Dr Vicki Sentas

LLB/BA (JCU), PhD (Monash), Admitted to Supreme Court of NSW 

Dr Vicki Sentas joined the Faculty of Law in July 2012 and is a senior lecturer. Vicki researches processes of criminalisation and racialisation in law and policing.  She teaches in criminal law, criminology and policing and coordinates the Police Powers Clinic, an experiential learning course, in partnership with Redfern Legal Centre.

Her recent and current research projects examine: the effects of counter-terrorism practices on criminal justice and racialised peoples; the criminalisation of armed conflicts, self-determination and diasporas through the use of security lists; police powers and their relationship to diverse forms of regulation including pre-emption and prosecution; police accountability and criminal justice reform.

Vicki lead the first research study on the controversial NSW Police Force program, the Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP) - a proactive policing policy that targets suspected future recidivists but disproportionately targets First Nations peoples. The public report (Policing Young People in NSW: A Study of the Suspect Targeting Management Plan, co-authored with C.Pandolfini, Oct 2017) was produced in partnership with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre for the Youth Justice Coalition. The research findings outline the impacts of the STMP on the civil liberties of young people. and detail a number of recommendations for change to NSW Police and the Law Enforcement and Conduct Commission.

Vicki is currently working on research with Dr Michael Grewcock comparing police strip search powers across Australia. Commissioned by Redfern Legal Centre as part of their Safe and Sound campaign, the study investigates whether a body of best practice may be distilled from other jurisdictions in order to reform the law in NSW.

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Book Chapters

Sentas V, 2018, 'Beyond Media Discourse: Locating Race and Racism in Criminal Justice Systems', in Bhatia M; Poynting S; Tufail W (ed.), Crime, Media, Racism, edn. Palgrave Studies in Crime Media and Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 359 - 379, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71776-0

Durbach A; Edgeworth B; Sentas V, 2017, 'Law and Poverty in Australia Today: A Reassessment', in Durbach A; Edgeworth B; Sentas V (ed.), Law and Poverty in Australia: 40 Years after the Poverty Commission, Federation Press, Sydney, pp. 1 - 11

Sentas V, 2017, 'The Poverty of Criminal Law: Criminalisation and the Limits of Access to Justice', in Durbach A; Edgeworth B; Sentas V (ed.), Law and Poverty in Australia: 40 Years after the Poverty Commission. Editors: Durbach A, Edgeworth B, Sentas V . Federation Press, Sydney 2017, Federation Press, Sydney, pp. 249 - 264

Nadarajah S; Sentas V, 2012, 'The politics of state crime and resistance: Self- determination in Sri Lanka', in Stanley E; McCulloch J (ed.), State Crime and Resistance, Routledge, USA, pp. 68 - 83, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203101063

Sentas V, 2012, 'One More Successful War? Tamil Diaspora and Counter-Terrorism after the LTTE', in Poynting S; Whyte D (ed.), Counter-Terrorism and State Political Violence, Routledge

Books

Sentas V, 2014, Traces of Terror Counter-Terrorism Law, Policing, and Race, OUP Oxford

Edited Books

Durbach A; Edgeworth B; Sentas V, (eds.), 2017, Law and Poverty in Australia 40 Years After the Sackville Report

Journal articles

Sentas V; Grewcock M, 2018, 'Criminal law as Police power: Serious crime, unsafe protest and risks to public safety', International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, vol. 7, pp. 75 - 90, http://dx.doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v7i3.554

Sentas V, 2018, 'Terrorist Organization Proscription as Counterinsurgency in the Kurdish Conflict', Terrorism and Political Violence, vol. 30, pp. 298 - 317, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2018.1432215

Sentas V, 2016, 'Policing the diaspora: Kurdish Londoners, MI5 and the proscription of terrorist organizations in the United Kingdom', British Journal of Criminology, vol. 56, pp. 898 - 918, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv094

Sentas V; McMahon R, 2014, 'Changes to Police Powers of Arrest in New South Wales', Current Issues in Criminal Justice, vol. 25, pp. 785 - 801, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=95066470&site=ehost-live

Sentas V, 2010, 'The violence of 'terrorist organisation' bans', Criminal Justice Matters, vol. 82, pp. 16 - 17, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09627251.2010.525946

Sentas V, 2010, 'Terrorist Organisation Offences and the LTTE: R v Vinayagamoorth', Current Issues in Criminal Justice, pp. 159 - 169

Sentas V; Whyte J, 2009, 'Law, Crisis, Revolution', Australian Feminist Law Journal, vol. 31, pp. 3 - 14, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13200968.2009.10854424

Reports

Sentas V; Pandolfini C, 2017, Policing Young People in NSW: A Study of the Suspect Targeting Management Plan, Youth Justice Coalition, Sydney, http://www.yjc.org.au/report.html

Sentas V; Boon-Kuo L; Hayes B; Sullivan G, 2014, Building Peace in Permanent War: Terrorist Listing and Conflict Transformation, International State Crime Initiative, London

Sentas V, 2010, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities, Submission to the Joint Committee for HumanRights on the Terrorist Asset-Freezing Etc. Bill (UK), UK

Sentas V; Dias M, 2009, Federation of Community Legal Centres (Vic.), Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Review of the re-listing of Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Kurdistan, Australia

Sentas V; Dias M, 2008, Federation of Community Legal Centres (Vic.), Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Review of the re-listing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as a Terrorist, Australia

 Research Supervision Award, ARC 2018

Criminal law, police powers, terrorism laws

Recent

Activities

20 Nov 2017
Suspect Target Management Plan - Mornings with Wendy Harmer
Dr Vicki Sentas appeared on Mornings with Wendy Harmer (17 November 2017) to discuss her recent report into the STMP (Suspect Target Management Plan).
Mentions
Dr Vicki Sentas
20 Nov 2017
NSW Police in Queanbeyan, Monaro area using controversial suspect list
Dr Vicki Sentas speaks to The Canberra Times (5 November 2017) regarding her recent report into the  NSW Police's Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP).
Mentions
Dr Vicki Sentas
03 Nov 2017
Youth Unemployment and NSW Police's "Secret Blacklist"
Dr Vicki Sentas was interviewed on FBI Radio (28 October 2017) speaking about her recent report into the Suspect Target Management Plan (STMP).How did you first come across the program?
Mentions
Dr Vicki Sentas
03 Nov 2017
Pre-emptive policing is harmful and oppressive, and requires independent scrutiny
OPINION: Dr Vicki Sentas, The Conversation, 2 November 2017.
Mentions
Dr Vicki Sentas
01 Nov 2017
NSW Police has a 'secret algorithm' that judges how likely someone is to commit a crime
Dr Vicki Sentas speaks to Business Insider Australia (26 October 2017) regarding her recent report exposing the 'Suspect Target Management Plan', and it's use by police to identify people at an assumed high risk of committing a crime.
Mentions
Dr Vicki Sentas
31 Oct 2017
NSW Police Are Using A Secret Algorithm To Target Children Who Might Commit A Future Crime
Dr Vicki Sentas spoke with Junkee Media (26 October 2017), regarding her new report titled, 'Policing Young People in NSW'. “This type of heavy-handed proactive policing is very damaging to the relationship between young people and the police and we believe it undermines key objectives of the NSW justice system, including diversion, rehabilitation and therapeutic justice,” said Dr Vicki Sentas.
Mentions
Dr Vicki Sentas
31 Oct 2017
Children as young as 10 on "secret police blacklist": study
Dr Vicki Sentas spoke to ABC Radio AM (25 October 2017), regarding her recent report into the Suspect Target Management Plan (STMP).
Mentions
Dr Vicki Sentas
26 Oct 2017
Secret NSW Police policy ‘harmful to young people'
Research led by UNSW has found that the NSW Police policy known as STMP is causing serious harm to young people and undermines the objectives of the NSW youth justice system.A NSW Police policy that aims to predict and prevent future crime is causing serious harm to young people and undermines the objectives of the NSW youth justice system, research led by a legal academic from UNSW Sydney has found.
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Dr Vicki Sentas
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Currently Teaching

Crime and the Criminal Process

Police Powers Clinic