Between Europe and Latin America

• Author: Jock Young
• Pages: 470-470

Page 470

I first met Roberto Bergalli through the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice.It is amazing how this low keyed,rather anarchistic yet long lived and extremely influential academic endeavour has brought together so many radical scholars and students over the years. Roberto is a pivotal contributor to the programme. Aside from being a delightful host at the meetings in San Cugat, his influence has been to gently expand the original rather Eurocentric perspective of this project to put crime and penality in a more global perspective and to place considerations of human rights in the centre of our agenda. He does this with wisdom, perceptiveness and with a very wry sense of humour.

I learnt a great deal about Roberto’s patience and perseverance when he very kindly volunteered to translate my book The Exclusive Society into Spanish. Assisted by his wife Serena and Ramiro Sagarduy he bravely dealt with my obscurities, neologisms and altogether rather idiosyncratic English. In turn he has attempted to tempt me, a vegetarian, into the supposed delights of rather large and particularly bloody Argentinian steaks.

Roberto has brought to the common session not only many interesting debates particularly in the area of...