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58 Med. Sci. & L. 3 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/mdsclw58 and id is 1 raw text is: 


Obituary


Herschel Prins


Image  reproduced  with permission  from  Taylor &
Francis. Originally  produced  in  The  Journal  of
Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, March 2007; 18(1):
127-133.

Herschel Prins was not a doctor, a lawyer or a foren-
sic scientist (although he was a distinguished social
scientist), but there is no doubting his outstanding
and  unique  contributions to medicine, science and
the law. He had a profound influence on the develop-
ment  of criminology and  forensic psychiatry in the
twentieth century. That influence continued until his
death on  2 May  2016 at the age of 87 years and  it
continues through the rich legacy of his publications,
read  by students of  the various disciplines whose
boundaries his own  career crossed, and the work of
his countless students who recall him as a meticulous,
stimulating and inspirational teacher.
   His father was  a  social worker  and  had  been
Superintendent of  the Jewish Discharged  Prisoners'
Aid Society. Herschel was orphaned  in his teens and
left school at the age of 16 years. He says that it was
through the kind offices of his father's relatives that he
was  saved from being institutionalised in what were
still the days of the Poor Law. In his early twenties
he joined the Probation Service and in his first post


                            Medicine, Science and the Low
                            2018, Vol. 58(I) 3-4
                            @ The Author(s) 2018
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                            DOI: 10.1177/0025802418756797
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                            tSAGE




he found  himself supervising people  on  probation
with a condition of residence for their mental treat-
ment  and he came under  the influenced of the distin-
guished criminologist, Donald West.  His interest in
this group of people led him to train as a psychiatric
social worker at the London   School of Economics.
Upon   qualification he was appointed to  a post at
Stamford  House  Remand   Home  for Boys. There  he
came  under the influence of Peter Scott, one of the
founding  fathers of forensic psychiatry, and whose
influence crystallised Herschel's life-long interest in
forensic mental health.
   Herschel went on to have a distinguished academic
career. His first teaching post was at the North West
London   Polytechnic in Kentish Town.  Following  a
period in the Inspectorate of Probation he moved to
Leeds as a lecturer in social work. From 1981 to 1984
he was  director of the School of Social Work at the
University of Leicester and he  went on  to become
Professor at the Midlands centre for Criminal Justice
at Loughborough   University. He  was an  Honorary
Professor of  the University  of Leicester and  the
University of Birmingham   and Visiting Professor at
Nottingham  Trent University.
   Herschel Prins was a prolific author. He contributed
many  of his thoughtful and thought-provoking papers
to Medicine, Science and the Law and he was until his
death a UK  Consulting Editor. He was also a regular
contributor to the Criminal Law Review, The Howard
Journal of Criminal Justice, The Probation Journal and
the Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and  Psychology.
There  must be  few professionals in forensic mental
health whose training and education has not included
reading Offenders, Deviants or Patients? He will also be
remembered   by those who  have read, and hopefully
those who  will go  on to read, Bizarre Behaviours,
Fire-Raising, Will they  do  it again?, Psychopaths
and  his autobiographical Mad,  Bad  and Dangerous
to Know.
   At a national level Herschel was a member of the
Parole Board, the Mental Health Review Tribunal and
the Mental Health Act Commission.  He  chaired three
Committees  of Inquiry into the care and management
of  mentally disordered  offenders. He  chaired the
Mental  Health Advisory  Committee  of the National

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