Applications of Criminological Theory to Understand Social Justice Issues within Public Health

As we seek in public health to have a greater understanding of the intersection between social justice and health determinants, we have already begun to draw from the discipline of sociology to define theoretical frameworks to explain health disparities across race, gender and social class. However, within sociology, the discipline of criminology offers us the opportunity to further this conceptualization while also identifying ways to reduce health disparities experienced by vulnerable populations. While criminological theory apparently seeks to explain why criminal behavior is prevalent within certain geographic areas, groups or individuals, its tenants focus on understanding how social influences result in behaviors that are counter to our expectations of social well-being. When we consider that poor health outcomes and disparities in health well-being within certain geographic areas, groups and individuals are, like crime, tied into to issues of social justice it seems clear that applying criminological theory to exploring health disparities is not only plausible but desirable as we seek to ameliorate these problems. This session illustrates this interdisciplinary approach focusing on four prominent criminological theories: social disorganization theory, critical/conflict theory, sub-cultural theory and feminist criminology. This session provides a brief explanation of each of these theories illustrating their utility in improving our understanding of social justice within public health relative to social class, race and gender. These theories are then applied to our understanding of the epidemiology of specific health outcomes namely: exposure to environmental toxins, heroin addiction, intimate partner violence, and diabetes drawing from existing research.