Neuroethics & Law Blog

Roger Ebert Gets His Voice Back

Betsey Saunders on Mental Retardation and Statutory Rape

"Incomprehensible Crimes: Defendants with Mental Retardation Charged with Statutory Rape" 

New York University Law Review, Forthcoming

ELIZABETH NEVINS-SAUNDERS, New York University School of Law
Criminal law norms assume that all defendants are alike. But social science research has demonstrated that most defendants with mental retardation are unlike their peers of average intelligence in their cognitive and behavioral capacity, a difference with profound effects on their blameworthiness. The law acknowledges this difference in a few limited areas, most notably in the Supreme Court’s categorical exclusion of defendants with mental retardation from the death penalty. But while that decision has begun to percolate into the rest of criminal law, it has not yet reached the law of statutory rape. When prosecuted as a strict liability offense, statutory rape precludes the fact-finder from considering the defendant’s state of mind altogether. The total exclusion of mens rea is an anomaly in criminal law, where a finding of guilt typically requires proof not only of an “evil act,” but also of an “evil mind.” Commentators have criticized the strict liability doctrine, but have ignored how the standard is especially unjust when applied to defendants with mental retardation. A close analysis of statutory rape law reveals certain assumptions which allow such a low standard of proof for such a significant offense: would-be defendants are presumed to have notice that sex with underage partners is unlawful; to be in the best position to prevent any harm from occurring; and to be deviant, immoral aggressors. When examined in light of research about mental retardation, however, these assumptions collapse. Indeed, punishing a person with mental retardation without regard to his awareness of the law, social cues, and the nature of his conduct may also run afoul of constitutional due process and proportionate sentencing principles. This article therefore argues that the prosecution of statutory rape should be modified for defendants with mental retardation. The government should have to prove that a defendant with mental retardation had the mens rea to commit the offense. In addition, this article recommends formalizing the existing ways of addressing the difference in culpability of this population through charging and sentencing. The failure to account for defendants’ mental retardation in the context of statutory rape provides just one example of the theoretical and constitutional problems when criminal law disregards people who cannot comprehend the significance of their conduct.

Greely Speaks at Cal Poly

For those of you near the West Coast, Hank Greely will be giving a public lecture at Cal Poly.  Details below:

Stanford law professor Hank Greely will talk about the emerging field of neuroscience and six key areas in which it will challenge society: prediction, mind-reading, responsibility, consciousness, treatment, and enhancement. He is also co-director of the Law & Neuroscience Project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, and director of Stanford's Center for Law and the Biosciences.

The talk is open to the public and will be held on Friday, March 12, from 2:00-3:30p at Philips Hall (bldg 06-124).

URL for more info: http://ethics.calpoly.edu/lectureseries.html 

DATE/TIME: Friday, March 12, 2010 from 2:00-3:30p

LOCATION: Cal Poly, Philips Hall (bldg 06-124), Grand Ave. and Perimeter Rd.

CONTACT: Dr. Patrick Lin, [email protected]  

fMRI to Track Dopamine

Researchers have long used fMRI to track blood oxygenation levels in the brain.  An article in New Scientist reports on the use of fMRI to track other chemical activity, like dopamine, in the brains of non-humans.  New Scientist story here.

And here's the abstract of the actual study in Nature Biotechnology:

The development of molecular probes that allow in vivo imaging of neural signaling processes with high temporal and spatial resolution remains challenging. Here we applied directed evolution techniques to create magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents sensitive to the neurotransmitter dopamine. The sensors were derived from the heme domain of the bacterial cytochrome P450-BM3 (BM3h). Ligand binding to a site near BM3h's paramagnetic heme iron led to a drop in MRI signal enhancement and a shift in optical absorbance. Using an absorbance-based screen, we evolved the specificity of BM3h away from its natural ligand and toward dopamine, producing sensors with dissociation constants for dopamine of 3.3–8.9 μM. These molecules were used to image depolarization-triggered neurotransmitter release from PC12 cells and in the brains of live animals. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of molecular-level functional MRI using neural activity–dependent sensors, and our protein engineering approach can be generalized to create probes for other targets.

PEBS Neuroethics Roundup by JHU Guest Blogger

Last Edition's Most Popular Article Relationship between neuropsychological outcome and DBS surgical trajectory and electrode location  Journal of the Neurological Sciences 2010:287(1-2);159-171 In the Academic Literature: Deep Brain Stimulation and the Neuroethics of Responsible Publishing JAMA 2010:303(8):775-776 Neural evidence for inequality-averse social preferences  Nature 2010:463:1089-1091 Perceptual decision making in less than 30 milliseconds Nature Neuroscience 2010:13:379-385 The neuroscience of human intelligence differences Nature Neuroscience 2010: 11:201-211 Ethical neuroscience Nature Neuroscience 2010:13:141 Limits of predictability in human mobility Science 2010:327(5968): 1018-1021 Fear of MRI scans trip up brain researchers Science 2010: 317(5968):931 Regulation of Rap2A by the ubiquitin ligase Nedd4-1 controls neurite development Neuron 2010:65(3):358-371 Acute depression and suicidal attempt following lowering the frequency of deep brain stimulation Journal of Neuropsychiatry 2010: 21:468 Association of preoperative symptom profile with psychiatric symptoms following subthalamic nucleus stimulation in patients with parkinsons disease Journal of Neuropsychiatry 2010: 21:398-405 Why liberals and atheists are more intelligent Social Psychology Quarterly Feb 16 2010 The Lucretian swerve: the biologicial basis of human behavior and the criminal justice system PNAS Feb 8 2010 Distributed neural system for general intelligence revealed by lesion mapping PNAS Feb 22 2010 Hybrid cars may interfere with implanted deep brain stimulators Movement Disorders 2010:24(15):2290-2291   In the Popular Press: Behavior: Napping Can Prime the Brain for Learning  The New York Times February 22 2010  How Vacations Affect Your Happiness  The New York Times February 18 2010  Good vibrations aid mind-controlled steering  New Scientist February 23 2010   Chimps are intelligent enough to appreciate a full pint  BBC News February 23 2010  How Far Should Neuroscience Evidence Go in Court Trials?  Science Daily February 21 2010  Dolphin Cognitive Abilities Raise Ethical Questions, Says Emory Neuroscientist  Science Daily Feburary 18 2010

The Program in Ethics and Brain Sciences (PEBS) is a collaborative effort of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the  Johns Hopkins Brain Sciences Institute . The goal of PEBS is to ensure that research in brain science proceeds with an informed understanding of ethical issues, and that philosophical and empirical analyses of the advances in brain research proceed with an informed understanding of the science.