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Mission

The Center for Law, Brain & Behavior puts the most accurate and actionable neuroscience in the hands of judges, lawyers, policymakers and journalists—people who shape the standards and practices of our legal system and affect its impact on people’s lives. We work to make the legal system more effective and more just for all those affected by the law.

vincent_150x150Gina Vincent, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Director of Translational Law & Psychiatry Research in Systems for Psychosocial Advances Research Center – SPARC (formerly the Center for Mental Health Services Research) in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. She received her PhD in the Forensic Psychology and Law program from Simon Fraser University in 2003. Dr. Vincent has received funding from NIDA, NIMH and the MacArthur Foundation for studies relevant to risk assessment for re-offending/violence, mental health screening, and addiction among youth involved in the juvenile justice system. She has a NIDA K01 Young Investigator’s Award to study the underlying functionalities of cocaine addiction among youth with callous-unemotional conduct disorder. She is also the Co-Director of the National Youth Screening &; Assessment Project (NYSAP; Director: Thomas Grisso), one of the national technical assistance centers for the MacArthur Models for Change Initiative – a national effort towards juvenile justice reform.

Dr. Vincent has specialized interests in both juvenile justice and adult offender populations, particularly with respect to implementation and policy research, violence and re-offending risk assessment, psychopathic personality disorder, and test construction. Her main goals pertain to the fair and accurate use of risk assessment procedures in juvenile justice and the neuropsychological relation between psychopathic traits and addiction.

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