Dr. Saskia Penn
Details
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Department: School of GUSS
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Campus: City Campus Australia
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saskia.penn@rmit.edu.au
About
Dr Saskia Penn is a lecturer at RMIT University. As a criminologist and historian, she is passionate about histories of crime and justice, and what those histories can teach us about the present. Dr Penn's PhD thesis was titled “Negligence of the Highest Order”: Historical Lessons on Police Culture and Misconduct in Australia. This thesis used historical and contemporary inquiry documents to explore the role of deeply rooted policing cultures in ongoing cycles of misconduct in Australian policing.
Dr Penn has been teaching courses across Criminology & Justice studies at RMIT since 2021. She is also part of the team at the Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative, an organisation that investigates claims of wrongful conviction in Australia and advocates for policy changes to reduce future miscarriages of justice. Dr. Penn is passionate about getting students engaged with contemporary justice issues.
Media
Academic positions
- Lecturer
- RMIT University
- Criminology & Justice
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jul 2025 – Present
Teaching interests
In 2026, Dr Penn will be delivering the following courses: Foundations of Criminology; Policing; Justice Research Project.
Dr Penn has previously taught the following courses: Criminological Theory; Introduction to Criminal Psychology; Crime Prevention; Justice Internship Project.
Research interests
Dr Penn's areas of interest include police misconduct, wrongful convictions, police culture, royal commissions and inquiries, true crime media, and historical criminology.
