Role
Dr Vicky Palmer is the Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Youth Justice course in the Department of Social Work, Care and Community and she currently teaches on the 'Youth Justice Practice' module to third year BA (Hons) Youth Studies students, the 'Law, Sentencing and the Role of the Courts' module to third year BA (Hons) Youth Justice students and the ‘Young People, Crime and Justice module to third year BA (Hons) Criminology students. She completed her Doctoral studies in 2016 with her thesis entitled: ‘A Critical Approach towards the Professionalisation of the Youth Justice Workforce: A Research-Led design of a Mental Health Module’. Vicky has recently completed five separate visits to the Republic of Belarus where she has been instrumental in the training of Judges, Prosecutors, Police, Defence Lawyers and charitable organisations in all areas of Youth Justice in readiness for their own development of a separate juvenile justice system. Her research interests include comparative youth justice, children in conflict with the law, mental disorder, autism and learning difficulties and their connection to youth offending, the proliferation of managerialism in youth justice practice and the re-introduction of diversion techniques for young offenders. Vicky has 20 years’ experience of working as a probation officer and she remains a registered social worker.
Career overview
Vicky is a qualified and registered Social Worker who has worked in practice for 20 years. Her roles have included:
- Probation Officer
- Youth justice Social Worker
- Youth Offending Team Case Manager (Probation Service secondment).
She practised in both Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire (mainly the old North Nottinghamshire mining communities).
Research areas
- Neurodiversity in the YJ System
- International Comparative Youth Justice (Eastern European)
- The Professionalisation of the YJ Workforce
- First Time Entrants to the YJ System / Violence reduction.
Press expertise
- Children committing crime
- Age of criminal responsibility
- Mental health in young offenders
- Commodification of children
- Aspects of professionalism in youth justice
- UK cultural attitudes to children
- History of youth justice