Nigel Walker (criminologist)

Nigel David Walker CBE (born August 6, 1917 in Tientsin , † September 13, 2014 in Edinburgh ) was a British criminologist .

Life

Nigel Walker was born in Tientsin in 1917 as the son of David Walker, a British Vice Consul, and his wife Violet (née Johnson). He attended a local school and later the Edinburgh Academy . He then studied philosophy and classical studies at the College Christ Church at the University of Oxford . This combination came about because his original wish to study philosophy and psychology was not possible, as the courses in psychology were only available for postgraduate studies .

During the Second World War , he served from 1940 to 1946 with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and the Lovat Scouts . He then worked from 1946 to 1961 in the civil service, namely in the Scottish Office . Most recently he was there in the criminal justice department. In addition to his professional activity, he deepened his knowledge of psychology, which in 1954 in a Ph.D. culminated. The subject of his dissertation was the Freudian concept of the unconscious. In 1957 he published the book A Short History of Psychotherapy , on developments in the application of psychoanalysis .

In 1958, Walker won a one-year scholarship for civil servants at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. His research results were published in 1961 as Morale in the Civil Service . When Max Grünhut , the first reader in criminology at the University of Oxford, retired soon afterwards , Walker applied for his successor. Although he had no previous experience in criminology, he built up an excellent reputation over the next few years. His textbook Crime and Punishment in Britain , published in 1965, became a standard work. He later received a Doctor of Letters for his book Crime and Insanity in England .

When Sir Leon Radzinowicz , who at that time held the first fully established chair in criminology in the United Kingdom, retired in 1973, Walker was appointed his successor and now taught, after having been a reader at the University of Oxford from 1961 to 1973 1973 to 1984 as a professor at the University of Cambridge . At the same time he became a Fellow of King's College and Director of the Institute of Criminology .

In 1979 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire . In 2003 he published his autobiography A Man Without Loyalties . Walker was married to Sheila Johnston from 1939 until her death in 2007. The marriage produced a daughter.

Publications (selection)

• A Short History of Psychotherapy (1957)
• Morale in the Civil Service (1961)
• Crime and Punishment in Britain (1965)
• Crime and Insanity in England , Volume 1 (1968)
• with Sarah McCabe: Crime and Insanity in England , Volume 2 (1973)
• Why Punish? (1991)
• Sentencing (1985)
  • with Nicola Padfield: Sentencing (1996, revised 2nd edition)
• Aggravation, Mitigation and Mercy in English Criminal Justice (1999)
• A Man Without Loyalties (2003)

Web links

• Nigel Walker obituary , Oct 15, 2014, The Guardian