than deterrence, correction or prevention when sentencing him."[6]

During his teaching career, he spent time at

Yale where his students included Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, then as yet unmarried.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Professor Nigel Walker - obituary". The Telegraph. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Bottoms, Anthony; Grounds, Adrian (15 October 2014). "Nigel Walker obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Obituary: Professor Nigel Walker, 97". Edinburgh Evening News. 12 November 2014. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. hdl:1842/19382. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  5. ^ Walker, N., 'Age of Criminal Responsibility', The Times, 11 June 1965, p. 15.
  6. ^ Walker, Professor Nigel (1991). Why Punish?.
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