The neuroscience of adolescent brain development has had increasing impact on American jurisprudence. The U.S. Supreme Court relied on this neuroscience in Roper v. Simmons (2005) in barring execution for capital crimes committed as a juvenile and in Miller v. Alabama (2012) in holding that mandatory life without possibility of parole for juveniles is also unconstitutional. This panel examined the implications of developmental neuroscience for law in specific domains including death penalty mitigation for young adults over age 18 such as the Tsarnaev case, a developmentally informed view of Miranda and Competence to Stand Trial for juveniles, trial of youth as adults, and conditions of confinement in juvenile and adult incarceration. The panel also discussed the promises and perils for constitutional jurisprudence, legal and public policy reform, and trial practice of relying upon a complex body of science as it emerges.

The panel discussion was followed by the 2015 Petrie-Flom Center Open House.

This event was free and open to the public.

Panelists

• Judith G. Edersheim, JD, MD, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital; Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; and attending Psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital
• Judge Nancy Gertner (ret.), Senior Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School; Faculty, Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital
• Robert Kinscherff, PhD, JD, Senior Fellow in Law and Applied Neuroscience in the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Petrie-Flom Center and the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital; Faculty in the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at MGH; Faculty in the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology and Associate Vice President for Community Engagement at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology; and Senior Associate at the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
• Leah Somerville, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; Faculty, Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital
• Moderator: I. Glenn Cohen, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center

Media Coverage

• Scholars Discuss Role of Neuroscience in Youth Criminal Justice, Harvard Crimson, Jonah S. Lefkoe, September 29, 2015

Learn More

• Robert Kinscherff, PhD, JD, “Adolescent Brain Development in Juvenile Justice: Young Brains, Youthful Behavior and Law”
• Leah Somerville, PhD, “Adolescent Brain Development and Psychological Functioning”
• For more on the neuroscience of the adolescent brain, criminal sentencing, and the Tsarnaev case, check out these pieces from our panelists
  • Judith G. Edersheim, “Could Tsarnaev Argue, ‘My Immature, Pot-Impaired Brain Made Me Do It’?”, WBUR CommonHealth Blog, January 9, 2015
  • Panel with Judith G. Edersheim, “How Will Brain Science Affect The Tsarnaev Trial?”, Radio Boston (WBUR), January 12, 2015
  • Judge Nancy Gertner, “We All Chose Death for Tsarnaev,” Boston Globe, May 15, 2015 (login required)
  • Leah Somerville, “The Neuroscience,” part of panel discussion “Juvenile Justice & the Adolescent Brain: Is Healthy Neurodevelopment a Civil Right?”, Center for Law, Brain and Behavior, March 12, 2015

Recording

Part of the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, cosponsored by the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.