ABOUT

Hi! I’m Suzanne and I am the Program Director for studies in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Southern Queensland. I am also a Senior Lecturer in criminology and criminal justice, based in the School of Law and Justice. My academic qualifications include Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Arts Honours (First Class) and Ph.D. in Criminology, all awarded by the University of Queensland. My substantive area of research concerns the reintegration of those with a criminal record back into society and their associated desistance from crime. In my Ph.D. thesis I examined whether and why employers will hire job applicants who have a criminal record with a particular emphasis on the beliefs employer’s hold about the capacity for ex-offenders to change and desist from crime, and how desistance from crime is recognised by employers. My previous employment includes working with at-risk young people in the community as well as in detention. Later on, I worked in the Offending Behaviour Programs sector within the adult prison system in both Australia and England, working specifically with people who had committed serious and violent offences.

I am not my crime has been produced to help you understand that for many people it is their circumstances that led them down the path to offending behaviour and that what somebody has done in the past is not an indication of who they are today.

Dr Suzanne Reich
Program Director and Senior Lecturer
Criminology and Criminal Justice
University of Southern Queensland