Crime, HIV and Health: Intersections of Criminal Justice and Public Health Concerns

Crime, HIV and Health: Intersections of Criminal Justice and Public Health Concerns Review

Certain forms of criminal behavior, the fear of crime, and criminal and juvenile delinquent rehabilitation have public health implications to the extent they shape immediate and long-term negative health outcomes or overall access to health care. Substance use and violence, for instance, are significant criminal justice concerns in the US. Drug cases clog the judicial system, and billions of dollars are spent on the ‘war on drug’ on an annual basis. Concomitantly, substance abuse leads to a host of mental and physical ailments, including the transmission of life-threatening blood-borne pathogens, such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Acts of violence, such as robbery, assault, interpersonal violence, and homicide, are very serious offences that carry stiff community penalties. Violence is also a leading cause of injury, disability and death in the US, and more Americans kill each other or themselves with handguns on an annual basis than any other comparable country in the world. Substance use and violence are thus both criminal justice and public health concerns.

This book offers an edited collection of chapters from researchers around the US whose work focuses on these intersections. The volume is divided into four parts.  Part A describes incarceration and health risks, part B: health consequences of risk behaviors, part C: public health interventions with high risk populations, and part D: crime, space and health.