NEUROSCIENCE AND THE LAW

Convened by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Main | Products | Workshop Participants | October 2004 News Article

Description

The 1990s was the "Decade of the Brain," and now, in the new millennium, the knowledge and technologies resulting from increased emphasis on research are beginning to produce an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the brain. Yet, while advances in neuroscience continue at a rapid rate, their ethical and legal implications are only beginning to be considered.

Ultimately, what neuroscience teaches us about human behavior could inform how we think about some of the core constructs of the law-including free will and responsibility, competency, and witness veracity. Considering how developments in neuroscience might interact with the law led AAAS to convene a meeting with participants drawn from both the legal and neuroscience communities. Lawyers, judges, legal scholars, philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and neuroscientists engaged in a dialogue on the relationship between neuroscience and law, and sought to contribute to the larger public discourse by identifying some central issues and suggesting directions for future efforts.

The meeting participants did not attempt to reach a definitive set of findings in this still-developing area, but to identify and give intellectual shape to some of the central questions and considerations to address in future efforts. Over one-and-a-half-days, twenty-seven participants wrestled with the formidable task of projecting where neuroscience might lead us and how the law might affect those developments and be affected by them. The participants discussed a broad range of topics, a dialogue anchored by four papers commissioned to serve as the shared intellectual framework.

Predicting the future is always a challenge, since one must speculate on both the direction that advances in science and technology will take and on what the impacts of such innovations will be. Among the questions raised by the participants are:

• How will advances in neuroscientific methods for predicting behavior impact the legal system, and how will our society use these advances?
• What would neuroscience-based lie detection mean for witnesses testifying in court?
• How might neuroscientific knowledge put people at risk for discrimination in schools, the workplace, and elsewhere?
• Are there either benefits or risks to justice and society from enhancing or modifying one's brain through pharmacological or other technologies?
• What roles will the legal system play in the societal debate over human enhancement?

The relationship between science, technology and the law is a dynamic one, with each exerting influence over the other. Advances in science and technology can, and often do, challenge traditional legal concepts and practices. It is also the case that the fate of science and technology is shaped, in part, by how the law is interpreted and applied. It makes sense, therefore, to engage in an effort to highlight the special issues raised at the intersection of neuroscience and the law.

A report on the meeting, along with the four commissioned papers, is available as Neuroscience and the Law: Brain, Mind, and the Scales of Justice (New York & Washington, D.C.: Dana Press, 2004). A summary version of the meeting report can be downloaded here. The meeting was funded by the Dana Foundation.