Dr Vickie Barrett is Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Deputy Director of the Crime and Policing Research Centre at the University of Huddersfield. She is also Co-Director of the Crime and Justice Administrative Data Network and an editorial board member for the British Journal of Community Justice.

Vickie has 18 years’ experience working in and undertaking research relating to the criminal justice system. A former probation officer and teacher, her research interests are shaped by her professional experience, with a particular focus on how individuals interact with the criminal justice system and other government organisations. Broadly, her research focuses on how sanctions are used within criminal justice and other public sector organisations, and the consequences these approaches have for individuals over time.

Vickie’s recent ADR UK Fellowship used the Ministry of Justice–Department for Education linked dataset to examine school pupils’ interactions with the criminal justice system specifically in relation to school exclusions. Her research used a range of school- and offence related factors to examine school exclusions and trace the offending trajectories of excluded pupils into early adulthood.

“There is a wealth of information routinely collected for operational purposes; accessing this data offers a valuable opportunity to deepen our understanding of pressing societal issues. Crucially, the ability to draw on longitudinal linked datasets—such as those combining criminal justice and education data—allows us to explore how individuals and their circumstances interact across different sectors overtime. Administrative data therefore allows us to gain clearer insights into societal issues so we can work towards reducing long term individual and societal costs.”