Departmental Affiliations
Dylan B. Jackson focuses on promoting the health and well-being of children, youth, and families in the face of violence, adversity, and exposure to the criminal legal system.
Research Interests
child health; adolescent health; crime; violence; criminal legal system; justice-involved families; incarceration; policing; adverse childhood experiences; trauma-informed policy; mental health; social support; prevention science; life course; health equity
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Experiences & Accomplishments
Dr. Dylan B. Jackson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
As a developmental and health criminologist, Dr. Jackson uses a life-course lens to study the intersection of crime, criminal legal system contact, and health among children, youth, and families. His primary goal is to conduct research that informs policies and interventions that reduce health inequities for children, youth, and families impacted by crime and the criminal legal system. He applies interdisciplinary quantitative methods to study four substantive areas: 1) policing and adolescent health, 2) incarceration and health across the life course, 3) the health sequalae of violence and adverse childhood experiences, and 4) health promotion as developmental crime prevention.
He has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications, including articles in JAMA Pediatrics, Pediatrics, American Journal of Public Health, Health Affairs, American Psychologist and Criminology, and has secured funding from the National Institutes of Health, Arnold Ventures, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Fund for a Safer Future, Johns Hopkins University, the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. He is co-director of the Health Criminology Research Consortium (HCRC), an interdisciplinary collaboration of 40 US researchers and practitioners focused on improving the effectiveness of justice-related policy and practice. He is also a member of the national Justice-Involved Women and Children (JIWC) collaborative, which explores policy and advocacy opportunities and provides training and technical assistance to professionals working with justice-impacted women and children. Additionally, he is a founding member of Improving Police-Adolescent Relationships through Training (IMPART), a collaborative of scholars, lawyers, government officials, and law enforcement in the mid-Atlantic region to develop and implement adolescent-focused training for police. Through these collaborations, he aims to build research and intervention capacity at the intersection of criminology, public health, and developmental science. His ultimate objective is to co-create policy and programmatic solutions with justice-impacted youth and families.
Select Publications
Dr. Jackson has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles in high impact journals across multiple disciplines, including Public Health, Criminology, Sociology, Psychology, Social Work, Medicine, and Family Studies, among others. See a sample of recent publications below.
Jackson, Dylan B., Rebecca L. Fix, Daniel C. Semenza, Alexander Testa, Julie A. Ward, and Cassandra K. Crifasi. In Press. “Officer Gunpoint During Police Stops: Repercussions for Youth Mental Health and Perceived Safety.” Journal of Research on Adolescence.
Webb, Lindsey, Monique Jindal, J’Mag Karbeah, Alexander Testa, Rebecca L. Fix, and Dylan B. Jackson. 2025. “The Role of ‘The Talk’ and its Themes in Black Youths’ Anticipatory Stress of Police Brutality.” Pediatrics, 155(1): e2024067065
Oppenheim, Shoshana, Lindsey Webb, Alexander Testa, Rebecca L. Fix, Laura Clary, Tamar Mendelson, and Dylan B. Jackson. In Press. “Police Violence Exposure and Traumatic Stress Among Youth: A Systematic Review.” Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.
Jackson, Dylan B., Alexander Testa, Daniel C. Semenza, Cassandra K. Crifasi, and Julie A. Ward. In Press. “Juvenile Injuries and Deaths from Shootings by Police in the United States, 2015-2020.” Journal of Adolescent Health.
Bennett, J.Z., Daphne Brydon, Jeffrey T. Ward, Dylan B. Jackson, Leah Ouellet, Rebecca Turner, and Laura S. Abrams. 2024. “In the Wake of Miller and Montgomery: A National View of People Sentenced to Juvenile Life Without Parole.” Journal of Criminal Justice, 93, 102199.
Jackson, Dylan B., Rebecca L. Fix, Alexander Testa, Lindsey Webb, Juan Del Toro, and Sirry Alang. 2024. “Cumulative Police Exposures, Police Violence Stress, and Depressive Symptoms: A Focus on Black LGBQ Youth in Baltimore City, Maryland.” Journal of Urban Health. 101, 544-556.
Semenza, Daniel C., Ian Silver, and Dylan B. Jackson. 2024. “Youth Incarceration in Adult Facilities: Implications for Mental Health in Early Adulthood.” Journal of Adolescent Health, 74(5), 989-995.
Ward, Julie A., Javier Cepeda, Dylan B. Jackson, Odis Johnson Jr., Daniel W. Webster, and Cassandra K. Crifasi. 2024. “National Burden of Injury and Deaths from Shootings by Police in the United States, 2015-2020.” American Journal of Public Health, 114(4), 387-397.
Muentner, Luke, Rebecca Shlafer, Nia Heard-Garris, and Dylan B. Jackson. 2023. “Parental Incarceration in the United States: 2016-2021.” Pediatrics, 152(6), e2023062420.