Jerzy Sarnecki

Jerzy Sarnecki (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjɛʐɨ s̪arˈn̪ɛt͡skʲi]; born 7 July 1947) is a Swedish and Polish professor in criminology at Stockholm University in Sweden.

Early life and family

Sarnecki was born in 1947 in Warsaw, Poland. His family is Jewish. During the 1968 Polish political crisis, his father was fired, allegedly because he was Jewish.

Academic career

He studied geodesy in Poland and earned a PhD in sociology at Stockholm University in 1978. During his studies he also worked part-time at several youth recreation centres in Stockholm. From 1977 to 1986, he worked as a researcher at the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, where he focused on juvenile delinquency. He was the head of Division at the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention from 1986 to 1993, when he became a professor in criminology at the Department of Criminology at Stockholm University. He was the head of the Department of Criminology from 1993 to 1998 and again from 2001 to 2003. He is also engaged at the Gävle University College, Södertörn University and at the Mid-Sweden University.

Sarnecki has also served as a member of the Scientific Commission of the International Society of Criminology from 2000 to 2005 and as vice-president of the Scandinavian Research Council for Criminology from 2001 to 2003. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Society of Criminology since 2005 and president of the Scandinavian Research Council for Criminology since 2004. Moreover, Sarnecki is co-chairman of the jury for the prestigious Stockholm Prize in Criminology.