Neuroscience And Law

There have been extraordinary developments in the field of neuroscience in recent years, sparking a number of discussions within the legal field. This book studies the various interactions between neuroscience and the world of law, and explores how neuroscientific findings could affect some fundamental legal categories and how the law should be implemented in such cases. The book is divided into three main parts. Starting with a general overview of the convergence of neuroscience and law, the first part outlines the importance of their continuous interaction, the challenges that neuroscience poses for the concepts of free will and responsibility, and the peculiar characteristics of a “new” cognitive liberty. In turn, the second part addresses the phenomenon of cognitive and moral enhancement, as well as the uses of neurotechnology and their impacts on health, self-determination and the concept of being human. The third and last part investigates the use of neuroscientific findings in both criminal and civil cases, and seeks to determine whether they can provide valuable evidence and facilitate the assessment of personal responsibility, helping to resolve cases. The book is the result of an interdisciplinary dialogue involving jurists, philosophers, neuroscientists, forensic medicine specialists, and scholars in the humanities; further, it is intended for a broad readership interested in understanding the impacts of scientific and technological developments on people’s lives and on our social systems.

Adopting a broadly compatibilist approach, this volume's authors argue that the behavioral and mind sciences do not threaten the moral foundations of legal responsibility. Rather, these sciences provide fresh insight into human agency and updated criteria as well as powerful diagnostic and intervention tools for assessing and altering minds.

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.

This handbook, the result of a three-year multidisciplinary initiative supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundation, brings lawyers, neuroscientists, and philosophers together to explore the appropriate relation between neuroscience and law.

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.

Applying our new found knowledge from neuroscience to the discipline of law seems a natural development - the making, considering, and enforcing of law of course rests on mental processes. However, there are real issues that the legal system will face as neurobiological studies continue to relentlessly probe the human mind. This volume represents the first serious attempt to address questions of law as reflecting brain activity, emphasizing that it is the organization and functioning of the brain that determines how we enact and obey laws.

Current Legal Issues, like its sister volume Current Legal Problems, is based upon an annual colloquium held at Univesity College London. Each year leading scholars from around the world gather to discuss the relationship between law and another discipline of thought. Each colloquium examines how the external discipline is conceived in legal thought and argument, how the law is pictured in that discipline, and analyses points of controversy in the use, and abuse, of extra-legal arguments within legal theory and practice. Law and Neuroscience, the latest volume in the Current Legal Issues series, offers an insight into the state of law and nueroscience scholarship today. Focussing on the inter-connections between the two disciplines, it addresses the key issues informing current debates.

This volume illustrates to the public, and legal experts, the basic principles of the field of neuroscience, that commonly goes under the name of Neurolaw. First, it illustrates the relationship between neuroscience, natural sciences and social sciences. Furthermore, it highlights numerous problems concerning the fundamental philosophical concepts used by Neurolaw and evaluates the validity of the method and the limits of a neuroscientific approach to the problems of law and justice.The volume explores the possibility of application of these concepts on the fundamentals of the general theory of law and legal dogmatics. It also examines the main problems of Neurolaw in relation to public, private, criminal and procedural law. In conclusion, the book follows a systematic method that makes it an thorough manual for the introduction to Neurolaw.