Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
Finland
fellow
Fred Markowitz
Home institution
Northern Illinois University
Country of origin (home institution)
United States
Discipline(s)
Sociology
Theme(s)
Contemporary violence & Justice
Health
Public Policies
Fellowship dates
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Biography
Fred Markowitz received his PhD from the State University of New York at Albany and was a NIMH Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin. He was a Fulbright Scholar, Fellow of the American Scandinavian Foundation, and holds the title of Dosentti at the University of Helsinki. His research, in the areas of crime, mental illness, and social control has been published in American Journal of Sociology, Criminology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Psychology Quarterly, Aggression and Violent Behavior, International Criminology, Advances in Criminological Theory, and Nordic Journal of Criminology. He is the Editor of Society and Mental Health.
Research Project
Mental Illness, Social Embeddedness, and Crime
Worldwide, persons with mental illness are overrepresented in criminal justice systems. Despite Finland’s comparatively lower inequality and its strong social safety net, there is significant and persistent overlap between mental health problems and criminal offending. In this project, Fred Markowitz applies integrated life-course criminological and mental health recovery perspectives, guiding a set of studies to examine factors that place persons with a mental illness at risk for offending and incarceration. With an interdisciplinary network of colleagues at the University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, and government agencies (Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare, Finnish Criminal Sanctions Unit, Prison Health Service), using administrative and survey data, Markowitz focuses on: (1) How social embeddedness factors, such as education, employment, and living situation affect the risk of criminal offending for persons with and without mental illness; (2) Among prisoners, how do key social psychological factors, such as resilience, loneliness, and social inclusion affect the risk of reoffending? and (3) How do adolescent mental health problems affect the risk of delinquency and subsequent offending, by impeding normative adult transitions in terms of educational attainment, employment, and independent housing?
Research Interests:
Mental illness; crime; social control