Fordham Law Review‘s recent symposium on Neuroscience is featured in a Huffington Post article weighing the science’s place in the courtroom. The article quotes Professor Deborah Denno, Director of the Neuroscience and Law Center at Fordham Law School.
At a Fordham University Law School symposium on Friday, “Criminal Behavior and the Brain: When Law and Neuroscience Collide,” legal and brain science experts came together to discuss issues in the intersection of brain science and the law.
Drawing on insights from experts at the symposium, here are four benefits and challenges to bringing neuroscience into the courtroom.
1. Brain science evidence can offer an indication of aggressive tendencies.
2. Neuroscience may help us to construct a better insanity defense.
3. Brain images may raise more questions than answers.
4. Right now, neuroscience isn’t entirely ready for the courtroom.
“Whether people think the science is ready, it’s coming in,” Dr. Deborah Denno, director of the Neuroscience and Law Center at Fordham Law Center, said.
For many years, courts have allowed in psychiatric evidence of mental illness. Denno argues that, with caution, courts should include neuroscience evidence as much as psychiatric evidence.