On Thursday, November 20, 2014, at the Bornstein Amphitheater at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, CLBB and the Boston Society for Neurology and Psychiatry co-sponsored a talk by Steven Pinker, renowned Harvard cognitive psychologist, linguist, and popular author, to discuss his most recent book, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. Video of the event is included below in its entirety and at our Vimeo page. Continue reading »

While we may believe that we choose and direct our movements consciously, the physiology of human motor control provides compelling evidence that this sense of conscious decision – free will – is a perception only.

On Thursday, October 2, 2014, at the Bornstein Amphitheater at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, CLBB and the Boston Society for Neurology and Psychiatry co-sponsored an event exploring how an understanding of human motor control can contribute to the question of free will. Video of the event is included below in its entirety and at our Vimeo page. Continue reading »

Dr. Ekaterina Pivovarova

On September 12-14, 2014, the Atlanta Neuroethics Consortium was held at Georgia State University. The topic, Neuro-Interventions and the Law: Regulating Human Mental Capacity, brought together leading scholars on philosophy, neuroscience, law, cognitive and clinical psychology, psychiatry, and bioethics. The participants included Judge Andre Davis, Nita Farahany, Stephen Morse, Francis Shen, Walter Sinnot-Armstrong, Nicole Vincent, and Paul Root Wolpe. The conference panels, talks, and keynotes addressed pressing issues about managing and appropriately utilizing novel neuroscientific technologies as they relate to legal issues. Continue reading »

November 4, 2025, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM ET | Virtual

Register for this event here.

In Roper v. Simmons (2005), the U.S. Supreme Court barred the death penalty for crimes committed under 18, grounding its reasoning in developmental science. 

Yet Jones v. Mississippi (2021) upheld discretionary life without parole, leaving states to decide how science should inform sentencing. In the wake of Jones, courts across the country are reexamining whether these protections should extend to “emerging adults.” 

Co-sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center and the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, this presentation explores how neuroscience is reshaping state sentencing laws and includes reflections from an individual incarcerated at 20 and released under Commonwealth v. Mattis.

Panelists: 

• Moderator: Stephanie Tabashneck, PsyD, JD, Senior Fellow of Law and Applied Neuroscience, Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School; Licensed Psychologist and Attorney; and Director, CLBB Neurolaw Library

• Ernest “Nate” Benjamin released from prison in August 2025 after 30+ years of incarceration. He is currently a student at Tufts University in the Tufts Education and Reentry Network program (MyTern). Nate has many years of experience speaking with at-risk youth and training men to facilitate groups in gang prevention, violence reduction, and victim empathy.

• Andrew Charroux is a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital supporting the development of the CLBB NeuroLaw Library, an open access database providing actionable neuroscience resources to be used in the judicial system. As a Keasbey Scholar, he earned his M.Phil. in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine from the University of Cambridge.

August 29, 2025 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM EST

The Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, the Dana Foundation, and the Neurotech Justice Accelerator at Mass General Brigham are co-sponsoring an intensive 1-day virtual course for students, lawyers, and all who want to harness neuroscience to transform the law. Join Dr. Francis X. Shen, JD, PhD—Neurolaw Bootcamp Director and Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School—along with expert presenters Leah Somerville, PhD, Harvard University, Oliver Rollins, PhD, MIT, Robert Kinscherff, JD, PhD, Executive Director, MGH Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, and Deborah Denno, JD, PhD, Fordham Law School.

Topics include Law & the Developing Brain, Neuroscience in the Courtroom, Brain-Based Lie Detection, and Critical Perspectives.

Free for students and recent graduates. Zoom registration required by August 25, 2025. Learn more and register at www.fxshen.com/neurolawbootcamp

The MGH Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior (CLBB) is excited to announce that Rohan Kandeshwarath, former CLBB Research Assistant and member of Michigan Law’s Class of 2025, is a recipient of the 2025 Equal Justice Works Fellowship!

Rohan will return to the CLBB and Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office Young Adult Program, which covers the cities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, where he will work at the intersection of law and neuroscience to develop alternatives to incarceration and disrupt the “cradle to prison pipeline” through a pilot program for emerging adults 18 to 25 years old.

https://michigan.law.umich.edu/news/alumni-receive-equal-justice-works-fellowships

CLBB and Petrie-Flom Center | April 8, 2025 12:20-1:20 PM EST | Harvard Law School

Watch the recording of this event here.

Adolescents—human and animal alike—take risks, challenge authority, and navigate social hierarchies as part of their development. In her book Wildhood, researcher, physician, and author Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz explores how these behaviors are biologically ingrained and essential for survival. This event will examine how evolutionary biology supports the Supreme Court’s “Children Are Different” jurisprudence, reinforcing why adolescent decision-making should be understood through science rather than punishment. Dr. Natterson-Horowitz discussed Wildhood, and Marsha Levick, Esq., Chief Legal Officer and co-founder of Juvenile Law Center, connected this groundbreaking research to legal questions around juvenile confessions, Miranda rights, and competence to stand trial.

Panelists:

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, MD, PhD, Lecturer, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Lecturer, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, UCLA School of Medicine; Author, Wildhood

Marsha Levick, Esq, Chief Legal Officer and Co-founder, Juvenile Law Center

This event was organized by the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School with support from the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

Cosponsored by the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard Kennedy School and the Youth Advocacy & Policy Lab‘s Child Advocacy Clinic at Harvard Law School.

Explore CLBB’s comprehensive White Paper addressing the growing crisis of financial exploitation among older adults with cognitive decline. This resource offers practical tools, strategies, and policy recommendations to protect vulnerable individuals while supporting financial independence.

Access the PDF Here.