Judge Andrew Becroft
Principal Youth Court Judge, New Zealand

Judge Becroft, B.A./LL.B (Hons), Auckland University, was appointed Principal Youth Court Judge of New Zealand in June 2001. In 1986, he assisted with the establishment of the Mangere Community Law Centre and worked there as the Centre’s senior solicitor until 1993. He then worked as a criminal barrister in South Auckland until his appointment to the District Court, in Wanganui, in 1996. Judge Becroft is a former council member of the Auckland District Law Society and the New Zealand Law Society. He is a current editor of LexisNexis, “Transport Law”. Judge Becroft is currently the Patron of the New Zealand Speak Easy Association Inc., which assists those with various forms of speech impediment.

Ms Alicia Bala
Undersecretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development, & Chairperson, Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council, Philippines

Alicia R. Bala, MSW (University of the Philippines), is the Undersecretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Chairperson of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council in the Philippines. She has been with DSWD for over 30 years and has held key positions when she was with Training and Publication Service, Personnel Service, the Bureau of Women's Welfare as well as Programs and Project Bureau in DSWD. She is currently in the committee of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and Inter-Agency Council Against Violence of Women and Children.

Dr Stephen Phang
Forensic Psychiatrist, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore

Dr Phang, M.Med. (Psychiatry), National University of Singapore, PGDipForensicPsych (Merit)(London), is a consultant forensic psychiatrist attached to the Department of Forensic Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health and Woodbridge Hospital. Dr Phang has been involved in the assessment and management of mentally disordered offenders charged with committing various offences, including serious crimes like murder and rape. He has regularly appeared at both High and Subordinate Courts in his capacity as expert witness and state forensic psychiatrist. In between his busy schedule, Dr Phang, who has a keen interest in developing the discipline of forensic psychiatry in Singapore, regularly mentors junior psychiatrists and trainees.

Professor Ross Homel
Director, Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

Professor Ross Homel, PhD (Behavioural Science), Macquarie University, is Foundation Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, and Director of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance. Professor Homel’s career focus is on the theoretical analysis of crime and associated problems such as violence, child abuse, injury, substance abuse and corruption, and the prevention of these problems through the application of the scientific method to problem analysis and the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions. He is particularly interested in prevention projects implemented through community development methods at the local level, and is co-director of a large early intervention project in a disadvantaged area of Brisbane (the Pathways to Prevention Project).

Associate Professor Dennis Sing-Wing Wong
Associate Professor, Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Dr. Dennis Sing-wing Wong received social work undergraduate training in the early 1980s, and is currently a Registered Social Worker. Thereafter, he obtained M.A. in Social Policy (York, UK) and Ph.D. in Social Work (Bristol, UK). From 1984 to 1989, he worked as a social worker in the fields of youth work, outreaching and residential services for delinquents. He then joined the Department of Applied Social Studies of City University of Hong Kong in 1989 as a lecturer and is currently an Associate Professor in Social Work and Criminology. Over the past twenty years, he has been involved in many large-scale studies commissioned by governmental and non-governmental organisations. His research interests include juvenile delinquency, offender rehabilitation, restorative justice and school bullying.

Associate Professor David Altschuler
Associate Professor, Institute for Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, United States of America

Associate Professor Altschuler is Principal Research Scientist at The Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Mental Health of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Adjunct Associate Professor in Sociology. He also is on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence. Dr. Altschuler has a doctorate in social service administration and a master’s degree in urban studies from The University of Chicago. His work focuses on juvenile crime and justice system sanctioning, juvenile aftercare and parole, offender reentry, privatisation in juvenile corrections, and drug involvement and crime among inner-city youth.