Criminology and Public Health: Toward Common Ground

Criminology, the empirical study of the social processes that lead to law-breaking behavior, is greatly influenced by the theories and methods of sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology and political science. Academic public health incorporates the same social sciences as well as clinical arts such as social work, medicine, nursing, dentistry, in an attempt to positively impact the health of the population. The mission of public health is to "fulfill society's interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy." In practice, the disciplines of criminology and public health have been joined by necessity. Social problems that criminologists address are many of the same outcomes that influence the conditions under which people can be healthy: the population's safety, security and well-being. Epidemiologists, behavioral scientists, biostatisticians and health policy scholars have repeatedly addressed such criminological outcomes as violent crime, homicide, suicide, delinquency, truancy, theft, vandalism and rape. Many examples exist of successful primary prevention interventions that aim to influence these criminological outcomes and others. However, owing to the disparate academic marketplaces of public health and criminology, including funding sources, conferences and journals, collaboration between public health scientists and criminologists is infrequent and usually on an ad hoc basis. The goal of this presentation will be to give the participants a firm understanding of the common ground between the two fields and suggest that the translational interface between public health and criminology is fertile ground for collaboration and problem solving.