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News Scan

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

Brain Scans: "Figuring out just what types of neuroscience are ready for the courtroom is one of the goals of a $10 million Law & Neuroscience Project funded by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation," reports David Caruso for AP. Brain scans have become common in murder cases, with impressive looking pictures that may or may not have anything to do with human behavior. While we tend to be skeptical of any effort funded by this foundation, the study group appears to have some appropriately skeptical members, including Stephen Morse of U. Pa. "When people see pictures of the brain, they tend to fall prey to what I call 'the lure of mechanism.' They tend to think that we are all machines," he said. Re-Entry Court is a program in Allen County, Indiana providing "[r]elease[] from prison early in exchange for electronic monitoring and a structured life," according to this story in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette by Ron Shawgo...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on March 03, 2008 (boomark / email).