News

PHLR Program Funds Five New Studies

Thursday, February 21, 2013

The public health effects of laws on drugged driving, bullying, intimate partner violence, HIV decriminalization, and shared laboratory services will be investigated through five new research projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Public Health Law Research (PHLR) program as part of its new Strategic and Targeted Research Program (STRP).

The grants announced today total $586,000 and will support studies representing high priority topics identified through a six-month long open call for ideas. (See description for each of the final studies below.)

Domestic Violence Sanctions in North Carolina Shown Ineffective at Preventing Recidivism

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Current sanction levels for domestic violence offenses in North Carolina do not reduce repeat offenses, according to a study published in the February 2013 edition of the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty.

The study, conducted by Frank Sloan, PhD, and his team of researchers at Duke University, examines how domestic violence cases are resolved in North Carolina, and how current ways of resolving these cases impact repeat offenses. The study finds that a repeat offense is the case for many domestic violence charges in North Carolina.

Twelve New PHLR-Funded Studies to Investigate the Effects of Law on Public Health

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The public health effects of laws on issues such as food safety, bullying, distracted driving and alcohol control laws will be investigated through 12 new research projects funded in the fourth call for proposals by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) Public Health Law Research (PHLR) program.

PHLR Awards Scholarships to Researchers for 2012 Annual Meeting

Monday, December 3, 2012

PHLR has awarded five travel scholarships to public health law researchers and practitioners to attend the2012 PHLR Annual Grantee Meeting in New Orleans. This meeting provides a forum for current PHLR grantees to share research progress and findings, discuss methodological concerns and innovations, and identify effective ways to disseminate research results to inform public health law practice and policy debates.

The 2012 Scholarship Recipients:

Study Shows New Jersey’s Young Driver Decal Reduced Crashes

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A new study shows that New Jersey's law requiring novice drivers to display a red decal on their license plates has prevented more than 1,600 crashes and helped police officers enforce regulations unique to new drivers. The first-in-the-nation decal provision went into effect in May 2010 as part of N.J.'s Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) law.

Introducing LawAtlas!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

PHLR has launched its newest tool for providing access to public health law research: LawAtlas.org.

LawAtlas.org is an online portal that allows visitors to explore variation in laws across U.S. states and over time. This site currently provides access to data that maps laws relating to specific current public health issues like distracted driving, syringe exchange, overdose prevention and sports concussions, with many more to come in the near future.

Awareness of New Jersey HIV exposure law is not associated with reduced sexual risk behavior, study shows

Thursday, September 20, 2012

A New Jersey law requiring individuals with HIV to disclose their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners does not appear to be an effective HIV prevention intervention, according to a study published online on September 20 in the American Journal of Public Health.

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