Nicola is a Professor in Criminology in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham. Prior to becoming an academic Nicola worked as a Probation Officer seconded to a Youth Offending Team in London. Nicola has researched widely on aspects of youth justice and children and young people's experiences of youth justice and wider institutions.   She is editor of the Probation Journal, an editorial board member of Youth Justice, the British Journal of Criminology and the Irish Probation Journal.

Roger Smith is Professor of Social Work at Durham University. His career has spanned practice, policy development, and research and education, and in all these roles he has had extensive experience of the youth justice. As a practitioner, he worked in the pioneering diversion scheme in Northamptonshire; in his policy role with The Children's Society, he contributed to a series of campaigns to end the use of penal custody for children; and as an academic, he has researched and written widely on the subject of the youth justice system, youth justice practice, and models of intervention which really do deliver justice for young people.