Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, CWRU
Reliance on epidemiological evidence has become increasingly common in
various legal contexts, including toxic tort cases, criminal matters, civil
lawsuits between individuals for alleged harm, and actions to involuntarily
quarantine individuals with specified infectious diseases. However, the
operationalization of causation differs between law and epidemiology and
the purposes of law and epidemiology are quite different. These divergent
methodologies and purposes often result in the misuse and misinterpretation
of epidemiological principles and findings in the courtroom. Case examples
are used to illustrate these difficulties.
Questions? Jiming Jiang