Meaning & use

penologist

noun·Advanced

An expert who studies punishment, prisons, and the management of criminal offenders.

See it in a sentence

The penologist testified about which rehabilitation programs actually reduce reoffending.

As a penologist, she spent years researching conditions inside maximum-security prisons.

A note on using this word

Penologist comes from penology, the academic study of punishment and prison systems, related to but distinct from criminology.

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