Youth crime and justice: Does age matter?

Jo Phoenix

As The Open University celebrates its 50th anniversary, Jo Phoenix, Professor of Criminology, delivered her inaugural lecture on youth crime and justice.

In this lecture, Professor Phoenix argued that whilst understandable, the criminal justice system locks the debate about youth justice into recurring circular disagreements about justice, welfare and rights. She discussed the different ways in which social circumstances and cultural context might be better placed to differentiate in both adult and youthful law-breaking.

Watch the video of Professor Phoenix’s inaugural lecture:

Youth crime and justice: Does age matter?

About Professor Phoenix

Jo Phoenix joined The Open University as Professor in Criminology in 2016. Her main research interests cohere around the production of and links between social justice and criminal justice for young people and women and in relation to sex, and sexualities. Jo researches and writes about policy and practice reform to youth justice as well as in relation to child sexual exploitation and prostitution. More recently she has become interested in thinking through issues of justice in relation to sexualities.

Contact our news team

For all out of hours enquiries, please telephone +44 (0)7901 515891

Contact details

News & articles

A disabled person, sitting in a wheelchair in a library, with several books in their lap

Report calls for seven steps for equity for disabled students

A new collaborative report from The Open University and Disabled Students UK sets out a clear roadmap for improving the experiences of disabled doctoral students across the UK’s higher education sector.