Abolitionist Healthcare Research Ethics in Medicine and Public Health

Beyond Do No Harm Network | Cops Out of Care working group

This resource emerged from Beyond Do No Harm Network’s Cops Out of Care working group, and shares principles for researchers in medicine and public health.

Medicine, Public Health, and Academic Disciplines have historically enacted harm and continue to be aligned with systems of oppression. As researchers working toward abolition of carceral systems, we understand that to engage in research from these disciplines, we must acknowledge these harms and seek to undo the power imbalances that make them possible. The principles below are a part of engaging in critical self-reflection in order to do this work.

In our view, policing is broad — being both enacted by law enforcement, healthcare workers, and researchers. Policing can be defined as the threat or use of force to secure the prevailing order legitimized by the state. We hope these principles will be useful for researchers who are challenging policing in its multiple forms.

Visit the Beyond Do No Harm Network for more resources, and upcoming opportunities and events, and check out other related resources from the Cops Out of Care working group here.