The United States is the most incarcerated nation in the world. Decades of harmful policies have led to overcrowded prisons and a broken criminal justice system, leading to prison populations that are disproportionately poor and people of color. Recently, the issue of prison reform has been gaining national attention, forcing policymakers to rethink the issue. As momentum grows to call for change, how does public health play a role in ending mass incarceration and reforming a criminal justice system?
At the end of the recording, participants will be able to:
– Explain how housing can be a point of intervention to reduce the risk of incarceration
– Describe the abolitionist approach to end cycles of incarceration
– Compare community violence intervention and alternative community first responder programs to the criminal justice system approach currently in place in the United States
– Give examples of courses that can train public health students to understand and develop strategies to address mass criminalization and mass incarceration
– Discuss how an integrated advocacy approach, using public health research, can support abolishment of major systems of oppression