ABSTRACT
Criminal legal enforcement's capacity to engage in proactive and forcible practices for the purpose to control and prevent the injury has seen an increase since the advent of the twenty-first century, particularly towards men. Ordinary assaults during this period have declined at the same time that assaults due to the legal intervention have increased. A good history of the conversation around police brutality or police violence in public health would start in earnest 60–70 years ago—before the exponential hardening of the criminal legal system. The term “police brutality” becomes seared into the public health consciousness with the publishing of a formidable piece in its leading journal—the American Journal of Public Health, calling forcible actions by police as “brutal.” Living under inequitable legal surveillance is a conditioner for a range of illness risks that hamper efforts to improve the public health.
