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In Memoriam: David P. Farrington (1944-2024)

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of David P. Farrington on 5 November 2024. David was a seminal figure in the field of criminology and a founding member of the European Society of Criminology in 2000. He was a plenary speaker at the Eurocrim conferences in Toledo, Spain, in 2002, and in Liege, Belgium, in 2010, where he shared insights from his groundbreaking work. His profound impact on the field of criminology and the many lives he touched will continue to resonate. David will be dearly missed.

 

Statement of the Executive Board of the European Society of Criminology on international conflicts outside Europe

The mission of the European Society of Criminology, as outlined in its constitution, is to foster criminological scholarship and to encourage scholarly and practical exchange and cooperation. The ESC has always been, and shall remain, a forum for all scholars who are committed to the values of academic freedom, mutual respect, and the pursuit of criminological knowledge.

In line with the Society’s purpose and objectives, the ESC does not support the institutional boycott of academic establishments based on their country of operation. However, as a society committed to free speech and academic freedom, we acknowledge the right of individual members to make such decisions on their own. In this same spirit, the ESC continues to welcome scholars of all nationalities, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds to its conferences and other events, provided they embrace the values of the Society, as outlined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Apart from the Declaration concerning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine (21 April 2022), where the conflict occurred on the soil of a Council of Europe member state, the ESC Executive Board has refrained, and will continue to refrain, from issuing statements on international conflicts outside Europe. We are, however, deeply affected by the violence and suffering caused by conflicts around the world, including in the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and elsewhere. As a scholarly society, we do not take positions on conflicts occurring outside Europe, but we unequivocally condemn all violations of human rights and international crimes, as defined in the Rome Statute and other relevant international instruments.

We encourage our members to examine the individual and societal impacts of international crimes and other atrocities, and to proactively develop and promote laws, policies, and measures to address and mitigate these issues. Furthermore, we support open scholarly engagement on the criminology of international conflicts at our conferences, while promoting dialogue that respects diverse viewpoints and upholds mutual respect.

8 November 2024

 

Phishing Scam Misusing the ESC President’s Name

Several criminologists have received a message purporting to be from the President of the ESC, asking for assistance on a matter relating to the Board, and then proceeding to request a monetary contribution. It is a fraudulent message. Please do not respond or send any funds.

The European Society of Criminology operates with full transparency, and under no circumstances would the President or any member of the Board directly reach out to request personal assistance or financial contributions for matters relating to the Society. Any genuine communications involving matters of the Society will always follow formal and transparent processes.

Please follow these guidelines to protect yourself:

    1. Do not reply to any email asking for money, even if it seems to come from someone you trust.
    2. Report suspicious emails to the ESC secretariat (secretariat@esc-eurocrim.org)
    3. Never share sensitive personal or financial information via email.
    4. Always double-check the sender’s email address. Scammers often use an email address that looks similar to a legitimate one.
    5. Be wary of unsolicited emails claiming to represent the European Society of Criminology or any other entity (because this kind of scam has become quite common nowadays).

 

Declaration of the Executive Board of the European Society of Criminology concerning the war in Ukraine

As European criminologists we focus and report on (international) crimes and injustices: their prevalence, etiology, prevention, consequences for victims and societies, and on the responses to them. We condemn such atrocities and injustices and also those who commit them or take advantage of conflict situations to restrict fundamental human rights and freedoms.

Consequently, the Executive Board of the European Society of Criminology declares its utmost concern at Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. While the war in Ukraine is not the only current conflict in the world in which civilians suffer and struggle, it touches our academic Society in two particular ways. First, we are a criminological Society and there are strong indications that atrocities —which might constitute international crimes— are being committed, leading to wide-spread victimization. These include war crimes, such as killings and intentional attacks against the civilian population, and crimes against humanity, such as the forcible transfer of populations and sexual violence. The war is forcing millions of people to leave their livelihoods and all their material possessions and to become refugees. Second, Ukraine is a European country. The fact that an aggressive war is waged on European soil renders attention to such atrocities particularly pressing for us as a Society.

While we do not know at this moment how the conflict will develop or how long it will last, the ESC Executive Board has made the following decisions:

  • First, within our fellowship program to attend the annual conference of the ESC, we will give precedence to colleagues affected by the war in Ukraine. We will increase the number of these fellowships and extend the deadline for application for a fellowship for these colleagues until 1st June 2022;
  • Second, we will, in close collaboration with our working group ECACTJ (European Criminology Group on Atrocity Crimes and Transitional Justice) organize a number of sessions at the ESC annual conference in Malaga (Eurocrim 2022) that will be devoted to the Ukrainian situation specifically, to the criminology of international crimes in a more generic sense, and to justice responses thereto in general;
  • Third, together with the local organizers of Eurocrim 2022, we are preparing a plenary in Malaga that will be devoted to international crimes and criminology;
  • Fourth, the European Journal of Criminology, which serves as a forum for high quality scholarship on these among many other topics the discipline addresses, is exploring together with SAGE Publications a number of possibilities to give scholarly attention to the conflict in Ukraine. These include the organisation of a special issue or the identification of key papers which could be offered free of charge. The Journal is considerate of any impact on the publication process for authors, reviewers, etc. affected by the war.

Finally, the Executive Board wishes to stress that the European Society of Criminology continues to welcome to its conferences and any activities all scholars, irrespective of their nationality or background, who accept the values the Society ascribes to, as laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights and other key Council of Europe Conventions and Recommendations.

The Executive Board of the European Society of Criminology


21 April 2022