News and Commentary Archive

Explore recent scientific discoveries and news as well as CLBB events, commentary, and press.

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.

Brain Science and Criminal Justice: Promise, Peril, and a Path Forward

CLBB Executive Director Dr. Francis Shen presented his work on the ethics of emerging neurotechnologies and their criminal justice implications to the Science Policy Group at UC Berkeley. The Science Policy Group is composed of policy-minded scientists who are committed to bridging gaps between science, technology, policy, and equity. 

Brain Based Justice Reform: Psychiatry, Neuroscience and the Law

CLBB Co-Director and Co-Founder Judith Edersheim, JD, MD presented at the 3rd Annual Carol W. Taylor Grand Rounds, sponsored by the Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatry Academy. 


Dr. Edersheim explained that for centuries, the law has been premised on a now outdated model of mental activity which is derived from a combination of philosophical theories of mind and stereotyped inferences from observed behavior. Modern neuroscience, with its ability to reveal the neurobiologic foundations of human behavior, has begun to influence legal standards, with the potential to revolutionize the law and promote just legal outcomes. This lecture briefly reviewed current legal conceptions of mental activity and the use of case studies to demonstrate how recent discoveries in the fields of adolescent neurodevelopment and the neurobiology of substance use have already begun to advance fairness and equity in the legal system. Watch the lecture here

Teaching Law and Neuroscience: A Book Launch for the 2nd Edition of the Law and Neuroscience Casebook

March 15, 2021, 12:00pm-1:00pm ET | Center for Law, Brain and Behavior

In 2014 the first Law and Neuroscience casebook was co-authored by Owen Jones, Jeffrey Schall, and CLBB Executive Director Francis Shen. Publication of the casebook and momentum in the field of neurolaw have contributed to the emergence of law and neuroscience courses in schools across the country. This year marks the publication of the second edition of the Law and Neuroscience casebook. Reflecting the speed at which the field is developing, 45% of cases and publications in the second edition were published since the first edition in 2014. The new edition includes over 600 new references and citations to recent developments, with 260 new readings, including 27 new case selections. 
This event served as a book launch for the new edition, and featured a dialogue between the co-authors of the casebook and two professors who are currently teaching from the new materials: CLBB Managing Director Judge (Ret.) Nancy Gertner, who introduced the first Law & Neuroscience course at Harvard Law School, and neuroscientist Dr. Sally Bernardina Seraphin, who created the first Law and Neuroscience course at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. All are welcome to watch the recording of the event to learn more about the field of neurolaw.