Guest Editors:
Brandon del Pozo, MA, MPA, PhD, Brown University, USA
Jennifer J. Carroll, MPH, PhD, North Carolina State University & Brown University, USA
Mukta Sharma, MSc, PgD, PhD, World Health Organisation, India
Editor-in-Chief: Prof Nick Crofts
The Harm Reduction Journal is compiling a special collection: “Policing, Law Enforcement, and Harm Reduction: Tensions and Opportunities.”
Worldwide, police are the first to respond to practically all emergent social concerns, resulting in disproportionate (and generally negative) interactions with people who use drugs, engage in sex work, health and health care disparities, or are otherwise racialized, criminalized, and marginalized.
There is growing consensus that the police mandate is too broad, that police responses produce social harms, and that alternative response models (whether co-responder models or non-law enforcement response) are overdue. Progress will require better of understanding the complex interplay of these various actors and their impacts on wellbeing for individuals and communities.
To better understand these attendant challenges and opportunities, the editors of this special issue are interested in research and commentary at the intersection of policing, law enforcement, and harm reduction worldwide. Studies that examine the tensions between police activity and harm reduction work are of key importance and interest. This includes work on public health-public safety collaborations to reduce the harms associated with substance use the and the inherent opportunities and limitations of these endeavors. This also includes work problematizing the colonial legacies of policing, including reliance on colonial-era law and the colonial origins of contemporary practices in both policing and public health.
The editors especially encouraged submissions which people with lived experience—those who use drugs, harm reductionists, sex workers, police and law enforcement, and others—have directly contributed. The goal is to publish articles that integrate experience and empower the translation and dissemination of research to accurately inform policy, law, and practice to contribute to the development of humane and effective responses to these contemporary social issues. This includes research articles and commentaries challenging criminalization, and the role of police in this.
All submissions in this collection undergo the journal’s standard peer review process. Similarly, all manuscripts authored by a Guest Editor(s) will be handled by the Editor-in-Chief. As an open access publication, Harm Reduction Journal levies an article processing fee (details here). We recognize that many key stakeholders may not have access to such resources and are committed to supporting participation in this issue wherever resources are a barrier. For more information about what support may be available, please visit OA funding and support, or email OAfundingpolicy@springernature.com or the Editor-in-Chief.
Submissions to this series are now closed