ABSTRACT
Epidemiological methods have the potential to transform how we see the family justice system, especially when combined with population data resources including research and administrative data sets. I describe epidemiological methods and how these can be used in the study of law and legal processes (legal epidemiology). Importantly, drawing analogy with decades of evidence-informed medicine, I also highlight issues around the use of research evidence to support day-to-day decision-making in the courts and other settings (evidenced-informed law). I round off by considering practical challenges—and proffered solutions—to taking legal epidemiology and evidence-informed law forward.
