Academic interests
- Punishment, human rights and the criminal justice system
- Sentiments on justice and legal consciousness
- War crimes and the Holocaust
- The relationship between reform and research
Peter Scharff Smith’s work on punishment, human rights and the criminal justice system include research on the use and effects of solitary confinement in prisons, remand imprisonment, women in prison, prisons and human rights, the children and families of prisoners, internet access in prison, and the history of the prison. Examples of publications within this area include:
- Peter Fransen and Peter Scharff Smith: Shaping Nordic Punishment. Penal exceptionalism and the correctional revolution at Ringe Prison in the 1970s. In Lohne, Hörnqvist & Christensen (Eds.), Nordic Criminal Justice in a Global Context. Routledge 2022 (pp. 39-58).
- Vanessa Barker and Peter Scharff Smith: This is Denmark: Prison Islands and the Detention of Immigrants. The British Journal of Criminology, Vol 61(6), Nov 2021 (pp. 1540–1556).
- Jules Lobel and Peter Scharff Smith (eds.): Solitary Confinement: Effects, Practices, and Pathways toward Reform. Oxford University Press 2020.
- Marte Rua and Peter Scharff Smith (eds.): Isolasjon – et fengsel i fengselet. Cappelen Damm 2019.
- Rachel Condry and Peter Scharff Smith (2018): Prisons, Punishment, and the Family: Towards a New Sociology of Punishment? Oxford University Press
Scharff Smith’s research on sentiments on justice and legal consciousness include a large-scale study on sentiments on justice in Norway, as well as research on marginalized groups and legal consciousness, and works on sentiments on justice and criminal justice policies. Examples of publications include:
- Peter Scharff Smith: Public Sentiments on Justice, Legal Consciousness, and the Study of Marginalized Groups, in Hydén, Cotterrell, Nelken and Schultz (Eds.) Combining the Legal and the Social in Sociology of Law, Hart 2023 (pp. 429–440).
- Lars Roar Frøyland, Peter Scharff Smith, May-Len Skilbrei, Berit Johnsen, Ingrid Lundeberg, Fredrik Sivertsson & Kari Stefansen: Rettsoppfatning i Norge. Holdninger til straff og straffegjennomføring i den norske befolkningen. OsloMet 2022.
Scharff Smith’s research on War crimes and the Holocaust has focused on the Waffen-SS, SS law, perpetrators, techniques of ‘Othering’ and the Nazi war of extermination at the Eastern front. Examples of publications include:
- Claus Bundgård Christensen, Niels Bo Poulsen and Peter Scharff Smith: War, Genocide and Cultural Memory. The Waffen-SS, 1933 to Today, Anthem Press 2023
- Peter Scharff Smith: Dehumanisation, social contact and techniques of Othering: Combining the lessons from Holocaust studies and prison research. In Eriksson (Ed.), Punishing the Other: The Social Production of Immorality Revisited. Routledge 2016 (pp. 11–29).
Scharff Smith has extensive experience working systematically with a combination of research, project work, dialogue, partnerships, awareness raising, and advocacy in an attempt to create prison reforms in Scandinavia and internationally. He has, for example, worked with practical reform projects in Danish prisons, on the promotion of alternatives to solitary confinement practices internationally, and on the creation and promotion of soft-law prison standards in the international human rights community. Scharff Smith has published on this work and these methods including:
- Peter Scharff Smith: Reform and Research: Re‐connecting Prison and Society in the 21st Century, International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, Vol 4 (1) 2015 (pp. 33‐49).
- Peter Scharff Smith: Solitary confinement. An introduction to the Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement, Torture: Quarterly Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture 18(1) (pp. 56-62).
Background
Peter Scharff Smith holds a Master’s degree in social science and history from Roskilde University (1998). Scharff Smith's early research focused on Danish collaboration during World War II and he co-authored his first two research monographs while still a student, including the bestseller "Under hagekors og Dannebrog. Danskere i Waffen-SS 1940-45" (1998). After this Scharff Smith's work became more cross-disciplinary and his PhD was on prison history and the rise of the modern penitentiary. He became a PhD in 2002 at the University of Copenhagen. His thesis "Moralske hospitaler. Det moderne fængselsvæsens gennembrud 1770-1870" was published in 2003. Since 2003 Scharff Smith's research has primarily lied within the fields of criminology, sociology of law and history. Scharff Smith has throughout his career been doing research at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the University of Copenhagen, Cambridge University, New York University, The Danish National Archive, Roskilde University, The Royal Danish Defense College and Oslo University. Peter has also worked as Research Director at The Danish Institute for Human Rights.
Courses taught in recent years
- RSOS1801
- RSOS4102
- RSOS2952/4952
- JUS4122
- KRIM2904/4904
- JUR9031
- JUR4122
Peer-reviews
Scharff Smith has done peer-reviews for numerous journals and publishers including, for example: Criminology, Punishment and Society, Crime and Law, The Howard Journal, Nordic Journal of Criminology, Incarceration, International Journal of Prisoner Health, The Journal of Men’s Studies, and Holocaust Studies.
Awards, other qualifications and appointments
- Award winner at the Danish Labour History Awards 1994 together with a group of fellow students.
- Awarded the Carlsberg Clare Hall Visiting Fellowship at Cambridge University by the Carlsberg Foundation 2003.
- International Human Rights Course, Danish Institute for Human Rights, 2004.
- International course in Prevention of Torture, OHCHR, Oxford University, 2006.
- Leadership and management training, Ankerhus, 2008-2009.
- Member of various project steering committees, architectural committees etc. in the Danish Prison Service during the last two decades