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NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH WEEK KICK-OFF EVENT, March 28, 2016: Racism, Criminal Justice, and Public Health

Posted in: College News and Events, Master of Public Health News, Public Health

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The College of Education and Human Services, Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences, presents a National Public Health Week Kick-Off Special Event:  “Racism, Criminal Justice, and Public Health” on March 28, 2016 from 6-8pm in the Montclair State University Conference Center, University Hall, 7th Floor.  The event is FREE and open to the public.

The deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and others have brought issues of racial injustice to the forefront of public consciousness.  “Racism, Criminal Justice, and Public Health” will examine how racism intersects with criminal justice to negatively impact health in communities of color.  An expert panel, featuring award-winning WPIX news correspondent Jay Dow, who has consistently reported on the complex relationship between law enforcement and communities of color, attorneys Craig Levine and Randy Susskind who have devoted their careers to battling racial inequality in the criminal justice system, MSU Associate Professor of Justice Studies, Venezia Michalsen, who studies women and criminal justice, and MSU Associate Professor Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist who investigates the links between race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and chronic disease, will explore such issues as: the portrayal of crime in the media; the historic pattern of racial discrimination in the U.S. criminal justice system; how the focus on criminal justice has not only diverted resources away from improving public health, but has also exacerbated public health problems in communities of color; why having a criminal record or having been imprisoned is associated with poorer health outcomes; how mass incarceration of men has affected the health of women and children in communities of color, among others.

National Public Health Week (April 4-10, 2016) is sponsored each year by the American Public Health Association and is intended to serve as a rallying cry to communities and individuals to strive to create the healthiest nation in one generation by 2030.

For more information, email mph@mail.montclair.edu.