Sir Leon Radzinowicz, (15 August 1906 – 29 December 1999) was a

criminologist Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and s ...

and academic. He was the founding director of the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Early life

Radzinowicz was born on 15 August 1906 in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It ...

. He studied law as an undergraduate student at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...

and the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

. He went on to study for a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

at the

University of Cracow The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

. During this time, he spent a year studying under Enrico Ferri at the Institute of Criminology in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy. Radzinowicz moved to England in 1938, having been granted funding by the Polish Ministry of Justice to study the

English legal system English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, bee ...

Academic career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Radzinowicz established the Department of Criminal Science in the Faculty of Law at the

. From 1949 to 1959, Radzinowicz was Director of the Department of Criminal Science,

. In 1959, he founded the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law at the

. In 1959, he became the first Wolfson Professor of Criminology at the Institute of Criminology. Radzinowicz made a major contribution to the study of criminology by his research in the trends of legal thought which led to modern concepts in the administration of justice which were adopted in many of the democratic countries. Among his most significant works are History of English Criminal Law (4 vols. 1948–68), In Search of Criminology (1961), The Need for Criminology (1965), and Ideology and Crime (1966). Radzinowicz also wrote an autobiography, Adventures in Criminology (1999).

Death

On 29 December 1999, Radzinowicz died in

Haverford, Pennsylvania Haverford is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community located in both Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, and Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvan ...

, United States. He was aged 93. He is buried with his third wife in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

, Cambridgeshire, England.

Personal life

Radzinowicz had married three times. He married Irena Szereszewska in 1933; they divorced in 1955. He was married to Mary Ann Nevins from 1958 to 1979. They had two children: Ann and William. In 1979, he married Isolde Klarmann (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

Doerenburg; 11 October 1915 – 2 February 2011). Radzinowicz converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

from

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

prior to World War II.

Honours

In the 1970 New Years Honours, Radzinowicz was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are t ...

in recognition of his work at the

. On 24 February 1970, he was knighted by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. In 1973, he was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA). On 13 April 1999, he was appointed an honorary

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

(QC).

References

External links

*
Sir Leon Radzinowicz Papers
at Florida State University Libraries, Special Collections & Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Radzinowicz, Leon 1906 births 1999 deaths British criminologists Knights Bachelor Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism 20th-century Polish Jews Writers from Łódź Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Honorary King's Counsel Wolfson Professors of Criminology