Biography
Dr. McLean is a sociologist and ethnographer whose research explores the intersection between criminal justice and public health; her past and present projects specifically consider how the simultaneous criminalization and medicalization of illicit drug use impact individual identity, community health, and other social institutions.
She is particularly interested in "harm reduction" strategies like syringe exchange, and how such programs exist within and adapt to the "war on drugs." Her current research project consider how social networks shape, and are shaped by heroin and opioid use in southwest Pennsylvania.
Teaching Interests: Criminal justice; drug use and health; sociology of medicine and deviance; alternatives to incarceration
Research Interests
Illicit drug use; harm reduction; public health; critical criminology
Publications
McLean, K. (2017). From 'junkies' to 'soccer moms': Newspaper representations of overdose, 1988 - 2014. Critical Criminology (in press)
McLean, K. (2016). Good Samaritans vs. predatory peddlers: Problematizing the war on overdose in the
McLean, K. (2016). 'There's nothing here': Deindustrialization as risk environment for overdose. International Journal of Drug Policy 29: 19-26.
McLean, K. (2015). From responsible users to recalcitrant dope fiends: Mapping modes of engagement with harm reduction. Addiction Research & Theory 23: 490-498.
Education
Ph.D., Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center
M.S., Public Health, Harvard University
B.A., Biology, Columbia University