Group of International Researchers in Adolescent Forensic (GIRAF)

Who are we?

We are an expanding, multidisciplinary group of professionals working in forensic and associated settings in different countries whose work relates to adolescents who are in difficulty.

The nature of the adolescents’ difficulties varies but they are likely to be young people who face, make or take the highest levels of risk; are locked up or otherwise detained in health, welfare or justice settings; have had a range of adverse childhood experiences and currently suffer from mental and/or physical health problems; and/or belong to a group that has experienced racialisation, marginalisation, and exclusion.

Our professional backgrounds include but are not limited to mental health, justice or welfare practice and/or academic work in criminal justice, mental health and social science disciplines. Some group participants are very established in their fields, other just getting started and we hope there is room for everyone regardless of the stage of their careers.

To date, most participants are from the Global North, but we hope over time that will change. If you think someone might like to join in tell the chair of the next meeting (contact details at the end of this sheet) and we can sort that out.

What do we do?

We collaborate. We meet and talk to share ideas, practice and research, informally and internationally, to stimulate debate, share understanding and encourage work in this very broad field. That word ‘researchers’ in the title means we want to find things out, not just that we undertake scholarly or empirical research for publication, although some of us do that as well. In meetings, people present their individual projects (work in progress or completed) or talk about services in their own country and sometimes we brainstorm topics.