Public health approaches to crime: challenges and opportunities in bringing communities in as partners

• In Event: Vulnerability, Policing and the Limits of a Public Health Approach

Abstract

Public health approaches to crime are gaining increasing relevance. On a practical level, their increased profile is the result of the growing recognition of the significant intersection between health and law enforcement, and emerging evidence of their effectiveness in reducing the likelihood of violent crime. On a conceptual level, joint working has been greatly facilitated by the emergence of vulnerability as a shared
concern and target for action cutting across organisational barriers and the health/policing divide. So far, scholarship has largely focused on the evaluation of interventions, and on how partners work together to tackle specific problems. In contrast, the role that communities play within these approaches – particularly in terms of how their voices can be heard and how they can be made to participate, and conflicts managed – has not been given the same attention. Using examples from current practice across a variety of jurisdictions, this paper argues that public health approaches are reliant on an idealised notion of community that does not take diversity into account; do not consider how low levels of legitimacy and trust in the police might impact community participation and overall success; and brush aside the political and contested nature of crime control. These difficulties need to be acknowledged and addressed in order to take full advantage of the potential for a progressive transformation of crime control that moving prevention upstream holds. The role of the police within these efforts also needs to be considered very carefully.

Authors

• Samantha Weston, University of Birmingham

• Francesca Menichelli, University of Surrey