Essays on Criminal Health Law and Policy

Abstract

How does criminal law enforcement affect health? This dissertation addresses this question via three studies that use mixed empirical methods. Using descriptive quantitative methods, Chapter 1 studies the consequences of the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act—a law that criminalizes controlled substance tele-prescribing without a preliminary in-person medical evaluation—for the practice of telemedicine in general and opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment in particular. Using causal inference methods, Chapter 2 studies the influence of the take-home methadone policy—a policy implemented at the beginning of the COVID-19 public health emergency to increase OUD treatment access—on treatment initiations and opioid overdoses among people released from incarceration in Massachusetts. Using qualitative fieldwork methods, Chapter 3 examines how alternative emergency response programs—initiatives created after the George Floyd protests to reduce police involvement in health emergencies—inform theories of preventive justice.