Susanne Davies is the Convenor of Legal Studies in the School of Social Sciences at La Trobe University. An historian by training, her teaching, research and writing interests span critical criminology, cultural studies, socio‑legal history and gender and sexuality studies. She is the co‑editor of two volumes, A nation of rogues: crime, law and punishment in colonial Australia (Melbourne University Press, 1994) and Harsh punishment: international experiences of women’s imprisonment (Northeastern University Press, Boston, 2000).