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Law and the Brain

Law and the Brain

Author: Semir Zeki; Oliver Goodenough
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198570110
Published In: March 2006
Format: Paperback , 290 pages
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Considers the societal and political implications of our new found knowledge from the neurosciences
Applies the most recent developments in brain science to debates over criminal responsibility, cooperation and punishment, deception, moral and legal judgment, property, evolutionary psychology, law and economics, and decision-making by judges and juries
Written and edited by leading specialists spanning neurobiology and the law

The past 20 years have seen unparalleled advances in neurobiology, with findings from neuroscience being used to shed light on a range of human activities - many historically the province of those in the humanities and social sciences - aesthetics, emotion, consciousness, music. Applying this new knowledge to law seems a natural development - the making, considering, and enforcing of law of course rests on mental processes. However, where some of those activities can be studied with a certain amount of academic detachment, what we discover about the brain has considerable implications for how we consider and judge those who follow or indeed flout the law - with inevitable social and political consequences. There are real issues that the legal system will face as neurobiological studies continue to relentlessly probe the human mind - the motives for our actions, our decision making processes, and such issues as free will and responsibility.

This volume represents a first serious attempt to address questions of law as reflecting brain activity, emphasizing that it is the organization and functioning of the brain that determines how we enact and obey laws. It applies the most recent developments in brain science to debates over criminal responsibility, cooperation and punishment, deception, moral and legal judgment, property, evolutionary psychology, law and economics, and decision-making by judges and juries. Written and edited by leading specialists from a range of disciplines, the book presents a groundbreaking and challenging new look at human behaviour.

Introduction

1: Semir Zeki & Oliver Goodenough: Law and the Brain - an introduction

Introductory Essays

2: Morris Hoffman: The neuroeconomic path of the law

3: Erin O'Hara: How neuroscience might advance the law

Law, Biology and the Brain

4: Robert Hinde: Law and the sources of morality

5: Owen Jones: Law, evolution and the brain: applications and open questions

6: Oliver Goodenough & Kristin Prehn: A neuroscientific approach to normative judgment in law and justice

Neuroeconomics and Law

7: Terrence Chorvath & Kevin McCabe: The brain and the law

8: Paul Zak: Neuroeconomics

Decision Making and Evidence

9: Jonathan Fugelsang & Kevin Dunbar: A cognitive neuroscience framework for understanding causal reasoning and the law

Truthfulness

10: Sean Spence et al: A cognitive neurobiological account of deception: evidence from functional neuroimaging

Property in Biology and the Brain

11: Jeffrey Stake: The property 'instinct'

Criminal Responsibility and Punishment

12: Joshua Greene & Jonathan Cohen: For the law, neuroscience changes nothing and everything

13: Robert Sapolsky: The frontal cortex and the criminal justice system

14: Abigail Baird & Jonathan Fugelsang: The emergence of consequential thought: evidence from neuroscience

15: Oliver Goodenough: Responsibility and punishment: whose mind? A response

Edited by Semir Zeki, Department of Anatomy, University College, London, UK, and Oliver Goodenough, Vermont Law School, South Royalton, USA

Contributors:
Abigail Baird, Dept of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH, USA
Terrence Chorvath, School of Law, George Mason University, Arlington VA, USA
Jonathan Cohen, Dept of Psychology, Center for the Study for Brain, Mind & Behavior, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA
Kevin Dunbar, Dept of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH, USA
Tom Farrow, Dept of Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, Longley Centre, Sheffield, UK
Jonathan Fugelsang, Dept of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH, USA
V Ganesan, Dept of Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, Longley Centre, Sheffield, UK
Oliver Goodenough, Vermont Law School, South Royalton VT, USA
Russell Green, Dept of Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, Longley Centre, Sheffield, UK
Joshua Greene, Dept of Psychology, Center for the Study for Brain, Mind & Behavior, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA
Robert Hinde, St John's College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
Morris Hoffman, 2nd Judicial District (Denver), State of Colorado, Denver CO, USA
Catherine Hughes, Dept of Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, Longley Centre, Sheffield, UK
Mike Hunter, Dept of Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, Longley Centre, Sheffield, UK
Owen Jones, Vanderbilt Law School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN, USA
David Leung, Dept of Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, Longley Centre, Sheffield, UK
Kevin McCabe, School of Law, George Mason University, Arlington VA, USA
Erin O'Hara, Vanderbilt Law School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN, USA
Kristin Prehn, Berlin Neuroimaging Centre, Charite Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Robert Sapolsky, Dept of Biological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford CA, USA
Sean Spence, Dept of Academic Clinical Psychiatry, University of Sheffield, Longley Centre, Sheffield, UK
Jeffrey Stake, Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington IN, USA
Paul Zak, Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont CA, USA
Semir Zeki, Laboratory of Neurobiology, University College, London, UK

"...an exciting new area of inquiry and this book is a great representation of this extremely interesting subject." - Doody's Notes

"This collection of fourteen fascinating and beautifully written essays is the first emphatic assertion that the law needs neuroscience if it is not to be a hopeless intellectual ostrich, and the first attempt to write a tentative agenda for the debate that has to happen. Few subjects matter more. Anyone who wants to learn the vocabulary of the subject needs this book." - British Journal of Psychiatry Vol 189