Neurolaw and Order

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2017

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The latest findings in neuroscience are increasingly affecting the justice system in America. Owen Jones, professor of law and biology at Vanderbilt University, explores where neurolaw is making its mark and where the discipline is heading.

One significant finding from MRI scanners is that the adolescent brain continues to develop right into the early- and mid-twenties. The fact that we are not ‘adults’ at age 18 is having big repercussions in the legal system.

In San Francisco, the entire way that young offenders of crimes such as armed robbery up to the age of 25 are treated is adapting to the brain data.

More and more, neuroscientists are testifying in courts, often to mitigate sentences including the death penalty in juveniles. Other times, they highlight rare brain abnormalities that cause violent and antisocial behaviour, which helps justify a lighter sentence.

However, young brains are still malleable. In Wisconsin, brain imaging of juvenile prisoners can detect psychopathic markers. Once identified, staff can employ techniques to de-programme those antisocial traits and rehabilitate prisoners to ready them for, they hope, a crime-free life outside.

And this is simply the first generation of neurolaw – where to next?

(Photo: Human head scan, coloured magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of healthy brain. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello from the BBC World Service and welcome to the latest edition of the
0:05.0	documentary podcast. Every week we bring you a range of stories from our
0:09.8	presenters and reporters across the world.
0:13.0	If you have the time, please rate the documentary on your podcast app and leave us a comment.
0:18.1	Let us know what you think.
0:20.3	What do you think I'm going to talk to you about in the week?
0:23.2	This is a courtroom here in downtown San Francisco.
0:27.6	The judge presides over a room bustling with young offenders,
0:31.3	attorneys, probation officers, and case managers.
0:35.0	But this is no ordinary courtroom.
0:38.0	This one has been inspired by recent advances in neuroscience.
0:42.0	We're going to take a short recess, ladies and gentlemen,
0:44.0	back for about five minutes.
0:46.0	All right?
0:47.0	I'm Owen Jones, Professor of Law and Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, and I've been fascinated
0:57.1	by how the inner workings of our brain can sometimes lead to bad behavior. In this documentary for the BBC World Service, I'll be
1:06.1	exploring how advances in brain science are increasingly having an impact on US
1:11.8	criminal courts and prisons in neurolaw and order.
1:16.0	My name is Katie Miller and I'm the Chief of Alternative Programs in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.
1:28.0	The Young Adult Court is a new approach that we're taking in San Francisco and what we were seeing
1:35.0	was that young people were really disproportionately represented in our justice
1:39.8	system. So in San Francisco young adults make up about 8% of our population, but they represent about a quarter of the folks in our justice system, and about half of our violent cases like robberies.
	...

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