Criminology Professor Alex McClelland Wins Distinguished Medal

Alex McClelland recently received the King Charles III’s Coronation Medal for his research and work with the AIDS and HIV community.

The medal commemorates the coronation of King Charles III and is granted to Canadians who “have made a significant contribution to Canada, or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.”

McClelland is an associate professor in the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Carleton University and the author of Criminalized Lives: HIV and Legal Violence. “The book examines the histories and experiences of people living with HIV in Canada who had been criminalized due to allegations of HIV non-disclosure,” according to McClelland’s website, “it also chronicles the vibrant and vocal social movement calling for justice, and change, under the slogan #HIVISNOTACRIME.”

He was nominated for the award by the Canadian AIDS Society. Executive Director Ken Miller cited McClelland’s work in criminalization, which dates back further than ten years (including numerous research and advocacy on health policy); his advocacy since he was a teen (he was youth director on the board of directors at Canadian AIDS Society); his art projects and recent book; and “You literally cannot go to a conference on HIV in Ottawa or around Canada on research without someone asking if Alex will be there or seeing him around.”

McClelland also recently launched Tracking (In)Justice: A Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Data and Transparency Project, a living data set tracking Canadian police-involved deaths and deaths in custody. Learn more here.