After a degree in clinical psychology at the University of Liège in 1977, Pierre Thys obtained a doctorate in psychology in 1993. He was a voluntary assistant in the psychology of delinquency section (Professor Gaston Schaber), then an associate lecturer. He is now a lecturer in the School of Criminology (Faculty of Law). In parallel with his academic activities Pierre Thys has undertaken for 25 years a clinical criminology consultancy, which has allowed him to acquire long practice in the psychosocial follow-up of minors subject to a court trial and adults in situations of obligatory assistance (alternative to preventative detention, conditional release, trial release under the social defence system, supervision imposed by the youth courts). In 1984, in the context of this clinical criminology activity, he was the initiator of educational and philanthropic activities, also called ‘work in the general context,’ carried out to the benefit of minors who had committed misdemeanours, in the context of the Belgian legal act related to youth protection. In 1987, following the French Speaking Community of Belgium’s decision to subsidise a group of educational teams with this mission, the initial experiment led to the creation of the not for profit organisation Arpège. He has also worked as an expert for the law courts from 1980 to 1988.

Selection of publications

THYS P., Criminels de guerre - Etude criminologique, Collection Sciences Criminelles, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2007.

BOXHO Ph., HOUGARDY L., THYS P., D'une arme à l'autre… A propos d'un débat (presque) oublié sur les armes, Une Criminologie de la tradition à l'innovation, Liber Amicorum en hommage à Georges KELLENS, Larcier, 2006.

THYS P., Les armes dites « non létales » : une approche terminologique et paradigmatique des technologies nouvelles de maintien de l'ordre, Chronique de criminologie, Revue de Droit Pénal et de Criminologie, septembre-octobre 2006, pp. 845-859.

THYS P., Applicabilité et acceptabilité des armes de neutralisation dites à létalité réduite, Revue Internationale de Criminologie et de Police Technique et Scientifique, n° 3, 2006, pp. 300-309.

THYS P., Le recours aux forces armées en tant que forces de police au cours d'opérations de maintien de la paix , Revue de droit militaire et de Droit de la Guerre , 2006, 45, pp. 137-148.

THYS P., «Un exemple de fonctionnement de la justice pénale internationale : les cas de l'ex-Yougoslavie», Revue de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre, vol. 3-4, 2003, pp.285-356