Public Health, Violence Reduction & Neurobiological Idioms of Trauma

Stewart, Hilary (2022) Public Health, Violence Reduction & Neurobiological Idioms of Trauma. In: UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Following recent increases in violent crime in England and Wales the UK government has called for a public health approach to tackle the root causes of serious violent crime. The Serious Violence Strategy published by the Home Office (2018) identifies Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as a category of risk for future violence and health inequalities, and emphasises prevention through early intervention, as well as promoting new models of trauma-informed policing to respond to vulnerable populations. Drawing upon findings from a project which has explored the implementation of trauma-informed approaches to violence reduction, this paper will explore how neurobiological idioms (Broer and Pickersgill, 2015) and technoscientific discourses on trauma and adversity are being deployed in UK as part of a public health approach which envisions violence reduction through trauma-aware cultural change. However, as we will show, instead of addressing root causes of inequalities, such neuroscientific discourses may fasten neuro-identities of vulnerability and bio-criminality to deprived communities under the benevolent, ‘neutral’ guise of technoscience, and may deepen stigmatisation amongst such communities whilst sidestepping broader socio-political structures that engender trauma (Benjamin, 2016; Victoria Pitts-Taylor, 20). Benjamin, R., 2016. Catching our breath: critical race STS and the carceral imagination. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, 2, pp.145-156. Broer, T. and Pickersgill, M., 2015. Targeting brains, producing responsibilities: The use of neuroscience within British social policy. Social Science & Medicine, 132, pp.54-61. Home Office. 2018. Serious Violence Strategy. April 2018. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/698009/serious-violence-strategy.pdf [Accessed 28/0422]. Pitts-Taylor, V., 2019. Neurobiologically poor? Brain phenotypes, inequality, and biosocial determinism. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 44(4), pp.660-685.