Professor Jason Ditton, 1949-2015

It was with much sadness that SCCJR learned of the death of Professor Jason Ditton, an esteemed former colleague and good friend of the Centre.

Jason began his criminology career at Durham University, where he completed his PhD and worked as a Research Fellow. In the late 1970s he took up a lectureship at the University of Glasgow where, in 1988, he founded the Criminology Research Unit within the Sociology Department. In 1994 he moved to Sheffield University, where he remained until his retirement in 2006.

Shortly after its inception, Jason spent a year at SCCJR  as a visiting professor, thoroughly enlivening our discussions with his inimitable wit, wise words and insights. Later, Jason donated most of his very extensive library of criminological and sociological books and papers to SCCJR staff.

Jason was without doubt one of British criminology’s most original thinkers and a prodigious author whose research interests covered the informal economy, drug use, CCTV and surveillance, community safety, crime and the media, rehabilitation, and the fear of crime. Unlike many criminologists, he was highly skilled in both quantitative and qualitative methods and his approach to the teaching of social research methods was innovative and fun! Jason also had a keen sense of civic responsibility and for many years was a member of several prison visiting committees, a stalwart  of the Scottish Association for the Study of Offending (SASO) and an editor of the Scottish Journal of Criminal Justice Studies.

Jason was a good friend and supportive colleague to many of us in SCCJR, and we will miss him dearly.