School of Law: Law School Staff - John Dawes

John Dawes
BA, DipSocStud, DipCrim(Melb), PhD, GradCertTertEd, MSW(Flinders)

Adjunct Senior Lecturer

After initially working as a medical social worker in 1969, John Dawes moved to corrections, which has remained a life-long interest. In Victoria, he worked as a probation and parole officer, prison manager and Correctional Services’ Director. In 1982, he was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the South Australian Department of Correctional Services and, in 1993, South Australia’s inaugural Public Advocate. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 1997, he gained a PhD from the Flinders University of South Australia for a study into deaths in the South Australian prison system (from 1980 until 1993). In 1999, he became a Visiting Scholar in the Law School (later a Research Fellow) and was also elected to membership of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement. He has research interests in corrections, mental health and human rights and has published in this area. John was a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations Congress on Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Havana, Cuba in 1990 and has been a regular participant in the Asian and Pacific Conferences of Correctional Administrators, chaired the 1992 conference in Adelaide and has travelled widely inspecting correctional systems.

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