Both authors are known as leading figures in youth studies in Australia. Rob White is the author of No Space of their Own and co-editor of The Police and Young People in Australia (both Cup). Johanna Wyn is co-author of Shaping Futures (A+U 1987). Rob White teaches in the Department of Criminology and Johanna Wyn is Director of the Youth Research Institute in the Faculty of Education, both at the University of Melbourne.