Robert Ralphs

Rob is a Professor of Criminology and Social Policy. His teaching and research has focused in the areas of substance misuse, youth crime, violent crime, gangs, criminal justice policy and criminological theory since 1998.

Rob teaches in the areas of criminological theory, youth and crime, substance use and violent crime. He has a particular expertise and knowledge in the fields of drug use (both problematic and recreational) and gangs and related violent crime, i.e. gun and knife crime and drugs. He currently supervises both postgraduate and undergraduate students in research on alcohol, drugs, gangs, violent crime and youth justice policy.

He has a particular focus on youth and violence, teaching on units such as Crime and Violence, Contemporary Issues in Deviant Youth Lifestyles, Troubles of Youth, Youth Justice and Juvenile Delinquency and Managing Offenders in the Community. Rob an advocate of research led teaching and has recently developed a third year undergraduate unit: Contemporary Issues in ‘Deviant’ Youth Lifestyles’ that combines his research interests in focusing on substance (mis)use, gangs and related drug dealing, gun and knife crime. He is currently developing a year two unit that focuses on substance misuse and responses.

Rob is particularly interested in two broad areas of research: drug use, gangs and (violent) youth crime.

Some of Rob’s recent research includes being the lead researcher on an ethnographic study of youth gangs, the £255,000 ESRC funded project Youth Gangs in an English City: Social Exclusion, Drugs and Violence. Articles from the research have been published in Children and Society(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1099-0860/homepage/youth_gangs_in_british_cities__research_informs_the_policy_response.htm), Research Ethics Review, the Journal of Youth Studies, and in a number of edited collections. A book based on this research 'Youth Gangs in an English City' is due for publication by Routledge in 2012. Other major research projects have included the £233,000 ESRC funded project Governing Drug Related Crime in the Risk Society (Jan 2007-June2009). Publications based on this research have been published in the British Journal of Criminology and Drugscope with the related book: 'Tough Choices: Drug policy and the risk-security nexus' in press and due for publication with Oxford University Press in early 2012. He has also been the lead researcher for the following research projects: exploring parents of ‘gang’ members support needs; ‘8 ‘til late’ mentoring evaluation; a local authority funded research project into the 'extent and nature of violent gangs'; training ex-offenders in research methods and the UK Drug Policy Committee funded, ‘Barriers to Employment for (Ex)-Problematic Drug Users’.