Creating Criminological Thinking: Interview with Denis Szabo

In this year marking the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the School of criminology, its founder must feel some pride seeing it endure the test of time. The School's persistence as a place of development and diffusion of criminological thought is a tribute to Denis Szabo's contribution to his discipline. Celebrating the School and its history naturally points to its origin. In the wake of its foundation, one can wonder what were the views and ideas of Denis Szabo, and the scientific contribution that they inspired. What was the intellectual background of the young graduate who established a university program four years after its thesis' defense ? What were his subjects of choice ? What influences took hold in Montreal through his agency ? The following interview offers an overview of Denis Szabo's scientific contributions, against the backdrop of the development of the School of criminology and the Centre international de criminologie comparee (CICC). It is based on the transcription of a recording made in Georgeville on February 7 2010, subsequently edited and submitted to D. Szabo for review.