André Kuhn received a licence degree in Law from the University of Neuchâtel, then a postgraduate diploma in Criminology from the University of Lausanne, before completing a doctoral thesis titled "Punitivité, politique criminelle et surpeuplement carcéral" [Punitivity, the politics of criminality and prison overpopulation]. He went on to teach Criminal Science at the Institute of Forensic Policing and Criminology for three years, then spending one year in Germany, and two years in the US to carry out further research and develop his expertise. In addition, he worked as an examining judge in the canton of Neuchâtel for six years, as well as a director of studies in a polling institute, an academic researcher for the Federal Justice Office, where he took part in a project to harmonise penal procedure in Switzerland, and the director of the Continuing Education Centre of the University of Lausanne, before becoming a professor at the University of Neuchâtel.

André Kuhn is currently a professor of Criminology and Criminal Law at the University of Neuchâtel, where he founded the Criminology Research Centre of French-speaking Switzerland.

André Kuhn has worked as an academic expert for the Council of Europe (Council for Penological Cooperation at the European Committee on Crime Problems), charged with providing a Recommendation to the Member States concerning penal measures intended to reduce the prison population (Recommendation No. R (99) 22, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 30/09/1999). He also worked as an expert at the UN-affiliated Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, analysing the Fifth United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, from 1997 to 1999. In addition, he has been a member of the editorial committee of the Déviance et Société journal since 2000, a board member of the school of the Swiss Training Center for Penitentiary Personnel since 2002, co-editor-in-chief of the Revue Internationale de Criminologie et de Police Technique et Scientifique (RICPTS) since 2007, a member of the board of directors at the Institute for the Reduction of Economic Criminality (Institut de lutte contre la criminalité économique, or ILCE) at the HEG-ARC, Neuchâtel, since 2007, and an editor of Jusletter, specialising in Criminal Law and Criminology, since 2008.

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