Rick Sarre

Emeritus Professor Rick Sarre retired in April 2020 from the role of Dean at the University of South Australia’s Law School to become an Adjunct with UniSA Justice & Society. His secondary education was undertaken at King's College, in Kensington Park, South Australia (1968-1972). He completed his law degree at Adelaide University in 1976, undertook postgraduate certificate studies in theology and sociology at Graceland University, 1978-1979 (Iowa, USA), finished a Masters degree (Criminology) at the University of Toronto, Canada in 1983, and received his doctorate (Legal Science) from the University of Canberra in 2002. In 2015 Professor Sarre was awarded an honorary doctorate in law from Umeå University, Sweden, and in 2023 completed a PhD in law at the University of South Australia (UniSA). Before retiring from teaching in 2018 he had taught criminology, commercial law, media law, sports law, and religion and law in a career spanning 35 years in the USA, Sweden, Hong Kong and Australia. He is a Past President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (2012-2016) and in 2017 was awarded Fellow status of that society. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, an Honorary Professorial Fellow of the Australian Institute of Police Management, and a South Australian Patron of the Justice Reform Initiative. He also served three years on the Victim Support Service (SA) board, six years on the Offenders Aid and Rehabilitation Services of SA board, 18 years as an Associate of the Australian Institute of Criminology, and 8 years as the President of the SA Institute of Justice Studies. He is the immediate Past President of the SA Council for Civil Liberties. He has been a member of the ALP since 1985 and is a Past President of the Sturt Federal Electorate Council (FEC) and currently President of the Dunstan Labor subbranch. In 2010, and again in 2013, he stood unsuccessfully as the Labor candidate in the federal seat of Sturt. In 2018 and 2022 he stood unsuccessfully as the Labor candidate in the State seat of Bragg. He is currently a Vice-President of the Adelaide University Football Club, President of the Friends of the State Library of South Australia, a Life Member of Pembroke School (Kensington Park, SA), and supports the ministries and charities at Clayton Wesley Uniting Church as a member of the Parish Mission Council. He is a Director of Community of Christ Ltd (registered in Sydney), was a member of the Standing High Council of the international church (2013-2025), and Team Leader of its Peace and Justice Team (2019-2025). He is the author of a memoir, Life Actually: a Feast of 500-Word Memories (Moonglow Publishing, 2021) and his most recent academic book is Preventing Crime: What we know and what we need to do (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). He and his wife Debra live in Adelaide, and have two adult children, Millicent and Elliott.