Research showcase: Youth Justice

This free, online event will share fresh research insights into experiences of youth justice across the UK, and how these could inform policy and practice to improve people’s outcomes.

The research draws on information from public services that has been linked together – for example, data from the justice system linked to data from the education system. This allows researchers to find new patterns in people’s experiences that were not possible to see before the data was linked. All the data is de-identified, which means that any information that could identify a real person is removed.

Whether you're a  policymaker, practitioner or someone with a general interest in the youth justice sector, this symposium offers an accessible introduction to cutting-edge research and its real-world implications.

How can linked data generate fresh insights into experiences of youth justice, and how might these insights inform policy and practice to improve people's outcomes?

This event explores research findings on youth justice from across the UK, including work on children involved in breach proceedings, youth transitions and crime, and the relationships between alternative school settings and youth offending. It offers an accessible introduction to cutting-edge research and its real-world implications.

Hear from:

Koulla Yiasouma, Chair of Oberstown Children Detention Centre and ADR UK Ambassador: Koulla is a qualified social worker with decades of experience across probation, children's rights and youth justice, including serving as Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People until 2023. She is the keynote speaker and will share her reflections on the use of research and data to inform advocacy across policy and practice in the sector.

Professor Susan McVie, Chair of Quantitative Criminology at the University of Edinburgh, who will discuss research findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, and explore their policy impact.

Dr Liliana Belkin, Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Roehampton and ADR UK Research Fellow, who will share insights from her research into the relationships between alternative school settings and youth offending.

Louisa Roberts, Population Data Science team at Swansea University, who will share insights from her research aiming to understand the circumstances of children involved in breach proceedings.

This event is hosted by ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK), a UK-wide partnership transforming public sector data into research insights and policy evidence to improve lives.

ADR UK is an investment by the Economic and Social Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation.

The symposium is open to policymakers, practitioners and anyone with a general interest in the youth justice sector.

The event will be of particular interest to those who want to hear new insights into how the youth justice system is working in the UK, and about the experiences and outcomes of different groups of people in this system. It will also be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about how public sector data can be used to inform better decisions for society.

Registration is via Eventbrite ahead of the event on 22 October.