Pedersen received a Ph.D. in 1991 following the submission of a thesis entitled Drugs in Adolescent Worlds.
He has worked on issues related to deviance, marginalization and culture with empirical research projects focusing on adolescence, alcohol and drugs, crime and sexuality.
He has used longitudinal datasets as well as qualitative interviews and fieldwork methods in his research.
He published Street Capital: Black Cannabis Dealers in a White Welfare State (with Sveinung Sandberg) in 2009.
He also writes for a number of Norwegian newspapers, including Aftenposten, Dagbladet and Morgenbladet.