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Professor Chris Cunneen

Professor Chris Cunneen

Tropical leader - Tropical leader in Justice and Social Inclusion
The Cairns Institute and School of Law

PhD (Syd), MA (Syd), Dip Ed (UNSW), BA (UNSW)

Phone:

+61 7 4042 1896

Fax:

+61 7 4042 1880

Email:

chris.cunneen@jcu.edu.au

Background

Professor Cunneen has a national and international reputation as a leading criminologist specialising in Indigenous people and the law, juvenile justice, restorative justice, policing, prison issues and human rights. Chris has participated with a number of Australian Royal Commissions and Inquiries (including the Stolen Generations Inquiry, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the National Inquiry into Racist Violence), and with the federal Australian Human Rights Commission. He taught criminology at Sydney Law School (1990-2005) where he was appointed as Professor in 2004. He was also the Director of the Institute of Criminology (1999-2005) at the University of Sydney.

Professor Cunneen has held research positions with the Indigenous Law Centre, University of New South Wales (UNSW), and the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Between 2006 and 2010 he was the NewSouth Global Chair in Criminology at UNSW and continues as a Conjoint Professor at UNSW Law Faculty. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Criminology, University of Victoria, Wellington, NZ.

Research Interests

Chris has wide research interests that cross the fields of criminology, social science and law. In particular his interests include Australian prisons and the growth in imprisonment, juvenile justice, restorative justice, and the relationship of Indigenous people to dominant legal systems both in Australia and internationally. His work also displays a strong interest in human rights and social justice.

Membership of Professional Societies and Boards

Chris Cunneen was the Chairperson of the NSW Juvenile Justice Advisory Council (2000-2007) and a member of the New South Wales Attorney-Generals’ Taskforce on Sexual Assault in Aboriginal Communities (2002-2006). He has also acted an honorary consultant to the Australian Law Reform Commission.

He is a member of the following societies:

  • The American Society of Criminology

  • The Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology.

  • The Indian Association for Australian Studies

Membership of Editorial Boards

Professor Cunneen is a member of the editorial board of the following journals

  • The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology

  • Current Issues in Criminal Justice

  • Youth Studies

  • Crime Media Culture

  • The Australian Indigenous Law Review

Current ARC Projects

  • National research study of the civil and family law needs of indigenous people. An ARC Linkage Project.

  • The prison project: Penal culture and the reinvention of the prison in Australia. An ARC Discovery Project.

Research Consultancies

Professor Cunneen has worked as a research consultant to a range of Australian state, federal and non-government organizations including Attorney-General’s Departments, Police Services, Departments of Corrections, Departments of Communities and Human Services, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration, Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Legal Services, and various law reform commissions.

Selected Publications

Professor Chris Cunneen has published widely. Recent books include:

  • Debating Restorative Justice (with Carolyn Hoyle, Hart Publishing 2010).

  • Indigenous Legal Relations in Australia (with Larissa Behrendt and Terry Libesman, Oxford University Press, 2009)

  • The Critical C riminology Companion (with Thalia Anthony, Federation Press, 2008)

  • Juvenile Justice. Youth and Crime in Australia (with Rob White, Oxford University Press, 2007)


For other selected publications see the Social Science Research Network:http://ssrn.com/a uthor=806586

Current Research Students

Nadia David (PhD) The Interventionist Approach to Domestic Violence.

Signe Dalsgaard (PhD)Hot + Cold = Lukewarm. A comparative study on the history and governance of indigenous peoples in Denmark and Australia

Maggie Hall (PhD) The Australian Prison Project. Sentencing, Risk and Rehabilitation: Barriers to Redemption.

Belinda Russon (SJD) The Law of Equality and Justice Evaluating Domestic Violence Outcomes for Aboriginal Women in New South Wales.

Rebecca Smith (LLM) Investigating the International Human Rights and Environmental Law framework to reconcile the private interests of extractive industries and the public interests of stakeholders.