How Actors in the Criminal Justice System Use Social Neuroscientific Evidence

• In Event: Neurocriminological Factors for Antisocial Behaviors and Their Implications

Abstract

Much of the debate surrounding the intersection of social neuroscience and criminal law stems from simplistic and wrong-headed assumptions about how prosecutors and defense attorneys use social neuroscientific evidence differently. My work-in-progress will provide quantitative and qualitative results from my analysis of my "Neuroscience Study," an original data set of every criminal case in the United States (over 9,000 cases) that addressed social neuroscientific evidence over twelve decades (1900-2022). This work-in-progress springboards from my scholarship on this topic, contending that social neuroscience contributes to more comprehensive and accurate assessments of a defendant's blameworthiness and, therefore, greater fairness in the criminal justice system.

Author

• Deborah Denno, Fordham University School of Law