Empirical Legal Studies

Bad News, Good News

While drunk driving is an odious activity, a recent paper by Scott Adams et al., Seatbelt Use Among Drunk Drivers in Different Legislative Settings (or here), suggests that drunk drivers can be incented to buckle-up when driving.

The paper's hypothesis and research design are straight-forward. In states where local seatbelt laws are primarily enforced, law enforcement personnel can pull over a driver if he/she or a passenger is observed to be not wearing a seatbelt. The authors hypothesize that drunk drivers, to avoid such interaction with law enforcement, increase their compliance with seatbelt laws.

“We present evidence from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System that shows increased seatbelt use following the concurrent presence of stricter blood alcohol content thresholds and primarily enforced seat belt laws. This suggests that inebriated drivers may use their seat belts more judiciously to avoid being identified as a drunk driver by law enforcement. The interactive effect of stricter drunk driving laws and primary seatbelt laws are also shown to be more effective than either law passed in isolation in terms of reducing traffic fatalities.”

Jeremy Blumenthal (1969-2014)

It is with sadness that I pass along information about Jeremy Blumenthal's recent passing.

"Professor Blumenthal taught and wrote in the areas of property law and law and psychology, and he was known for incorporating empirical research and data into legal issues. He was a prolific scholar, publishing 30 articles, reviews, and chapters during his career.  He is also a co-editor of the treatise Modern Scientific Evidence. He frequently collaborated with his colleagues on scholarly projects. Co-author Nina Kohn notes, "Jeremy had a talent for bringing people together to enrich each other’s thinking.  I will miss working with him and learning from him.  But perhaps most of all, I will miss his dry sense of humor."

More information on Jeremy and his career here.

iPad App for Stata Manuals

Maybe I'm just "old school," but hard-copy Stata manuals still fill my bookshelf even though ready and easy access to the identical material exists online (indeed, through Stata's own help command). I still find it easier, however, to work with actual manuals while working through a question (and one less active window cluttering my screens).

To remind me just how truly old I've becoming, I note that an app now exists (for $7) that allows you to install the Stata manuals on your iPad. For those who may be curious, information on this Holiday gift item is here.

Helpful Suggestions on How to Write (and Read) Empirical Research Papers

Building on an earlier post (here), Andrew Gelman (Columbia--Statistics) discusses two main approaches--or styles--to writing empirical research:

"1. There is a single key finding, a headline result, with everything else being a modification or elaboration of it.
2. There are many little findings, we’re seeing a broad spectrum of results."

Obviously, as Gelman makes clear, either approach can work, and work well. Perhaps more important than one's approach, however, is to make clear which approach your paper adopts.

"If it’s the first sort of paper, please state clearly what is the key finding and what is the evidence for it. If it’s the second sort of paper, I’d suggest laying out all the results (positive and negative) in some sort of grid so they can all be visible at once. Otherwise, as a reader, I struggle through the exposition, trying to figure out which results are the most important and what to focus on."

4th Annual Western Empirical Legal Studies (WELS) Conference -- Call For Papers

I am delighted once again to pass along information from Joe Doherty (UCLA) about the 4th Annual Western Empirical Legal Studies (WELS) Conference at UCLA on March 7, 2015. Insofar as WELS is consciously pitched to "law and graduate students," (emphasis added) it fills an important need and presents a wonderful opportunity for interested students. Click here for more information. (Please note the 12.22.2014 proposal deadline.)

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Call for Papers: 4th Annual Western Empirical Legal Studies (WELS) Conference at UCLA School of Law

Proposal Deadline: December 22, 2014.

The UCLA School of Law's Empirical Legal Scholars Association (ELSA) is proud to announce the 4th Annual Western Empirical Legal Studies Conference, on March 7, 2015, at the UCLA School of Law.

This is a conference for students (Masters, PhD, and JD) who are conducting empirical research on law, legal actors, and legal institutions (judicial behavior, access to justice, bankruptcy, crime, etc.).  It provides a unique forum for junior scholars to present original research and to receive focused feedback from students and law school faculty engaged in similar projects.  The first three conferences attracted participants from over a dozen campuses across the U.S.A. and Europe.