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If You Would Not Criminalize Poverty, Do Not Medicalize It
William M Sage1, Jennifer E Laurin1
1William M. Sage, M.D., J.D., is James R. Dougherty Chair for Faculty Excellence in the School of Law and Professor of Surgery and Perioperative Care in the Dell Medical School, both at the University of Texas at Austin. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, Professor Sage holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard College, medical and law degrees from Stanford University, and an honorary doctorate from Universite Paris Descartes. Jennifer E. Laurin, J.D., is Wright C. Morrow Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law. Professor Laurin holds an undergraduate degree from Earlham College, and a law degree from Columbia Law School.
American society often treats social issues like poverty through medical or criminal justice systems. This approach, particularly criminalization, has negative consequences that argue against its continued medicalization.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Public Health
- Criminology
Background:
- American society exhibits a pattern of addressing social problems through either medicalization or criminalization.
- Arguments for the criminal justice system's role in poverty relief mirror contemporary healthcare discussions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the parallels between the medicalization and criminalization of social problems in American society.
- To analyze the implications of criminal justice reform arguments for poverty relief.
- To evaluate the consequences of criminalizing poverty and its relation to medicalization.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of social problem-solving approaches.
- Literature review of criminal justice reform and healthcare discourse.
- Critical examination of policy implications.
Main Results:
- Similar arguments for intervention are present in both healthcare and criminal justice contexts regarding poverty.
- The criminalization of poverty carries significant negative consequences.
- These consequences serve as a cautionary precedent against the medicalization of poverty.
Conclusions:
- The tendency to medicalize or criminalize social issues requires critical assessment.
- Criminal justice reform efforts in poverty relief warrant careful consideration of historical consequences.
- The negative outcomes associated with criminalizing poverty strongly advise against its medicalization.
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