Violence and Crime: A Public Health Perspective

This book examines the critical connections between criminal justice and public health perspectives on violence and crime. Violent crime involves not only criminal justice agencies, but social agencies, community groups, and public and private healthcare organizations. The authors provide a broad overview of prevalent forms of violence, focusing on how criminal justice and public health perspectives converge in the examination of and response to these issues.

The book looks at the nexus of public health with problems as varied as assaultive violence, child abuse, rape and sexual abuse, interpersonal violence, elder abuse, suicide, police violence, teenage bullying, workplace violence, firearm injuries, and opioid addiction. The authors lay out a structure for an epidemiological approach to studying violent crime and offer policy recommendations for using both criminal justice and public health approaches to prevent violence.

This volume spotlights the connections between violent crime and public health and urges a consideration of public health in efforts to prevent and control violent crime. It is ideal for courses on violence in criminology, criminal justice, sociology, and social work, and an invaluable tool for practitioners, policymakers, researchers, advocates, and community volunteers in criminal justice, public health, and social service.

James F. Anderson received a Ph.D. in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University and an M.S. in criminology from Alabama State University. He has taught criminal justice and criminology courses for over 30 years to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. He is currently Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at East Carolina University. His areas of research include crime and public health, epidemiological approaches to crime, alternatives to incarceration, elderly and child abuse, intimate personal violence, and criminological theory. He is the author of several books, book chapters, and journal articles on criminal justice-related issues.

Tazinski P. Lee received a Ph.D. in public policy and administration from Jackson State University and an M.S. in criminal justice from Grambling State University. Professor Lee has taught criminal justice, criminology, and public administration courses for over 30 years. She is currently Professor and Head of Criminal Justice at Grambling State University. Her research focuses on race, crime, and gender, female sex offenders, and public policy. She has published in several journals in the areas of public health, race and ethnicity, alternatives to incarceration, and others.

Kelley Reinsmith-Jones received a Ph.D. in leadership from Gonzaga University and an M.S. in social work from Eastern Washington University. She is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the School of Social Work at East Carolina University. While there, she created and taught a series of leadership development courses with funds awarded by the BB&T Leadership Center. Prior to teaching in North Carolina, she taught as an adjunct for Eastern Washington University in the social work and substance abuse departments. She also held an administrative position in public mental health working closely with social workers, psychiatrists, and care teams while specializing in managed care, residential care, and state/community psychiatric care. She was director of a HUD SPINS grant that provided housing and other services to migrant workers with HIV or AIDS, working closely with public health providers. In Alaska, she worked primarily in creating and providing substance abuse prevention, intervention, treatment, and aftercare services to youth, ages 14–24 years, and their families. She worked for the Juneau Recovery Hospital and was an affiliate staff of Bartlett Regional Hospital.