Longitudinal investigations of associations between health and offending are rare. Studies which have investigated this relationship principally focus on mental health within samples of incarcerated offenders. This article provides a review of the current evidence base on health and offending, focusing on criminological theories seeking to explain the health-crime relationship and insights from Public Health and Social Epidemiology. The evidence reviewed here suggests that the antisocial lifestyles of offenders when outside secure environments pose a significant risk to their physical health. It is likely that the antisocial lifestyles of offenders damage their health over time, and several criminological, epidemiological and medical theories are discussed to explain these links. It is clear from this body of research that community offenders form an under-researched group of offenders, with methodologically limited research conducted to date. Future directions are discussed which may facilitate the production of further robust evidence, in light of the complex causal and bi-directional nature of the relationship between health and offending. These suggestions should be viewed as a future public health challenge and should inform targeted interventions.

对健康与犯罪之间关联的纵向调查很少见。调查这种关系的研究主要集中在被监禁罪犯样本中的心理健康。本文回顾了当前关于健康和犯罪的证据基础，重点关注试图解释健康与犯罪关系的犯罪学理论以及来自公共卫生和社会流行病学的见解。此处审查的证据表明，罪犯在安全环境之外的反社会生活方式会对他们的身体健康构成重大风险。随着时间的推移，罪犯的反社会生活方式很可能会损害他们的健康，并且讨论了几种犯罪学、流行病学和医学理论来解释这些联系。从这项研究中可以清楚地看出，社区罪犯构成了一个研究不足的罪犯群体，迄今为止进行的方法论研究有限。鉴于健康与犯罪之间关系的复杂因果关系和双向性质，讨论了未来的方向，这可能有助于产生更多有力的证据。这些建议应被视为未来的公共卫生挑战，并应为有针对性的干预措施提供信息。