Professor Alex Stevens
School of Law
Chair in Criminology
Full contact details
School of Law
EF08
Bartolomé House
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
- Profile
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I research and teach on the overlap between drugs, crime and public health. I am particularly interested in how policies in these areas are made, and how we can improve them through research and collaboration with policy makers, practitioners and directly affected communities. This is the focus of my 2024 book on Drug Policy Constellations (Bristol University Press). Outside the University of Sheffield, I am a trustee of Harm Reduction International and the Criminal Justice Alliance. I was previously a member of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and President of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy. I supervise dissertations and theses on drug policy, harm reduction, policy making, policing, and other issues related to illicit drugs. I also lead evaluations for government departments and other clients, with a focus on realist evaluation using both qualitative and quantitative methods. I am developing the international study of policy constellations, using methods including social network analysis and qualitative comparative analysis. Before joining the University of Sheffield, I worked for 26 years at the University of Kent, where I was appointed Professor of Criminal Justice in 2010.
- Qualifications
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PhD in Social Policy, University of Kent; MA in Soco-Legal Studies, University of Sheffield; BA(hons) French in the School of European Studies, University of Sussex
- Research interests
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- Drugs, crime, and public health
- Policy making
- Comparative criminology
- Publications
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Books
- Drug Policy Constellations The Role of Power and Morality in the Making of Drug Policy in the UK. Policy Press.
Journal articles
- Four decades of overdose prevention centres: lessons for the future from a realist review. Harm Reduction Journal, 22. View this article in WRRO
- Interventionitis in the criminal justice system: three English cases. Critical Criminology. View this article in WRRO
- A realist review on the police use of stop and search powers. European Journal of Criminology. View this article in WRRO
- Overdose prevention centres as spaces of safety, trust and inclusion: a causal pathway based on a realist review. Drug and Alcohol Review, 43(6), 1573-1591. View this article in WRRO
- Correction: Evaluating police drug diversion in England: protocol for a realist evaluation. Health & Justice, 11(1), 52-52.
- Evaluating police drug diversion in England: protocol for a realist evaluation. Health & Justice, 11. View this article in WRRO
- A multicomponent psychosocial intervention to reduce substance use by adolescents involved in the criminal justice system: the RISKIT-CJS RCT. Public Health Research, 11(3). View this article in WRRO
- New prospects for harm reduction in the UK? A commentary on the new UK drug strategy. International Journal of Drug Policy, 109. View this article in WRRO
- Depenalization, diversion and decriminalization: A realist review and programme theory of alternatives to criminalization for simple drug possession. European Journal of Criminology, 19(1), 29-54. View this article in WRRO
- Critical realism and the ‘ontological politics of drug policy’. International Journal of Drug Policy, 84. View this article in WRRO
- Governments cannot just ‘follow the science’ on COVID-19. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(6). View this article in WRRO
- Is policy ‘liberalization’ associated with higher odds of adolescent cannabis use? A re-analysis of data from 38 countries. International Journal of Drug Policy, 66, 94-99. View this article in WRRO
- ‘Being human’ and the ‘moral sidestep’ in drug policy: explaining government inaction on opioid-related deaths in the UK. Addictive Behaviors, 90, 444-450. View this article in WRRO
- Medical cannabis in the UK. British Medical Journal (The BMJ), 363. View this article in WRRO
- Harms, benefits and the policing of cryptomarkets: a response to commentaries. Addiction, 113(5), 802-804. View this article in WRRO
- Will growth in cryptomarket drug buying increase the harms of illicit drugs?. Addiction, 113(5), 789-796. View this article in WRRO
- Pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a multi-component intervention to reduce substance use and risk-taking behaviour in adolescents involved in the criminal justice system: a trial protocol (RISKIT-CJS). BMC Public Health, 17. View this article in WRRO
- Configurations of corruption: a cross-national qualitative comparative analysis of levels of perceived corruption. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 57(4), 183-206. View this article in WRRO
- Dépénalisation et santé publique : politiques des drogues et toxicomanies au Portugal. Mouvements, 2016/2(86), 22-33. View this article in WRRO
- Inequality and adolescent cannabis use: A qualitative comparative analysis of the link at national level. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 23(5), 410-421.
- Legally flawed, scientifically problematic, potentially harmful: The UK Psychoactive Substance Bill. International Journal of Drug Policy, 26(12), 1167-1170.
- Quasi-Compulsory Treatment of Drug Dependent Offenders: An International Literature Review. Substance Use & Misuse, 40(3), 269-283.
Reports
- Building procedural justice in Australian street-level drug law enforcement
- Drug Policy Constellations The Role of Power and Morality in the Making of Drug Policy in the UK. Policy Press.
- Research group
- Teaching activities
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UG
LAW3030 - Drugs, Crime and Control
LAW113 - Introduction to Criminological Research
LAW3048 - Dissertation
PG
LAW412 - Criminological Research in Policy and Practice