My colleague, Herschel Prins, who has died at the age of 87, had a long and distinguished career at the crossover between criminal justice and mental health.
He began work as a probation officer in the 1950s and spent much of his life in teaching; throughout he remained faithful to the ideals of public service and the belief that one person can influence another for the good. He knew that effective social work was a craft that required real commitment by the practitioner; noble intentions and theoretical knowledge were not enough.
He was born in Finchley, north London, son of Louis Prins, a social worker, and his wife, Cissie (nee Cohen). After the death of both of his parents while he was in his teens, Herschel was cared for by his extended Jewish family. He left school at 16, but through private study and evening classes he gained entry to the social work course at London School of Economics. That diligence and commitment to hard graft characterised his teaching – and he was impatient with those who fell short of the standards he expected of them.
Herschel’s first teaching post was at the North Western Polytechnic in Kentish Town, north London. There followed a spell in the Inspectorate of Probation, before Herschel moved to Leeds for a lectureship in the university’s social work faculty. He ended his teaching career as head of the school of social work at the University of Leicester, which nurtured the careers of many future leaders in probation and social work.
Retirement from that position by no means marked the end of his career – and until a few months before his death he was still lecturing as professor of forensic criminology at Loughborough and as honorary professor at Leicester. Immersion in his work helped him to cope with the death five years ago of his wife, Norma (nee Cree), whom he married in 1958.
He would never have regarded himself as a original thinker, but in his extensive publications, many of which became standard textbooks, he assembled his material with meticulous care. He made his subject readily accessible and his lectures and seminars were always stimulating.
At national level, he served on the Parole Board and the Mental Health Act Commission, and took a leading part in several public inquiries in the mental health field; he was an inspirational teacher who contributed richly to our understanding of offending behaviour.
He is survived by two children, Helen and Jez, and two grandchildren, Ruby and Louis.
