The International Jury of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology has selected Professor Herman Goldstein of the University of Wisconsin Law School as the recipient of the award for 2018.

Professor Goldstein is the world's most influential scholar in the field of modern policing. His research has led police today to focus more on achieving tangible results from actions taken and less on traditional routine tasks. This new way of working, inspired by Goldstein, provides a higher degree of societal benefit. Goldstein's starting point was that policing was not sufficiently focused on achieving specific goals linked to specific problems.

The results of his research, first published in 1979, have led to the development of new strategies in the police. These strategies focus on identifying patterns in crime that allow police to work with more complex problems rather than treating each incident as an isolated case. Goldstein's work has also had an important impact on police research because it encourages police and researchers to work together to evaluate the impact of new interventions on these problems.

In its 2004 comprehensive report on police research, the American Academy of Sciences called Goldstein's "Problem-Oriented Policing" (POP) approach a "paradigm shift".

In particular, they highlighted the shift from the generic and reactive responses to crime of the past to today's tailored, proactive and multi-faceted responses to different problems. The Academy's report documented the many new and innovative approaches developed in policing as a result of Goldstein's work, such as new practices to reduce crimes such as drunk driving, sex offenses, domestic violence, burglary, gang violence, and crime in particularly vulnerable areas.

However, Professor Goldstein is not awarded this year's prize solely for his research on "Problem-Oriented Policing", but also for a lifetime of pioneering work on the broader issues of policing in society, such as; powers, social responsibility, police corruption and the role of the police in the justice system. In his studies of the unique role of the police in democratic societies, he has used a holistic perspective that includes empirical research, organizational theory, human rights and legal philosophy.

The award will be presented at The Stockholm Criminology Symposium on June 13, 2018.

Herman Goldstein is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he has worked since 1964. From 1960 to 1964, he served as executive assistant to Chicago Police Commissioner O.W. Wilson, who was recruited to reform the Chicago Police Department after a major scandal. Mr. Goldstein's extensive management experience in the second-largest police department in the United States and his extensive study of policing in America's largest cities form an important part of the American Bar Association's publication on the American justice system. A graduate of the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Goldstein has also served as Assistant to the City Manager of Portland, Maine.

About the prize
The Stockholm Prize in Criminology is an international prize established with the support of the Ministry of Justice and the Torsten Söderberg Foundation. It is awarded annually with a prize sum of SEK 1 million in connection with the Stockholm Criminology Symposium organized by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.

The prize is awarded for outstanding achievements in criminological research or for the practical application of research results relating to crime control and the promotion of human rights.

The aim of the prize is to promote:
 - increased knowledge of the causes of crime at the individual and structural level
 - more effective and humane public policies concerning the treatment of offenders
 - increased knowledge of alternative crime prevention measures, both within the judiciary and civil society
 - victim assistance practices
 - improved methods for reducing abuse of authority in the judiciary on a global scale.

The prize was awarded for the first time at the City Hall in June 2006 with the Jerry Lee Foundation as the original contributor. 
 
 Stockholm Prize in Criminology, SU