This lecture was filmed on 24 September 2015 as part of the public lecture series of the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at the Queensland University of Technology.  

Topic: Family Violence as a Challenge for Public Health Law Practitioners, Researchers and Society 
 

Violence, including family violence, has become a major concern for public health, society and governments in many nations. The problem of violence in the USA was great enough in the late 20th century that by the time C. Everett Koop was U.S. Surgeon General (1982-1989), many professionals and researchers were motivated to look for new paradigms to respond to violence. Koop innovatively addressed the issue of domestic violence to women specifically, and soon the general problem of violence in the USA was being raised. 

A number of major changes in national agendas for public health and safety from violence at home have now been made. Public health law is a vital tool in the effort to respond to family violence, and is related to other forms of state authority to prevent or ameliorate harmful behavior through non-criminal legal interventions. However, clarification and research on the role of public health law in helping address violence has developed slowly. Public health law can help address domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse and child abuse, and can help in reducing the prevalence of violence and associated health, social and economic consequences.

Unfortunately, the law is still rarely studied as an intervention variable. Better research in public health law and science is urgently needed to assess and develop policies and law that might better prevent and reduce the effects of interpersonal violence, especially in the family

Donald Bross is an Adjunct Professor to the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at the Queensland University of Technology. 

Professor Donald Bross is Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Director for Pediatric Law, Policy and Ethics at the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.