Johan Thorsten Sellin (26 October 1896 – 17 September 1994) was a

Swedish American Swedish Americans () are Americans of Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to the early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million arrivi ...

sociologist at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, a penologist and one of the pioneers of scientific

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

Biography

Sellin was born in

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (; ), often shortened to just Ö-vik, is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in th ...

Västernorrland County Västernorrland County () is a county ('' län'') in the north of Sweden. It is bordered by the counties of Gävleborg, Jämtland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name ''Västernorrland'' means "Western Norrland", as it was in the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and came to

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with his parents when he was 17 years old. He received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from Augustana College in Illinois when he was 19. He went on to receive a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1922 until becoming Professor Emeritus in 1967. Dr. Sellin came to prominence in the 1920s and 30s for his studies in the use of criminal statistics at local, state, national and international levels. He later helped draft the U.S. Uniform Criminal Statistics Act in 1944. An expert on crime statistics, he advised the

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about statistical matters and was a consultant to the

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on criminal statistics. He also headed, or was a member of, various

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panels of experts on criminological questions. Dr. Sellin was a visiting professor or lecturer at Princeton, the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

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and other universities. Active in international groups, he was secretary-general of the Bern-based International Penal and Penitentiary Commission (later called the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation) from 1949 to 1951. He was president of the International Society of Criminology from 1956 to 1965. Sellin edited the ''

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences. Sparked by Professor Edmund J. James and drawing from members of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmor ...

'' for 39 years, from 1929 to 1968.''Thorsten Sellin, Criminology Expert'' (New York Times. September 20, 1994)
/ref> Dr. Sellin died in

Gilmanton, New Hampshire Gilmanton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,945 at the 2020 census. Gilmanton includes the villages of Gilmanton Corners and Gilmanton Ironworks. The town became well known in the 1950s after it was ...

at the age of 97.Charlesworth, James C. (1969) "The Academy Dips Its Colors to Dr. Sellin," ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' 381: pp. iii-iv

Legacy and honors

*Sellin received numerous honors, including the honorary doctorates of

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and

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universities. *Sellin was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1949. *The University of Pennsylvania Sellin Center for Studies in Criminology and Criminal Law is named for him.

Selected works

*''Research Memorandum on Crime in the Depression'' (1937) *''War and Crime: A research memorandum'' (1942) *''The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' (1943) *''Some Current Issues in Penal Treatment'' (1950) *''The significance of records of crime'' (1951) *''The Protective Code: A Swedish Proposal'' (1957) *''The death penalty: A report for the Model penal code project of the American Law Institute'' (1959) *''Constructing an index of delinquency: A manual'' (1963) *''Systems of reporting "crimes known to the police" in selected foreign countries'' (1967) *''The Criminality of Youth'' (1975)

References

Sources

* Wolfgang, Marvin E. (1968) "Thorsten Sellin and the Principal Trends in Modern Penology" in Wolfgang, Marvin E. (ed.) (1968) ''Crime and Culture: Essays in Honor of Thorsten Sellin'' Wiley, New York, pp. 3–10, * Charlesworth, James C. (1969) "The Academy Dips Its Colors to Dr. Sellin" ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' 381: pp. iii-iv * Pastor, Selma (1985) ''A Bibliography of the Publications of Professor Thorsten Sellin'' Center for Studies in Criminology and Criminal Law, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, * Wolfgang, Marvin E. (1996) "Thorsten Sellin (26 October 1896 - 17 September 1994)" ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 140(4): pp. 581–586

External links