Professor John Pratt graduated in law from London University before studying criminology for graduate degrees at the universities of Keele and Sheffield in England. His research interests are in the areas of the sociology and history of punishment, and criminological and social theory. Professor Pratt has published extensively in these areas, including 'Punishment in a Perfect Society' (1993), 'Governing the Dangerous' (1998), 'Dangerous Offenders: Punishment and Social Order (with Mark Brown, 2000), 'Punishment and Civilization' (2002). Since 1997, Professor Pratt has been editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology.