Law and Neuroscience

New discoveries in the brain sciences are reported almost weekly. Though the public is aware that new knowledge about the brain contains important information about human behavior, the relation of this knowledge to law is not widely appreciated. Not only is the Institute a leader in creating opportunities for legal scholars and neuroscientists to meet together and discuss possible applications, it has conducted experiments applying the latest techniques in neuroscience to the problems of law and justice. This research has included fMRI scanning projects aimed at better understanding moral decision making and legal rule applications, conducted at the University of London and Humboldt University in Berlin. Further neuroscientific work on such topics as interpersonal trust and intellectual property law is underway.

Neurological Test Used to Convict Indian Defendant

As reported in The International Herald Tribune , an Indian court has convicted a defendant of murder on the basis of a Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Test (BEOS).  By using software to interpret the results of an electroencephalogram (EEG) the test supposedly is able to distinguish between people's memories of events they witnessed and between deeds they have committed.  Many neuroscientists (including participants in the MacArthur Law and Neuroscience Project) are troubled that the technology was admitted into evidence since it has neither been validated by any independent study nor reported in a respected scientific journal.

 

Seminar on Law and Neuroscience, June 5-6, 2008

As part of the Law and Neuroscience Project, the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research and the Federal Judicial Center sponsored a "Seminar on Law and Neuroscience" for federal judges hosted by Stanford Law School. The faculty included:  Oliver Goodenough; Hank Greely; Brian Knutson; Adam Kolber; Stephen Morse; Adina Roskies; Robert Sapolsky; Walter Sinnott-Armstrong; and Anthony Wagner. The topics covered at the conference included:  an introduction to neuroscience; presentations on frontal lobe function including decision making, behavioral control, and counter-factual thinking; a discussion of applications to criminal law; and presentations on measuring individual variation and subjective states including lie detection, pain assessment, and punishment.

 

Panel Dicussion: Should Criminal Law Be Reconsidered in Light of Advances in Neuroscience?

The Gruter Institute co-sponsored a panel discussion on April 7, 2008, at Harvard Law School, entitled Should Criminal Law be Reconsidered in Light of Advances in Neuroscience?.pdf? The other sponsors of the event were the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics of Harvard Law School.

 

State Judicial Law and Neuroscience Conference

The Education and Outreach Program of the MacArthur Law and Neuroscience Project held its inaugural conference, Neuroscience for Judges, the weekend of October 19-21, 2007, at Dartmouth's Minary Center in Holderness, New Hampshire. Seventeen state court judges attended. The conference was co-hosted by the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research and the National Judicial College ("NJC"). The topics for the conference included: an overview of the history and current state of neuroscience; adolescent brain maturation an decisionmaking; emerging issues at the intersection of neuroscience, law and ethics; the role of emotion in human thought; neuroeconomic perspectives on decisionmaking; and moral decision making. In addition, the judges were given an opportunity to discuss the implications neuroscience might have in the courtroom and to pose questions that neuroscience may help answer. A similar conference has been scheduled for another group of state judges in September 2008.

 

Gruter Institute to Take Part in MacArthur Foundation Grant on Law and Neuroscience

The Gruter Institute is delighted to announce that it will be taking part in a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation aimed at integrating new developments in neuroscience into the U.S. legal system. The Gruter Institute will work together with a distinguished and interdisciplinary group of scientists, legal scholars, jurists, and philosophers from across the country on this Project. The Gruter Institute will lead the education and outreach work under the grant, overseeing numerous yearly conferences aimed at educating state and federal judges and others in the legal arena about neuroscientific findings relevant to the law. The Project is supported by an initial, three-year $10 million grant for the MacArthur Foundation.

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