Roundtable: Studying health effects of criminal law

All societies use criminal law in ways that – intentionally and unintentionally, directly and indirectly – affect the health of both those who are incarcerated and the broader population. The criminalization of abortion that we see in many countries, is one of the uses of criminal law that potentially has severe health consequences. So is the criminalization of undesirable or “immoral” sexual behavior – ranging from rape, sexual violence and transmission of HIV and other STDs,  to sex-work and consensual sex between adults of the same gender. But how can we securely establish such health effects? Which forms of health effects can we reliably measure, and how? Which research methods are most appropriate, and which data are available?

This roundtable is hosted by the new LawTransform project on “Political determinants of sexual and reproductive health”.

  • Camila Gianella (UiB/CMI) introduces and moderates a conversation with Alicia Yamin (O’Neill Institute, Georgetown Univeristy) , Leo Arriola (UC Berkley) and Mindy Roseman (Yale University)

Watch the debate here:https://vimeo.com/183619956