Neurolaw
I am founder and co-director of the Center for Science and Law, which studies how new discoveries in neuroscience should navigate the way we make laws, punish criminals, and develop rehabilitation. The project brings together a unique collaboration of neurobiologists, legal scholars, and policy makers, with the goal of building modern, evidence-based policy.
I serve as a faculty affiliate at the Criminal Justice Institute at the University of Houston Law Center, as well as adjunct faculty in Social Sciences at Rice University.
For more about our neurolaw research, read my manifesto in The Atlantic, watch the videos below, listen to an interview on Terry Gross' Fresh Air, or browse some of the articles from the Initiative:
- Ormachea PA, Davenport S, Haarsma G, Jarman A, Henderson H, Eagleman DM (2016). Enabling individualized criminal sentencing while reducing subjectivity: a tablet-based assessment of recidivism risk. AMA Journal of Ethics, 18:243-251.
- Ormachea PA, Savjani RR, DeLaGarza R, Eagleman DM (2016). The role of neuroscience in drug policy: Promises and prospects. Journal of Science and Law, 2(1): 1-15.
- Ormachea PA, Haarsma G, Davenport S, Eagleman DM (2015). A new criminal records database for large scale analysis of policy and behavior. Journal of Science and Law. 1(1):1-7.
- Plitt MH, Savjani RR, Eagleman DM (2014). Are corporations people too?: The neural correlates of moral judgments about corporations and individuals. Social Neuroscience. 1-13. DOI:10.1080/17470919.2014.978026 [Full text]
- Eagleman DM, Isgur S (2012). Defining a neurocompatibility index for systems of law. In Law of the Future, Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law. 1(2012):161-172.
- Bumann B, Eagleman DM (2012). Intuitions of blameworthiness as a heuristic that evaluates the probability of the offender committing future antisocial acts. Thurgood Marshall Law Review. 36(2):129-155.
- Eagleman DM (2011). The Brain on Trial. The Atlantic. July 2011.
- Eagleman DM (2011). Turning our minds to the law. The Telegraph. Apr 5, 2011.
- Eagleman DM, Correro MA, Singh J (2010). Why neuroscience matters for a rational drug policy. Minnesota Journal of Law, Science and Technology.
- Eagleman DM (2008). Neuroscience and the Law. Houston Lawyer. 16(6): 36-40.
For more detail on all our projects, please visit SciLaw.org.
A talk on neurolaw at the RSA in London
A short interview on Reason.tv about the main issues in neurolaw
From the Blog
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Why I am a Possibilian
Our ignorance of the cosmos is too vast to commit to atheism, and yet we know too much to commit to a particular religion. A third position, agnosticism, is often an uninteresting stance in which a person simply questions whether his traditional religious story is true or not true. I call myself a possibilian. Find out why.
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A new map of the human brain
New paper in Nature describes the most highly detailed map of the human cortex so far.
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James Holmes’ Brain: Some Initial Speculations
In the wake of the Aurora movie theater shooting, many people had the same questions: What kind of derangement is indicated by the horrific acts of James Holmes? What is wrong with his brain? How will his mental state play out in the courts?
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Profile in The New Yorker
I had the pleasure of being profiled by my favorite magazine, The New Yorker. Read the article here.
