Exploring what neuroscience may mean for criminal justice

Last week brought these two notable pieces in response to some recent research on psychology, neuroscience and the law.  Here are links and brief excerpts:

From Andrew Calderson at The Marshall Project, "Dangerous Brain: Can neuroscience predict how likely someone is to commit another crime?"

Over the past two decades, brain scans and other neuroscientific evidence have become commonplace in courtrooms. So much so that a defendant can file an “ineffective assistance of counsel” claim if his or her lawyer fails to introduce relevant brain tests. And defense lawyers ordinarily submit brain imaging to bolster claims of their clients’ incompetency or insanity.

Still some legal scholars and attorneys decry the growing presence of neuroscience in courtrooms, calling it a “double-edged sword” that either unduly exonerates defendants or marks them as irredeemable future dangers. “But that’s not right,” said Deborah Denno, a professor and director of the Neuroscience and Law Center at Fordham University Law School, who conducted an analysis of every criminal case that used neuroscientific evidence from 1992 to 2012.  Her analysis showed that brain evidence is typically introduced to aid fact-finding with more “complete, reliable, and precise information.”  She also showed that it is rarely used to support arguments of future dangerousness.

To date, neuroprediction has not been admitted into the courtroom or parole hearings. Some scholars, like Thomas Nadelhoffer, a fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, who popularized the term neuroprediction, argue that the science is reliable enough to integrate with other risk assessments.

From Dane Stallone at The Crime Report, "How Neuroscience is Reforming Criminal Justice"

In the courtroom, testimony or evidence about abnormalities or damage to a defendant’s brain has been used to assess the level of responsibility for criminal behavior. But new research into how the brain works is contributing to innovative strategies for reducing recidivism and developing alternatives to incarceration.

The Mind Research Network, a non-profit based in Albuquerque, N.M., has been on the forefront of discovering how the brains of psychopaths and violent offenders differ from the average person’s.  Psychopaths make up a substantial part of prison population and are 20 to 25 times more likely to be in prison than non-psychopaths.  Dr. Kent Kiehl, a lead researcher for the network, says the research can help target appropriate treatment for example, for youths who have demonstrated violent behavioral traits.  “This will improve our ability to predict which kids are high-risk, and how to individually tailor treatment to help kids change,” he told The Crime Report.