The mission of the Education and Outreach Program is to move the knowledge created by the Research Networks into the deliberation of judges, legislators, and other policy makers, catalyzing change for the public good. Education and Outreach program Co-Directors Oliver Goodenough and Monika Gruter Cheney have lead this work in collaboration with the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research.
The Education & Outreach Program creates opportunities for judges and other legal experts to meet together with leading neuroscientists to discuss how neuroscience can shed light on problems of law and justice.
The Education & Outreach Program creates opportunities for judges and other legal experts to meet together with leading neuroscientists to discuss how neuroscience can shed light on problems of law and justice. The Program educates media and academic leaders on the intersection of neuroscience and the law and of the research findings of the Networks. In pursuit of these goals, the Education and Outreach Program will organize conferences each year for judges, legislators, practicing lawyers, or news reporters. These conferences will feature lectures and discussions led largely by members of the Research Networks. The goal has been to educate legal professionals about neuroscience's relevance to the law and to assist Network members to learn about each others' fields as they continue their interdisciplinary dialogue. Network members will also gather feedback from practicing legal professionals about which kinds of research will be most useful in real courtrooms. Many of the Education & Outreach conferences have been co-sponsored by the National Judicial College, Federal Judicial Center, and/or various state judicial educators.
Program Co-Director Oliver Goodenough is a law professor at Vermont Law School and Chair of Planning and Programming at the Gruter Institute for Law & Behavioral Research. Program Co-Director Monika Gruter Cheney is Executive Director of the Gruter Institute for Law & Behavioral Research.
Past Conferences and Reports
Law and Neuroscience for Judges
Northwestern Law School, Co-Sponsored by the National Judicial Center and Northwestern Law Searle Center, Chicago, IL. November 2-3, 2009.
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Law and Neuroscience for the Vermont State Legislature
Vermont Law School, South Royalton, VT. October 2, 2009.
Law and Neuroscience for California State Judges Association Conference
San Diego, CA. September 11-12, 2009.
Law and Neuroscience for New York State Judicial Conference
White Plains and Syracuse, NY. July 23, July 29, and August 6, 2009.
Law & Neuroscience for State Judges
Vanderbilt Law School, Nashville, TN. June 2009.
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Neuroscience in the Florida Courtroom: Illusion or Reality?
Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies, Fort Meyers, FL. June 1-5, 2009.
Law and Neuroscience
New York University, New York, NY. March 26-27, 2009.
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Law and Neuroscience
Organized by Maricopa County Judicial Education, with support from the MacArthur Foundation Project on Law and Neuroscience Project, Phoenix, AZ. March 6, 2009.
Seminar on Law and Neuroscience
Hosted by UC Riverside Extension with support from the MacArthur Foundation Law & Neuroscience Project, Riverside, CA. November 8, 2008.
Seminar: Neuroscientific Evidence – Can We Read People’s Minds By Scanning Their Brains?
A session of the Texas Judicial Section Annual Conference with support from the MacArthur Foundation Law & Neuroscience Project, Dallas, TX. September 16, 2008.
Conference for Judges: Law and Neuroscience
Dartmouth College, Minary Center, Holderness, NH. September 13-14, 2008.
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Conference: Neuroscience for Judges
Co-sponsored by the Federal Judicial Center, with support from the MacArthur Foundation Law & Neuroscience Project. Stanford Law School, Stanford, CA. June 5-6, 2008.
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Roundtable Panel: Should Criminal Law be Reconsidered in Light of Advances in Neuroscience?
Co-sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics of Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA. April 7, 2008
Neuroscience for Judges
The Education and Outreach Program sponsored its inaugural conference "Neuroscience for Judges" for 17 state court judges the weekend of October 19-21, 2007, at Dartmouth's Minary Center in Holderness, New Hampshire. The conference was co-hosted by the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research and the National Judicial College. The topics for the conference included: an overview of the history and current state of neuroscience; adolescent brain maturation and decision making; emerging issues at the intersection of neuroscience, law and ethics; the role of emotion in human thought; neuroeconomic perspectives on decision making; and moral decision making. In addition, the judges were given an opportunity to discuss the implications neuroscience might have in the courtroom and to pose questions that neuroscience may help answer.
Download the Conference Program