Scott Burris

Temple University | TU

Bullying is one of the most common forms of youth violence and is associated with myriad adverse consequences over the life course. There has been increasing interest in examining whether anti-bullying legislation is effective in preventing bullying victimization and its negative effects. However, a lack of data structures that comprehensively and...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Objectives. To identify and categorize US state legislation introduced between January 1, 2021, and May 20, 2022, that addresses emergency health authority. Methods. We adapted standard policy surveillance methods to collect and code state bills and enacted laws limiting or expanding the emergency public health authority of state and local official...

Throughout the world, laws play an important role in shaping population health. Law making is an intervention with measurable effects yet often unfolds without evaluation or monitoring. Policy surveillance—the systematic, scientific collection and analysis of laws of public health significance—can help bridge this gap by capturing important feature...

Legal intervention has featured prominently in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In most places in the world, the legal response has consisted of some combination of traditional disease control measures (individualized testing, contact-tracing, distancing), population-based physical distancing (including school and business closures, stay-at-h...

The global COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily increased demand for basic medical equipment and supplies, and disrupted global supply chains. Governments at all levels and the private sector have found themselves scrambling — and often competing — for the supplies they need. Federal law anticipates that emergencies can generate this kind of sudden de...

Objective Law is an important factor in the diffusion of syringe services programs (SSPs). This study measures the current status of, and 5-year change in, state laws governing SSP operations and possession of syringes by participants. Methods Legal researchers developed a cross-sectional data set measuring key features of state laws and regulatio...

Public security and law enforcement have a crucial but often largely unacknowledged role in protecting and promoting public health. Although the security sector is a key partner in many specific public health programmes, its identity as an important part of the public health endeavour is rarely recognised. This absence of recognition has resulted i...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Using a “transdisciplinary approach” to public health law, this book follows the core competencies for both law and public health programs. It reviews the basic background of the field of public health law, then introduces tools, concepts, and skills needed for effective development of public health laws and policies. The book also introduces the c...

Sound governance is central to effective pandemic management. Key international legal instruments governing pandemic management in the European Union (EU): the International Health Regulations (2005) and Decision 1082/13 require EU Member States to develop national plans and invite them to establish national legal frameworks to support compliance w...

Aims: 1) To describe open source legal datasets, created for research use, that capture the key provisions of U.S. state medical marijuana laws. The data document how state lawmakers have regulated a medicine that remains, under federal law, a Schedule I illegal drug with no legitimate medical use. 2) To demonstrate the variability that exists acr...

Objective: Law powerfully influences health and can be a critical tool for promoting population well-being. Evaluation research is needed to measure the health effects of law and guide policy making and implementation. The purpose of this study was to assess trends in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for scientific public health law res...

Where the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) seeks to accelerate progress toward a world safe and secure from public health emergencies, the realization of GHSA 'Action Packages' will require national governments to establish necessary legal frameworks to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease. By analyzing the scope and content of ex...

Comparative drug and alcohol policy analysis (CPA) is alive and well, and the emergence of robust alternatives to strict prohibition provides exciting research opportunities. As a multidisciplinary practice, however, CPA faces several methodological challenges. This commentary builds on a recent review of CPA by Ritter et al. (2016) to argue that t...

Objective: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts research on legal epidemiology, the scientific study of law as a factor in the cause, distribution, and prevention of disease. This study describes a scan of articles written by CDC staff members to characterize the frequency and key features of legal epidemiology articles an...

Successful public health campaigns like tobacco control demonstrate that effective legal interventions can be expeditiously developed, evaluated and diffused, even in the face of powerful opposition. Success for legal health interventions depends on a well-designed and nurtured legal infrastructure that assured the timely delivery of public health...

The opioid overdose epidemic claims the lives of tens of thousands of Americans every year. Opioid overdose is reversible by the administration of naloxone, a pure antagonist now available in formulations specifically designed and labeled for layperson use. Despite broad support for layperson access to naloxone from professional organizations, heal...

Policing matters to public health, and it makes sense to consider how greater cooperation and even integration between health and law enforcement systems might lead to new and better approaches to chronic problems at the intersection of health and security. The fact that policing is important to public health does not mean, however, that police wor...

Governments use statutes, regulations, and policies, often in innovative ways, to promote health and safety. Organizations outside government, from private schools to major corporations, create rules on matters as diverse as tobacco use and paid sick leave. Very little of this activity is systematically tracked. Even as the rest of the health syste...

A robust health infrastructure in every country is the most effective long-term preparedness strategy for global health emergencies. This includes not only health systems and their human resources, but also countries’ legal infrastructure for health: the laws and policies that empower, obligate and sometimes limit government and private action. The...

The study of a phenomenon as complex as the impact of gun laws requires strong theory and study designs capable of untangling causal pathways, attention to implementation, and precision in the measurement of legal variables. Other scholars have criticised the study by Bindu Kalesan and colleagues [DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01026-0] in those regard...

Objective: Psychiatric emergency hold laws permit involuntary admission to a health care facility of a person with an acute mental illness under certain circumstances. This study documented critical variation in state laws, identified important questions for evaluation research, and created a data set of laws to facilitate the public health law re...

Public Health Law Research used a Delphi process to develop consensus expert standards for policy surveillance. Consensus was reached on a set of core standards for collecting, analyzing, publishing and maintaining legal datasets for monitoring important public health policies. Further efforts are needed to refine standards and develop the infrastr...

Law is a significant factor in public health, and an important tool government can use for protecting and promoting well-being. Legal risks and interventions can only be properly understood through epidemiological and evaluation research. “Legal epidemiology,” the scientific study of law as a factor in the cause, distribution, and prevention of dis...

We investigated the differential effect of mandatory seat belt laws on seat belt use among socioeconomic subgroups. We identified the differential effect of legislation across higher versus lower education individuals using a difference-in-differences model based on state variations in the timing of the passage of laws. We find strong effects of ma...

Law is a powerful tool in improving population health. Laws can keep people safe and healthy by encouraging the use of seat belts or child restraint systems and by keeping our environment safe from toxins. Laws can also have important unintended effects, both positive and negative, on population health. Understanding how policies vary and how these...

We convened a committee of experts to build consensus on technical standards for policy surveillance. This committee assisted in proposing standards through a Delphi process. Topics covered included quality control, resources, content expertise, and the publication of legal datasets. The Delphi process unfolded over two rounds of independent assess...

Objectives: This review examines the effects of family economic security policies on child and family health outcomes, formulates a framework for possible mechanisms of effect, and introduces our policy surveillance system to measure changes in state laws affecting social determinants of health. Methods: We carried out a comprehensive review of the...

The West African Ebola epidemic is a humanitarian crisis and a threat to international security. It is not surprising that isolated cases have emerged in Europe and North America, but a large outbreak in the United States, with its advanced health system, is unlikely. Yet the handling of the first domestically diagnosed Ebola case in Dallas, Texas,...

"Policy surveillance," the systematic tracking of policies of public importance, is an emerging practice within legal epidemiology that supports both scientific evaluation and the diffusion of policies the work for health. The emergence of policy surveillance as a distinct practice has been gradual. Although there is a long tradition of "50 state s...

In an accompanying Perspective, Scott Burris and Stephen Koester discuss the association between punitive policies and health inequalities and argue for more research focusing on policing and health. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Researchers have been conducting evaluations of laws that impact population health for many years with considerable variation in methodological rigor. Starting with a group of 7,158 peer-reviewed articles authored by known public health law researchers between 1985 and 2012, we systematically reviewed abstracts to determine whether each article rep...

Drug overdose has recently surpassed motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental injury death in the United States. The epidemic is largely driven by prescription opioids, which kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined. These deaths over 16,000 per year are almost entirely preventable by the timely administration of nalox...

Empirical evaluation of injury control laws has supported dramatic injury prevention gains in the past few decades. Studies have demonstrated beneficial effects in reduced injury, and facilitated diffusion of effective policies. A limitation of this research has been its a-theoretical stanceshowing a relationship between a law and injury rates, but...

Empirical evaluation of injury control laws has supported dramatic prevention gains in the past decades. Studies have demonstrated beneficial effects in reduced injury, and facilitated diffusion of effective policies. Nevertheless, evaluations continue to use research designs characterized by limitations on internal validitythe strength of confiden...

Although legal interventions are responsible for many sentinel public health achievements, law is underutilized as a tool for advancing population health. Our purpose was to identify critical opportunities for public health lawmaking. We articulated key criteria and illustrated their use with 5 examples. These opportunities involve significant heal...

This book, published in 2013 by Jossey-Bass, describes scientific theory and methods for investigating the development, implementation and effects of public health law. The empirical study of law can be conducted in many disciplines, so there is no special science of public health law research. Epidemiology, economics, physiology, and sociology do...

Background: The behavior of police is an important factor in drug users' access to preventive and therapeutic health services. In China, opiate users must be registered and approved by police before accessing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Methods: We conducted a literature review to identify studies reporting original data about the inf...

Legal intervention to influence individual health behavior has increased dramatically since the 1960s. This paper describes the rise of law as a tool of public health, and the scientific research that has assessed and often guided it, with a focus on five major domains: traffic safety, gun violence, tobacco use, reproductive health and obesity. The...

Drug overdose has recently surpassed motor vehicle accidents to become the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The epidemic is largely driven by opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone, which kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined. The demographics of overdose have changed over the past few...

This volume forms part of a series exploring key issues in ethics, law and society, published in association with the Cardiff Centre for Ethics, Law and Society. The collection is a celebration of the approach and values embraced within previous volumes in the series. The works collectively address new technological, social and regulatory developme...

The importance of law in the organization and operation of public health systems has long been a matter of interest to public health lawyers and practitioners, but empirical research on law as a factor in health system performance has been limited in quantity and sophistication. The emergence of Public Health Law Research and Public Health Systems...

Research Objective: To explore legal consciousness of state and local public health officials and their legal counsel, to understand the nature of the lawyer-health official relationship and to identify barriers and facilitators to the relationship. Methods: We surveyed health officials and associated legal counsel in all states and a sample of l...

Research Objective: To introduce the emerging concept of policy surveillance and demonstrate the utility of such a system for policymakers, practitioners and researchers. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of published literature using coded legal datasets and an online search of existing publicly available legal datasets. We identified ga...

We investigated the effect of mandatory seat belt laws on socioeconomic differences in seat belt use. We identified the differential effect of legislation across socioeconomic groups using a difference-in-difference-in-differences model based on state variations in the timing of the passage of laws. Seat belt laws consistently reduced educational a...

This paper, prepared for the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, reviews the evidence documenting the effects of punitive laws and law enforcement practices on the HIV risk environment for injecting drug users (IDUs). It then provides an overview of global drug policy, drawing on a mixture of regional reports and country case studies. Section lll...