Melbourne School of Population and Global Health - Theses

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End date: 2023 × Start date: 2020 × Subject: Gender × Subject: Public health ×

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    Preventing violence-related death and morbidity among people who have had contact with the criminal justice system
    Willoughby, Melissa ( 2022)
    Although rates of violence globally have been decreasing in recent decades, the risk of experiencing violence remains disproportionally concentrated among people who experience marginalisation and disadvantage. Many of the health and social inequities that predispose people to experiencing violence are highly prevalent among those who have had contact with the criminal justice system. However, there is little evidence on the risk of violence victimisation in this population. This constrains our ability to design effective violence prevention strategies that can meet and respond to the needs of those who have had contact with the criminal justice system. My thesis aimed to fill this gap in the literature by generating novel evidence on the epidemiology of violence-related death and morbidity among young people and adults who have had contact with the criminal justice system. I conducted a narrative review of the literature, five discrete original research studies, and I produced a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis, and a letter to the Editor. I also extended the Public Health Approach to Violence by applying it, for the first time, to those who have had contact with the criminal justice system. My thesis findings indicate that young people and adults who have had contact with the criminal justice system have a risk of violence-related death and morbidity that is far greater than that of the general population. Among people who have had contact with the criminal justice system, women, Indigenous people, and those with mental health and/or substance use issues are particularly at risk. Evidence-informed violence prevention strategies are urgently needed in this population. The findings of my thesis can be used to inform the development of such strategies. Taken together, the evidence suggests that in order to be effective, a violence prevention approach for this population should address the health and social inequities that are both drivers of violence and disproportionately impact people who have had contact with the criminal justice system. Effective responses must also take into consideration the sex- and culturally-specific needs of those who have had contact with the criminal justice system. Until such action is taken, people who have contact with the criminal justice system will continue to experience violence victimisation at a rate that far exceeds that in the general population.