Crime and Criminal Justice in Cities

Urban areas in popular imagination are characterized by crime and challenges to safety. And yet this is often far from the truth. However, crime remains a real issue in some cities and is often a feature of social disorder in rapidly growing cities worldwide. Complicating how crime shapes the health of urban populations has been the role of criminal justice systems that have, time and again, overreacted to the threat of crime and implemented harsh punishment that disproportionately penalizes minority and marginalized populations. This chapter provides a framework that can help us think about crime and criminal justice in cities, discussing how we may improve criminal justice systems to ensure public safety while minimizing unwarranted harms while moving toward improving the health of urban populations.