Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Writing in Science almost 120 years ago, anthropologist Berthold Laufer penned an impassioned plea for the study of the history of medicine and other natural sciences (Laufer 1907).Laufer was unequivocal: It is not mere chance that at the dawn of the new age the war-cry 'Historical investigations!' is sounded from all camps, and that in consequence a broader scientific knowledge is obtained through this pursuit of historical research.(p.890) Central to Laufer's call for a new age of historical research was the need for historians to collaborate with scholars in other fields, a way of breaking down longstanding institutional silos:In the pursuit of historical investigations, we are all on common ground, and the character of the subject necessitates mutual dependence and assistance.(p.892) Pragmatically, Laufer had in mind that this work should be undertaken in the USA with the "same energy as on the other side of the Atlantic", be organised under the auspices of an institution like a "museum" and "working committees", bringing together the disciplines of history, medicine, anthropology, a wide range of other natural sciences and social sciences.My position is that a similar call for collaborative action is needed right now and that bringing criminology and medicine together, and drawing on their historical perspectives, would be particularly beneficial.Far from being a random pairing, medicine and criminology have any number of important, contemporary connections, as well as shared history dating back to the origins of scientific criminology (Rafter et al. 2016).Medicine and public health have played an outsized role in the last several decades in the prevention and treatment of violence internationally (e.g., Wolf et al. 2014).The Cochrane network in medicine was instrumental in the founding of the Campbell Collaboration in the social sciences-with a major focus on crime and justice-25 years ago, and the two international organisations work closely together (Wilson et al. 2021).Going farther back-from the late 1700s through the early 1900s-the shared history of the two disciplines was sometimes seriously troubling, with biological determinism and views about racial and ethnic inferiority playing a central role in explanations and treatment of criminal behaviour (Rafter et al. 2016).By contrast, John Howard, while neither medically nor criminologically trained, nevertheless adopted principles from both disciplines, visiting prisons first through Britain, then mainland Europe, scrupulously documenting conditions apparently predisposing to and spreading serious ill health and further crime (Howard 1777/1789) and then bringing about consequently informed change through reforms in law and practice.At centre stage in this call to action is the longest running prospective randomised controlled trial (RCT) in the Western world-the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study (CSYS)-and its founder and first director Richard Clarke Cabot (1868-1939), a renowned physician and professor of clinical medicine and social ethics at Harvard University (White 1939).Starting in 1935, the CSYS is the first RCT in criminology (Weisburd and
DOI: 10.1002/cbm.70010
Author: Brandon C. Welsh
Institution: Northeastern University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4414830286