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Current Issues in Criminal Justice

Current Issues in Criminal Justice (CICrimJust)
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Scott Bray, Rebecca --- "Sydney Institute of Criminology 50th Anniversary 1966-2016" [2016] CICrimJust 20; (2016) 28(2) Current Issues in Criminal Justice 135


Sydney Institute of Criminology

50th Anniversary 1966–2016

Rebecca Scott Bray

In 2016, the Sydney Institute of Criminology, home of Current Issues in Criminal Justice, celebrates its 50th anniversary. Established in 1966 with its institutional home in Sydney Law School at the University of Sydney, the Institute is Australia’s original research centre of criminology, located in the nation’s first law school, at its oldest university. The Institute’s membership historically included a unique blend of criminologists and lawyers, and the ongoing strength of the Institute lies in the increased diversity of its members, who are now drawn from many schools and faculties across the University, with a shared interest in aspects of crime, law and criminal justice. This research community brings together an impressive range of expertise and interests and, throughout the last half century, the Institute’s distinctive membership has enabled it to make significant contributions to criminology, criminal justice and criminal law. Our contributions have also been facilitated by a strong and committed Advisory Committee, which has helped support and steer the Institute, in addition to being realised through the excellent stewardship and outstanding efforts of dedicated past Directors, Co-Directors, Acting Directors and Deputy Directors.

Throughout its 50 years, the Institute has maintained a commitment to public dialogue on critical criminal justice issues, hosting a remarkable diversity and number of public seminars and lectures, in addition to contributing to research and teaching in criminology and criminal law. It was in the spirit of community engagement on criminal justice matters that conjoined public education and publication from the earliest days of the Institute. The papers from public seminar events were published as the Proceedings of the Institute of Criminology for a period of just over 20 years (1967–88), which detail a range of topics that occupied the criminal justice community throughout those years, including juvenile justice, gun control, sentencing, abortion, white collar crime, and mental health in the justice system, many of which remain pertinent today.

In recognition of our 50th anniversary, this year the early proceedings of the Institute of Criminology were digitised, a process initiated and coordinated by Institute member, and former Deputy Director and Acting Director, Garner Clancey, greatly assisted by former Institute Assistant Sophie Russell, and generously delivered by the Repository & Digitisation Services team from the University of Sydney Library. The digitisation of these Institute seminar proceedings enables greater access to an important criminological resource, detailing over 20 years of the Institute’s important foundational work in researching and discussing key crime issues, and the Institute remains sincerely grateful for all of the efforts in bringing this project to fruition. Throughout the Institute’s 50th anniversary year, selected proceedings and papers from the repository have been highlighted in our digital newsletter, CrimNet, and on social media to reflect on the enduring nature of criminal justice issues, as many current debates find relevance in these historical pages.

Current Issues in Criminal Justice sprang from these early beginnings, and while its first issues reflected the Institute’s public seminar program, it rapidly evolved to attract notable scholarly research articles, book reviews and its hallmark, ‘Contemporary Comment’, a shorter piece that both retains and reflects the Institute’s commitment to cutting-edge discussion on critical issues. Even 27 years after the first issue of Current Issues in Criminal Justice, the clear trajectory from significant public seminars and issues to published works still exists. In 2016, the Institute held a large public forum on Sydney’s contentious lockout laws, which was a ‘sell-out’ event, and versions of the papers presented at this forum were published in the July issue of the journal. Each year, the journal publishes the annual Paul Byrne SC Memorial Lecture, a lecture delivered by eminent jurists and legal thinkers in memory of one of the Institute’s great supporters, Paul Byrne SC, and this November issue of the journal features one of the lectures from our 50th Anniversary Lecture Series, delivered by Dr Don Weatherburn. As we celebrate our anniversary, journal readers are encouraged to visit both the newly digitised repository of early Institute proceedings and the previous editions of the journal, to appreciate the depth and breadth of the Institute’s innovative contributions to criminal justice research, policy, law and practice.

In an ever-changing and increasingly demanding academic environment, both the journal and the Institute are thriving. Accordingly, we thank our readers, subscribers and authors, and all who support Current Issues in Criminal Justice and the ongoing work of the Sydney Institute of Criminology.

Rebecca Scott Bray

Co-Director, Sydney Institute of Criminology

November 2016


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