Leo Beletsky
Leo Beletsky is a professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University, where he directs the Health in Justice Action Lab. His research focuses on public health impact of laws and policing.
The Other Public Health Crisis: How The DOJ Can Flatten the Overdose Curve
The pandemic has turbo-charged the overdose crisis, and the Biden administration can bend this curve by abandoning ineffective and counterproductive policy.
From Crisis Response to Harm Prevention: The Role of Integrated Service Facilities
Executive Summary As things stand, many interactions with crisis response systems in the United States result in a trip to jail or an emergency room. Both of these options are costly, inefficient, and often result in the same people coming back again and again. There is a better way: Integrated Service Facilities (ISFs) can provide […]
The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People
Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never.
Why We Shouldn’t Reward Fearmongering in Criminal Justice Reporting
The Courier Journal’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting on Governor Matt Bevin’s commutations sensationalizes crime at the expense of future clemency efforts.
Helping People Transition from Incarceration to Society During a Pandemic
Executive Summary The First 72+, a nonprofit in New Orleans that works with people reentering society after incarceration, keeps an office directly across from the New Orleans Parish Jail. This makes it easier for people who are released from jail to walk across the street and immediately receive a helping hand. But because of the […]
The Role of Overdose Prevention Sites in Coronavirus Response
Executive Summary The coronavirus pandemic has compounded North America’s overdose crisis. Just in the United States, drug overdoses have already claimed nearly a half million lives since 1999. Now authorities across the country are reporting a surge in overdose deaths as part of the pandemic fallout, with fatality rates rising by 100% in some counties. […]
Fighting the Coronavirus and Protecting the Unhoused
Executive Summary On any given night in the United States, federal government data shows that over 500,000 people do not have a home, a count that dramatically underestimates the scope of the problem. The core problem has consistently been lack of access to affordable housing, brought on by bad policy and refusal to take common-sense, […]
Charging ‘Dealers’ with Homicide: Explained
In May 2016, 26-year-old Caleb Smith was prepping for medical school entry exams, and ordered what he thought was Adderall off the internet to help him study. After the package arrived at his home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, his girlfriend, 26-year-old Amanda Leach, asked to try some. Smith obliged, and days later, Leach was found dead […]
Charging “Dealers” With Homicide: Explained
In May 2016, 26-year-old Caleb Smith was prepping for medical school entry exams, and ordered what he thought was Adderall off the internet to help him study. After the package arrived at his home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, his girlfriend, 26-year-old Amanda Leach, asked to try some. Smith obliged, and days later, Leach was found dead […]