Sinnott-Armstrong co-directs new initiative
A new three-year project, with $10 million in funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, will bring together distinguished scientists, legal scholars,
jurists, and philosophers from across the country to help integrate new
developments in neuroscience into the U.S. legal system. The Law and
Neuroscience Project, which will be centered at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB),
aims to bridge the fields of law and science in considering how courts should
deal with new brain-scanning techniques as they apply to matters of law.
 Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
(Photo by Joseph Mehling ’69)
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Dartmouth Philosophy Professor
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, the
Hardy Professor of Legal Studies, is the co-director of this initiative. Michael Gazzaniga ’61, a
professor of psychology at UCSB, is the director and principal
investigator.
“Neuroscientific evidence has already been used to persuade jurors in
sentencing decisions, and courts have admitted brain-imaging evidence during
criminal trials to support pleas of insanity,” said Gazzaniga in a news
release. “Without a solid, mutual understanding of each others’ fields, lawyers
and judges cannot respond in an informed way to developments in neuroscience,
and scientists cannot properly advise lawyers or recognize the legal relevance
of their current and future research.” Gazzaniga also directs the Sage Center for the Study of the
Mind at UCSB.
“We’re hoping to have a real impact on the legal system,” says
Sinnott-Armstrong. “We’d like to inform lawyers and judges, bring about reform,
and prevent abuses or misconceptions in court about the current understanding
of neuroscience.”
The project’s objectives include engaging in basic research that informs
legal questions, developing primers and organizing conferences for judges, and
pursuing opportunities for public outreach. Three separate networks have been
established to examine three areas of brain activity as they relate to criminal
responsibility: abnormal brains, addiction, and decision-making. Each network
is comprised of legal experts, neuroscientists, and philosophers or ethicists.
Sinnott-Armstrong will participate in all the networks and facilitate
communication among them.
More than 15 universities are involved in The Law and Neuroscience Project,
bringing together at least 45 experts who will contribute to the effort over
the course of three years.
“We’ve got a two-pronged job ahead of us,” says Sinnott-Armstrong. “We need
to provide evidence that helps inform and inspires changes, and we’ve got to
prevent distortions of the science that leads to inappropriate decisions in
court.”
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