The Brain and the Law

Catalog description

How does neuroscience intersect with the making of laws, the punishment of criminals, and the development of rehabilitation? Is it a legitimate defense to claim that a tumor made you do it? How are the brains of minors different from adult brains? Should brain imaging be leveraged for sentencing? How should culpability be assessed, given that we're all steered by genetic and environmental influences over which we have no choice? This course covers the biological underpinnings that have legal consequences, with an eye toward designing evidence-based policy. Topics include responsibility, punishment, prediction, rehabilitation, brain death, genetics, competence, technologies, and ethics.