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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The status of NeuroLaw: A plea for current modesty and future cautious optimism

By Stephen J. Morse
Journal of Psychiatry and Law
39/Winter 2011

Abstract

Legislators, jurists, and advocates often turn to science to solve complicated normative problems addressed by the law.  This article addresses what motivates these parties, surveys the psychology of law and its concepts of the person and responsibility, and describes the general relation of neuroscience to law in terms of the issue of “translation.”  Numerous distractions have clouded our understanding of the relationship between scientific, causal accounts of behavior and responsibility. The notion of “NeuroLaw” is examined here in detail, with the conclusion that a cautious optimism regarding the contributions of neuroscience to the law is warranted.

The entire article is here.