Josine Junger-Tas studied Sociology at the Free University of Brussels (Belgium) and obtained her Ph D degree in the Netherlands at the University of Groningen. She was employed by the Dutch Ministry of Justice in its Research Institute and was appointed as Director of the Institute in 1989. She was active in the Council of Europe chairing an Expert Committee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1989. In 1992, she was appointed member of its Scientific Council. She was also active in the United Nations, where she also did preparatory work for the UN Criminology congresses. In 1989, she received the Sellin-Glueck Award from the American Society of Criminology for her ‘Contributions to Criminology’. In 1994, she was appointed professor of Youth Criminology at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She taught Self-report methodology at the University of Cambridge for three years and since 2002 she is visiting professor at the University of Utrecht. In 2000, the University of Lausanne awarded her an Honorary doctorate. In the same year with several colleagues, she launched the European Society of Criminology. At the first ESC conference in Lausanne, she was elected the first ESC President. In November 2007, she received the Distinguished International Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology.