You are here

Youth Justice

Youth Justice

An International Journal

eISSN: 17476283 | ISSN: 14732254 | Current volume: 24 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: 3 Times/Year

Youth Justice is an international peer-reviewed journal that engages with the analysis of juvenile/youth justice systems, law, policy and practice and comprises of articles that are theoretically informed and/or grounded in the latest empirical research.

"Youth Justice is a real triumph as a journal - policy relevant, theoretically rich, critical and international in scope. It is a highly welcome voice in youth justice debates previously dominated by administrative perspectives." Shadd Maruna, Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, USA.

"In little over a decade, Youth Justice has established itself as an indispensable forum for cutting-edge discussion of issues of youth justice around the world. It is a truly international resource, and one that no serious scholar or practitioner should do without." Elliot Currie, University of California, Irvine, USA

"Through its commitment to the publication of theoretically and methodologically robust articles critically addressing laws, policies and practices affecting children and young people, Youth Justice makes an important and unique contribution. The scholarly contributions provide us with a grounded and progressive perspective on youth justice, helping us to understand contemporary youth justice realities, and conceive of possible futures." Michele Burman, University of Glasgow, UK

"Youth Justice is a world leading journal, its content is cutting-edge and charts new horizons in global youth justice policy and practice." Reece Waters, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

"Since its inception, Youth Justice has consistently delivered timely and relevant analyses of juvenile justice issues from around the world. Because of its international focus, it stands out among the rest, and points to the global dimensions and cultural distinctions of youth justice. Youth Justice is an essential resource for scholars, practitioners and policymakers." Karen Joe Laidler, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Electronic access:

Youth Justice is available to browse online.

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Youth Justice is an international, peer-reviewed journal that engages with the analyses of juvenile/youth justice systems, law, policy and practice around the world. It contains articles that are theoretically informed and/or grounded in the latest empirical research.

Youth Justice has established itself as the leading journal in the field in the UK, and, supported by an editorial board comprising some of the world's leading youth justice scholars, the journal enjoys an ever-increasing international presence in recognition of:

  • Developing interest in juvenile/youth justice theory and system formation within the national and international academic, policy and professional practice communities
  • The consolidating importance of international legislation, standards, treaties, conventions and rules
  • Emerging patterns of policy transfer across national borders and notable convergences in international juvenile/youth justice systems, paradoxically located alongside significant divergences within and between national jurisdictions
  • An ever-increasing interest in effective policy and practice drawing lessons from pioneering approaches to juvenile/youth crime from around the world

The Editors and Editorial board aim to publish material that is both intellectually rigorous and accessible to a wide readership across the national and international academic, policy and practice communities.

Youth Justice is essential for:

  • Academic criminologists and social scientists, social researchers and students of youth criminology and youth justice
  • Policy-makers and government departments
  • Juvenile justice/youth offending services, probation services and offender rehabilitation agencies, penal reform and criminal justice organisations, legal professionals, police services, prison services and secure facilities, social work professionals, youth and community workers, education and health professionals, drugs and substance misuse agencies
  • Child welfare organisations and national/international children's rights agencies
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Editors
Ursula Kilkelly University College Cork, Ireland
Stefaan Pleysier Leuven University, Belgium
Editorial Board
Tim Bateman University of Bedfordshire, UK
Liz Campbell Monash University, Australia
Nicola Carr University of Nottingham, UK
Jenneke Christiaens Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Nancy Dowd University of Florida Levin College of Law
Mark Drakeford University of Cardiff, Wales, UK
Louise Forde University College Cork, Ireland
Tali Gal The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Loraine Gelsthorpe University of Cambridge, UK
Barry Goldson University of Liverpool, UK
Kevin Haines University of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago
Carolyn P Hamilton Children's Legal Centre, England, UK
Tapio Lappi-Seppala National Research Institute of Legal Policy, Helsinki, Finland
Ton Liefaard Leiden University, Netherlands
Wing Lo City University, Hong Kong
Nessa Lynch Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Lesley McAra University of Edinburgh, UK
David Nelken King's College London, UK
Tim Newburn London School of Economics, UK
David O'Mahony Durham University, UK
Joanna Phoenix Open University, UK
Johan Put Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
Ann Skelton University of Pretoria, South Africa
Nigel Stone University of East Anglia, UK
Rob White University of Tasmania, Australia
  • Clarivate Analytics: Social Science Citation Index
  • Criminal Justice Abstracts
  • Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Youth Justice

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/yjj to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Youth Justice will be reviewed.

    There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

    1. What do we publish?
      1.1 Aims & Scope
      1.2 Article types
      1.3 Writing your paper
    2. Editorial policies
      2.1 Peer review policy
      2.2 Authorship
      2.3 Acknowledgements
      2.4 Funding
      2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
    3. Publishing policies
      3.1 Publication ethics
      3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      3.3 Open access and author archiving
    4. Preparing your manuscript
      4.1 Formatting
      4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      4.3 Supplementary material
      4.4 Reference style
      4.5 English language editing services
    5. Submitting your manuscript
      5.1 ORCID
      5.2 Information required for completing your submission
      5.3 Permissions
    6. On acceptance and publication
      6.1 Sage Production
      6.2 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information

     

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Youth Justice, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article Types

    The Journal thus considers the following kinds of article for publication:

    1. Substantive peer-reviewed articles.
    2. ‘Legal commentary’, which serves to analyse legal/policy developments and/or comment on case law and related matters.
    3. ‘Youth Justice News’, which covers key international, national and/or regional news.

    Full papers are normally between 5,000 and 8,000 words, including all elements (title page, abstract, notes, references, tables, biographical statement, etc.). We are reluctant to burden our referees with exceptionally long manuscripts. Authors who suspect that their articles will have to be reduced in length should make the required edits prior to submitting.

    1.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

    1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

    When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

    Back to top

    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. 
    Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

    •  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
    •  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
    •  The author has recommended the reviewer
    •  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

    2.2 Authorship

    Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.

    The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

    • Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
    • Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
    • Approved the version to be published,
    • Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

    Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

    Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    2.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

    Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

    2.4 Funding

    Youth Justice requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    Youth Justice encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

    Back to top

    3. Publishing Policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.1.1 Plagiarism

    Youth Justice and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    3.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    Youth Justice offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

    Back to top

    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines  

    Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

    Diagrams, tables and graphs should only be used if it is absolutely necessary and must be presented on a separate sheet at the same size as the intended printed version (so no enlargement or reduction is required). Their precise location in the text should be clearly indicated in the typescript.

    4.3 Supplementary material

    Youth Justice does not currently accept supplemental files.

    4.4 Reference style

    Youth Justice adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.

    4.5 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

    Back to top

    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Youth Justice is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/yjj to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

    5.1 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

    The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

    If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    5.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    Back to top

    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production

    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

    6.2 Online First publication

    Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

    6.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

    Back to top

    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Youth Justice editorial office as follows:

    Professor Ursula Kilkelly u.kilkelly@ucc.ie and Professor Stefaan Pleysier stefaan.pleysier@kuleuven.be

    Individual Subscription, E-access


    Individual Subscription, Print Only


    Small Institution Subscription, Combined (Print & E-access)


    Institutional Subscription, E-access


    Institutional Subscription, Print Only


    Institutional Subscription, Combined (Print & E-access)


    Individual, Single Print Issue


    Institutional, Single Print Issue