Criminal even shelters still (12)
I believe the answer is:
nevertheless
'still' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'criminal even shelters' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates anagramming the letters.
'even'+'shelters'='evenshelters'
'evenshelters' is an anagram of 'NEVERTHELESS'.
(Other definitions for nevertheless that I've seen before include "In spite of everything" , "anyhow" , "at any rate" , "Notwithstanding" , "However" .)