Brain Science For Lawyers Judges And Policymakers

Brain science in the form of neuroscientific evidence now appears frequently in courtrooms and policy discussions alike. Many legal issues are at stake, such as how to separate the best uses of brain science information from those that are potentially biasing or misleading. It is crucial to evaluate brain science evidence in light of relevant legal standards (such as the Daubert and Frye Rules). Brain Science for Lawyers, Judges, and Policymakers responds to this rapidly changing legal landscape, providing a user-friendly introduction to the fundamentals of neuroscience for lawyers, advocates, judges, legal academics, and policymakers. It features detailed but clear illustrations, as well as a comprehensive and accessible overview of developments in legally relevant neuroscience. Readers will learn brain science terms, how to understand and discuss brain structure and function in legally relevant contexts, and how to avoid over- or under-interpreting neuroscientific evidence. The book begins with a survey of the kinds of litigation, legislation, and regulation where neuroscience is currently being used. It provides accessible descriptions of basic brain anatomy and brain function as well as an overview of how modern technologies can reveal the brain structures and brain functions of individuals. It finishes with cautions and limitations, including timely and thought-provoking observations about where the future of neurolaw might lead. Throughout, the authors offer clear and concise guidance on understanding both the promise and the limitations of using brain science in law and policymaking.

"Because lawyers increasingly bring brain science into courtrooms and policy discussions, this book provides a user-friendly introduction. It begins with a survey of the kinds of litigation, legislation and regulation where neuroscience is currently being used. It continues with accessible descriptions of basic brain anatomy and brain function. It then provides an overview of how modern technologies can reveal the brain structures and brain functions of individuals. It finishes with cautions and limitations, and with a speculative peek into where the future of neurolaw might lead. Throughout, the authors offer guidance on understanding both the promise and the limitations of using brain science in law and policymaking"--

(temporary: from the Introduction) As a result, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation decided to support a three-year multidisciplinary initiative, The Law and Neuroscience Project, that created teams (termed "research networks") of lawyers, neuroscientists and philosophers to explore the appropriate conceptual relation of neuroscience and law and to engage in empirical investigations that would demonstrate the specific relevance of neuroscience to law. Although there was a substantial range of opinion among Project participants about the potential relevance of neuroscience to criminal law, it became apparent that a basic primer or handbook that set forth a statement of the relation as the authors understand it at present would be enormously helpful to practicing lawyers, judges, and legal policy makers as they increasingly were confronted with claims based on neuroscience information. The goal is to provide accurate information and to clarify the basic questions that will inevitable arise so that the criminal law can avoid confusion and mistakes based on inadequate understanding.

Rights of robots, a closer collaboration between law and the health sector, the relation between justice and development - these are some of the topics covered in The Law of the Future and the Future of Law: Volume II. The central question is: how will law evolve in the coming years? This book gives you a rich array of visions on current legal trends. The readable think pieces offer indications of law's cutting edge. The book brings new material that is not available in the first volume of The Law of the Future and the Future of Law, published in June 2011. Among the authors in this volume are William Twining (Emeritus Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, University College London), David Eagleman (Director, Initiative on Neuroscience and Law), Hassane Cisse (Deputy General Counsel, The World Bank), Gabrielle Marceau (Counsellor, World Trade Organisation), Benjamin Odoki (Chief Justice, Republic of Uganda), Martijn W. Scheltema (Attorney at law, Pels Rijcken and Droogleever Fortuijn), Austin Onuoha (Founder, The Africa Centre for Corporate Responsibility), Lokke Moerel (Partner, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek), S.I. Strong (Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution), Jan M. Smits (Chair of European Private Law, Maastricht University).

Explores the story of early brain development, its public communication, and its implications for parents, practitioners, and policymakers.

A leading neuroscientist explores with authority, with imagination, and with unparalleled mastery how the brain constructs the mind and how the brain makes that mind conscious. Antonio Damasio has spent the past thirty years researching and and revealing how the brain works. Here, in his most ambitious and stunning work yet, he rejects the long-standing idea that consciousness is somehow separate from the body, and presents compelling new scientific evidence that posits an evolutionary perspective. His view entails a radical change in the way the history of the conscious mind is viewed and told, suggesting that the brain’s development of a human self is a challenge to nature’s indifference. This development helps to open the way for the appearance of culture, perhaps one of our most defining characteristics as thinking and self-aware beings.

This volume investigates advances in the field of legal translation both from a theoretical and practical perspective, with professional and academic insights from leading experts in the field. Part I of the collection focuses on the exploration of legal translatability from a theoretical angle. Covering fundamental issues such as equivalence in legal translation, approaches to legal translation and the interaction between judicial interpretation and legal translation, the authors offer contributions from philosophical, rhetorical, terminological and lexicographical perspectives. Part II focuses on the analysis of legal translation from a practical perspective among different jurisdictions such as China, the EU and Japan, offering multiple and pluralistic viewpoints. This book presents a collection of studies in legal translation which not only provide the latest international research findings among academics and practitioners, but also furnish us with a new approach to, and new insights into, the phenomena and nature of legal translation and legal transfer. The collection provides an invaluable reference for researchers, practitioners, academics and students specialising in law and legal translation, philosophy, sociology, linguistics and semiotics.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Unfair succinctly and persuasively recounts cutting-edge research testifying to the faulty and inaccurate procedures that underpin virtually all aspects of our criminal justice system, illustrating many with case studies.”—The Boston Globe A child is gunned down by a police officer; an investigator ignores critical clues in a case; an innocent man confesses to a crime he did not commit; a jury acquits a killer. The evidence is all around us: Our system of justice is fundamentally broken. But it’s not for the reasons we tend to think, as law professor Adam Benforado argues in this eye-opening, galvanizing book. Even if the system operated exactly as it was designed to, we would still end up with wrongful convictions, trampled rights, and unequal treatment. This is because the roots of injustice lie not inside the dark hearts of racist police officers or dishonest prosecutors, but within the minds of each and every one of us. This is difficult to accept. Our nation is founded on the idea that the law is impartial, that legal cases are won or lost on the basis of evidence, careful reasoning and nuanced argument. But they may, in fact, turn on the camera angle of a defendant’s taped confession, the number of photos in a mug shot book, or a simple word choice during a cross-examination. In Unfair, Benforado shines a light on this troubling new field of research, showing, for example, that people with certain facial features receive longer sentences and that judges are far more likely to grant parole first thing in the morning. Over the last two decades, psychologists and neuroscientists have uncovered many cognitive forces that operate beyond our conscious awareness. Until we address these hidden biases head-on, Benforado argues, the social inequality we see now will only widen, as powerful players and institutions find ways to exploit the weaknesses of our legal system. Weaving together historical examples, scientific studies, and compelling court cases—from the border collie put on trial in Kentucky to the five teenagers who falsely confessed in the Central Park Jogger case—Benforado shows how our judicial processes fail to uphold our values and protect society’s weakest members. With clarity and passion, he lays out the scope of the legal system’s dysfunction and proposes a wealth of practical reforms that could prevent injustice and help us achieve true fairness and equality before the law.