Neurolaw In The Courtroom

This collection presents a comparative perspective on interdisciplinary issues that fall under the emerging field of Neurolaw. The chapters embrace distinct procedural and evidential issues in the courtroom for vulnerable defendants, such as immature defendants, mentally disordered offenders and unfit-to-plead defendants, through a neuroscientific lens. This view is informed by worldwide analyses from legal academics, philosophers, and legal practitioners. The work brings together interdisciplinary and leading perspectives to discuss the use and relevancy of neuroscience at trial, and how the use of neuroscience is currently benefiting and impacting vulnerable defendants in global criminal trials. As such, the book builds upon and adds to the existing literature in this field by providing a comprehensive coverage of the intersection between these disciplines for vulnerable defendants in the courtroom. Key issues covered include: vulnerable defendants and the pre-trial process; the trial process; the use of neuroscience as expert evidence at trial; and vulnerable defendants, neuroscience and mitigation of sentence. Through original exploration presented by contributors from both academia and practice, the book will be of interest to academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of Criminal Law and Procedure.

This collection presents a comparative perspective on interdisciplinary issues that fall under the emerging field of Neurolaw. The chapters embrace distinct procedural and evidential issues in the courtroom for vulnerable defendants, such as immature defendants, mentally disordered offenders and unfit-to-plead defendants, through a neuroscientific lens. This view is informed by worldwide analyses from legal academics, philosophers, and legal practitioners. The work brings together interdisciplinary and leading perspectives to discuss the use and relevancy of neuroscience at trial, and how the use of neuroscience is currently benefiting and impacting vulnerable defendants in global criminal trials. As such, the book builds upon and adds to the existing literature in this field by providing a comprehensive coverage of the intersection between these disciplines for vulnerable defendants in the courtroom. Key issues covered include: vulnerable defendants and the pre-trial process; the trial process; the use of neuroscience as expert evidence at trial; and vulnerable defendants, neuroscience and mitigation of sentence. Through original exploration presented by contributors from both academia and practice, the book will be of interest to academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of Criminal Law and Procedure.

This edited book provides an in-depth examination of the implications of neuroscience for the criminal justice system. It draws together experts from across law, neuroscience, medicine, psychology, criminology, and ethics, and offers an important contribution to current debates at the intersection of these fields. It examines how neuroscience might contribute to fair and more effective criminal justice systems, and how neuroscientific insights and information can be integrated into criminal law in a way that respects fundamental rights and moral values. The book’s first part approaches these questions from a legal perspective, followed by ethical accounts in part two. Its authors address a wide range of topics and approaches: some more theoretical, like those regarding the foundations of punishment; others are more practical, like those concerning the use of brain scans in the courtroom. Together, they illustrate the thoroughly interdisciplinary nature of the debate, in which science, law and ethics are closely intertwined. It will appeal in particular to students and scholars of law, neuroscience, criminology, socio-legal studies and philosophy. Chapter 8 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The implications for law of new neuroscientific techniques and findings are now among the hottest topics in legal, academic, and media venues. Law and Neuroscience—a collaboration of professors in law, neuroscience, and biology—is the first and still only coursebook to chart this new territory, providing the world’s most comprehensive collection of neurolaw materials. This text will be of interest to many professors teaching Criminal Law and Torts courses, who would like to incorporate the most current thinking on how biology intersects with the law. New to the Second Edition: Extensively revised chapters, updated with new findings and materials. New chapter on Aging Brains Hundreds of new references and citations to recent developments. Over 600 new references and citations to recent developments, with 260 new readings, including 27 new case selections Highly current material; 45% of cases and publications in the Second Edition were published since the first edition in 2014 Professors and students will benefit from: Technical subjects explained in an accessible manner Extensive glossary of key terms Photos and illustrations enliven the text Professors of any background can teach this course

Examines the particularly prescient implications that neuroscience has for legal responsibility, highlighting the philosophical and practical challenges that arise.

This book introduces readers to the basic principles of the field of neuroscience, which are commonly referred to as Neurolaw. First, it illustrates the relationship between neuroscience, the natural sciences and social sciences. Furthermore, it highlights numerous problems concerning the fundamental philosophical concepts employed by Neurolaw and assesses the validity of the method and the limits of pursuing a neuroscientific approach to problems of law and justice. The book explores the feasibility of applying these concepts to the fundamentals of the general theory of law and legal dogmatics, while also examining the main problems of Neurolaw in relation to public, private, criminal and procedural law. Employing a systematic approach and methodology, the book offers members of the general public and legal experts alike a valuable and insightful introduction to Neurolaw.

(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.

Whereas the past few years have repeatedly been referred to as the “era of biotechnology”, most recently the impression has emerged that at least the same degree of attention is being paid to the latest developments in the field of neurosciences. It has now become nearly impossible to maintain an overview of the number of research projects dealing with the functionality of the brain – for example concerning its organizational structure – or projects dealing with the topics of legal responsibility, brain-computer interface applications, neuromarketing, lie detection or mind reading. These procedures are connected to a number of legal questions concerning the framework conditions of research projects as well as the right approach to the findings generated. Given the primary importance of the topic for the latest developments, it is essential to compare the different legal systems and strategies that they offer for dealing with these legal implications. Therefore, the book International Neurolaw – A Comparative Analysis contains several country reports from around the world, as well as those of international organizations such as UNESCO, in order to show the different legal approaches to the topic and possible interactions.