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Crime and public health under investigation

Government departments must work together to improve their understanding of the links between crime and public health and develop a shared agenda for action, says the Public Health Alliance.

So far, responses to the impact of crime on public health have been hindered by a lack of research and the absence of a coherent national policy, the alliance has found.

‘The experience of crime and, just as important, the fear of crime do have significant effects on people’s health,’ said Dr Paul Walker, a Bristol city councillor, at the launch of the PHA’s new report Framing the debate: the impact of crime on public health.

‘The underlying causes of many forms of crime – material deprivation, social exclusion, unemployment and hopelessness – are exactly the same as the underlying causes of poor health,’ he said.

The report found that the fear of crime has an impact on the health of communities which has been underestimated. It leads to people changing their behaviour in ways which may result in increased social and physical isolation and, paradoxically, less use of public spaces which then become more threatening, and perhaps more dangerous as a result.

In a further irony, attempts to increase security – for example the use of metal grilles and security cameras in shopping centres – may also increase people’s sense of anxiety and foreboding.

Dr Walker called for ‘greater collaboration between agencies responsible for criminal justice and health at all levels’ to tackle the causes and effects of crime.

Junior health minister Paul Boateng welcomed the PHA’s report and said he would be promoting its conclusions to colleagues in the Home Office and the Department for Education and Employment. Closer interdepartmental working was a ‘hallmark’ of the new Labour Government, he said.

Framing the debate: crime and public health. PHA, 138 Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6DR. 0121 643 7628.