Law is one of the primary tools used in public health to promote healthier environments and behaviors. Governments at all levels use statutes, regulations and other policies, often in innovative ways, to make our communities healthier and safer. The effective and efficient use of law as a public health intervention depends upon research to evaluate what works and what does not, and diffusion of information to speed the adoption and implementation of laws that improve health. The term \u201cLegal Epidemiology\u201d is apt for this public health law work, capturing both its importance and its scientific nature. Legal epidemiology may be defined as \u201cthe scientific study of law as a factor in the cause, distribution and prevention of disease in a population.\u201d Within legal epidemiology, \u201cpolicy surveillance,\u201d the systematic tracking of policies of public importance, is an emerging practice that supports both scientific evaluation and the diffusion of policies the work for health. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation\u2019s Public Health Law Research program (PHLR), working in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s Office of State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support (OSTLTS), ChangeLab Solutions, The Network for Public Health Law, the Public Health Law Center, and many expert volunteers, undertook a series of research and consultation projects intended to advance the understanding and practice of legal epidemiology at CDC and state, local and tribal health agencies, with special focus on policy surveillance.<\/p>\n
The results of this work are collected in this report and include:<\/p>\n
\u2022 A Scan of Explicit Legal Recommendations in Federal Guidance Documents, to document the important place of law in the nation\u2019s health strategies;<\/p>\n
\u2022 A Scan of Existing 50 State Survey and Policy Surveillance Resources, to describe the current investment in legal monitoring, and the state of the art;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Criteria for Selecting Policies for Surveillance: Recommendations of an Expert Committee, to provide initial guidance to decision-makers on the wise use of limited legal monitoring resources;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Technical Standards for Policy Surveillance and Legal Datasets: Report of a Delphi Process, to define consensus expert standards for the conduct of scientific legal surveillance; and<\/p>\n
\u2022 Policy Surveillance Competencies (1.0), embodying the expert standards in measurable workforce capacities.<\/p>\n
Together, these resources provide a foundation for building a stronger, transdisciplinary practice of public health law.<\/p>\n