Lauren Stevens

Ms. Lauren Stevens is a Lecturer in Rehabilitation and Desistance for our Community Justice Learning (CJL) team in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth.

Lauren gained her BSc (Hons) in Sociology and Criminology and her MRes in Criminology and Criminal Justice. She is currenting writing her PhD thesis in primary prevention of child sexual victimisation, with a particular focus on therapeutic support for individuals seeking help for their sexual interest in minors, prior to an offence taking place. 

Lauren has recently obtained Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) as part of the Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA). She is currently working towards achieving Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and an additional Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education for her 'research-informed teaching' project. This research is focused on self-efficacy levels of distance learning students with learning difficulties. 

Lauren has a background working in the prison setting with Category B inmates at HMP Isle of Wight in the context of visitiation. Lauren's role was primary to support family members and prisoners during visitation - i.e. a source of information, emotional support and facilitate activites for children. 

• Child sex offender typologies
• Child abuse prevention
• Offender rehabilitation and desistance
• Penology and prisons
• Community reintegration
• Risk management
• Ethnography research
• Mixed-method methodologies

Lauren teaches, tutors and marks on all our modules in the Professional Qualification in Probation (PQiP) course:

• L5 Criminal Justice System
• L5 Crime and Criminal Behaviour
• L5 Punishment and Penal Policy
• L5 Rehabilitation of Offenders
• L6 Criminal Justice and Rehabilitation: Core Processes of Change (Module Coordinator)
• L6 Critical Issues in Risk Assessment
• L6 Public Protection
• L6 Work-based Learning Project

Lauren has experience in teaching and marking across our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes:

• L4 Criminal Justice
• L4 Understanding Criminology
• L4 Psychology for Criminologists
• L5 Penology and Prisons
• L5 Questioning Criminology
• L5 Researching Criminology 
• L6 Dissertation/Major Project (Supervisor to Level 6 Dissertation Projects)
• L7 Rehabiltation and Desistance from Crime
• L7 Dissertation/Major Project (Supervisor to MRes Master's Students)

Lauren was invited to share her research experience in the area of child sex abuse prevention for the Prostasia Foundation podcast (a US-based child protection organisation). She discusses the challenges and barriers to prevention research in a highly stigmatising, controversial and emotive topic.