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Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8525-7259
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Sociology
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Month Degree Awarded
September
First Advisor
Mark Pachucki
Second Advisor
David Cort
Third Advisor
Kathryne Young
Fourth Advisor
Nicole VanKim
Subject Categories
Epidemiology | Inequality and Stratification | Medicine and Health | Race and Ethnicity | Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance
Abstract
Structural racism has taken many forms throughout American history and to this day continues to drive social, economic, and health inequalities. Mass incarceration is a modern tool of social marginalization with well documented and deep-rooted racial inequalities. Research has continually shown that mass incarceration negatively impacts the health of disadvantaged communities. Even police stops, the most common and mundane form of criminal justice contact has been linked with deleterious health outcomes at the individual and community level. In this dissertation, I identify specific social and biological mechanisms connecting encounters with the police and health outcomes. In the first chapter, I introduce my overall argument and aims of my dissertation. In the second chapter, I argue that police contact is a fundamental cause of health disparities and discuss how it interacts with other fundamental causes. In chapter three I explore the roles of system avoidance and social isolation in driving this disparity. In the fourth chapter, I examine the role of the family and the proliferation of stress within the parent-child relationship. In the fifth chapter I observe biological ramifications of police discrimination, including accelerated biological aging and disease activity. In the sixth chapter I conclude by discussing the implication of my empirical findings and theoretical approach. Overall, I argue that if we wish to address racial health disparities, we must confront the role of mass incarceration in our society.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/23911569
Recommended Citation
Carbonaro, Richard S., "Policing and Health: Police Encounters as a Fundamental Cause Of Racial Health Disparities" (2021). Doctoral Dissertations. 2287.
https://doi.org/10.7275/23911569
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/2287
Included in
Epidemiology Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons