Research Results

Results from grant-funded research projects evaluating public health law issues.

COVID-19 – Test for the World's Legal Systems

This research, produced by the International and Comparative Law Research Center with expertise from staff from the Center for Public Health Law Research, examines the legal framework applicable to emergencies in general and the current pandemic at the international, regional (EAEU, EU), and national levels (China, France, Germany, Italy, the Russian Federation and its subjects, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States). It includes both the preexisting regulation and its evolution caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Legal Regulations of Certain Issues Related to Vaccination

This international legal research report, produced by the International and Comparative Law Research Center and including experts from the Center for Public Health Law Research, seeks to document effective mechanisms for legal regulation of the development and production of vaccines and the vaccination process at the universal, regional, and national levels.

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Identifying data for the empirical assessment of law (IDEAL): A realist approach to research gaps on the health effects of abortion law

The Identifying Data for the Empirical Assessment of Law (IDEAL) method, developed by a team of academics, lawyers, reproductive health experts and law students, follows three steps to support the development of evidence-based guidelines and practice related to abortion law. The process identifies social science and epidemiological evidence that does not explicitly address the law, but can nonetheless enhance the understanding of legal effects and identify research gaps and priority research topics.

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Individual Liberty, Public Health, and the Battle for the Nation’s Soul

This essay in The Regulatory Review examines the legacy of the US Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Author Scott Burris contends that the vision set by Jacobson — one of coexistence and cooperation in a democratic commonwealth — is in jeopardy as courts in recent COVID-19 constitutional cases have unveiled a new view based less on the social contract than on a strong form of libertarianism.

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Civilian Use of Deadly Force in Self-Defense: Public Health, Stand Your Ground

In this commentary for the American Journal of Public Health, Scott Burris calls on the public health community to support the repeal of Stand Your Ground laws, and to probe more deeply into why the United States and its citizens feels the need for these laws in the first place.

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After the Inauguration: Abortion Law in 2021

January 28, 2021, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. ET

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Legal Epidemiology and the Path to Better Health Law and Policy

WEBINAR:
January 21, 2020, 8:00-9:30 a.m. ET

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Yes, You Need a Lawyer: Integrating Legal Epidemiology Into Health Research

This article makes the case for true transdisciplinary teams in legal epidemiology studies, calling for the inclusion of legal expertise.

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Pandemic Policymaking: Assessing Legal Responses to COVID-19

This report offers policy recommendations on 35 wide-ranging topics from 50 national experts, from pandemic preparedness and health care to conducting sound elections and adapting immigration policy. Designed to advise leaders at the federal, state and local level, the report presents a timely examination of policy challenges and opportunities in light of the pandemic.