Norval Morris

Norval Morris, who was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1923 and died in 2004, was an Australian-educated legal scholar and criminologist who became dean of the University of Chicago Law School from 1975 to 1979 after joining its faculty in 1964. He served as founding director of the United Nations Institute for Crime Prevention and for years on the Chicago Police Board, and his book The Future of Imprisonment argued for a punitive philosophy grounded in proportionality and the least restrictive sanction necessary, ideas that helped shape the design of the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina and remain cited in United States Supreme Court sentencing decisions. He also helped found the National Institute of Corrections and wrote extensively on criminal responsibility and mental illness, including his book Madness and the Criminal Law.