Project Description

One would assume that conducting neuroscience research on antisocial personality disorder would be much like researching any other clinical disorder, yet this area of inquiry is fraught with additional ethical challenges. In this lecture, and criminologist and psychologist Adrian Raine introduces students to these challenges. Areas to be covered include conducting biological research on prisoners, weighing the risks and benefits of early prediction of later criminal behavior, interventions to both prevent and treat antisocial and aggressive behavior, dealing with changes in acceptable ethical conduct over time when conducting longitudinal research, and the use of brain imaging in courts to exonerate murderers.

The goal of this class is to convey our current understanding of the neural determinants of criminal behavior, and to acquaint you with the ethical challenges of research and policy in this area.

In this lecture, Prof. Adrian Raine will introduce students to these challenges. Areas to be covered include conducting biological research on prisoners, weighing the risks and benefits of early prediction of later criminal behavior, interventions to both prevent and treat antisocial and aggressive behavior, dealing with changes in acceptable ethical conduct over time when conducting longitudinal research, and the use of brain imaging in courts to exonerate murderers.

Readings
Raine, A., (2008). Biology of crime: implications for society and the criminal justice system.

Raine, A. & Yang, Y. (2006). Neural foundations of moral reasoning and antisocial behavior. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.