Dr. Leonidas Cheliotis awarded Critical Criminologist of the Year Award
Wed 11 December 2013
Dr. Cheliotis received the award for ‘distinguished accomplishments in research which have symbolised the spirit of the Division in recent years’. Past winners of the award include such prominent scholars as David Brotherton, Gregg Barak, Jeff Ferrell, Bruce Arrigo and Walter DeKeseredy. This year is the first that a scholar based outside North America and Australia has been selected for the award since its establishment in 1995.
Dr. Cheliotis’ most recent research has helped to advance criminological knowledge about the relationship between neoliberal capitalism and state and public punitiveness. This research has also drawn attention to issues such as the origins of middle-class punitiveness, levels and patterns of punishment in post-authoritarian societies, and the politics of crime, conventional imprisonment and immigration detention amidst conditions of economic downturn. Jurisdictionally, the focus of Dr. Cheliotis’ work is on the Anglo-American world and the Mediterranean region, from both national and international comparative angles. His research has been published in an array of top international outlets, and has been translated into various languages. Currently, he is working on a sole-authored book provisionally entitled Immigrants and the Penal State: Punitiveness in the Margins of Europe.
The award was presented to Dr. Cheliotis on 21 November in Atlanta, at a ceremony during the annual conference of the American Society of Criminology. The award was introduced by Professor Walter DeKeseredy, of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, who commented:
"Dr. Cheliotis is a path-breaking scholar who continuously makes important scholarly contributions to an international critical criminological understanding of punitive social control. His research is always timely and inspirational."
Speaking about the award, Dr. Cheliotis said:
"This is an exceptional honour for me, given both the international significance of ASC’s Division on Critical Criminology and the esteemed list of previous winners of the award. In conferring this award to a scholar based outside North America and whose work is not solely dealing with Anglophone jurisdictions, I feel that the Division is recognising the increasing importance of international comparative research in itself, but also the importance of expanding the horizons of such research."