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Amicus Brief by the Promise of Justice Initiative
This brief argues executing those 21 and under is cruel and unusual punishment. It cites scientific evidence of ongoing brain development and a national consensus against executing young adults.
Brief Amicus Curiae of Becky Wilson and the National Association of Victims of Juvenile Murderers in Support of Respondent
This brief argues that a new ruling should not apply retroactively to old cases, as it would disrupt settled convictions and retraumatize victims' families. The brief claims no one benefits from relitigating already decided issues.
Brief of Amici Curiae Current and Former Prosecutors, Department of Justice Officials, and Judges in Support of Respondent
This brief argues that sentences for juvenile offenders must consider their age and maturity, holding that life without parole is excessive for most children. It asserts this principle applies uniformly, regardless of sentencing schemes.
Detecting Mens Rea in the Brain
An experiment attempted to detect brain differences between mental states relevant to criminal law. Jurors often struggle to distinguish between "knowing" and "reckless" mental states, highlighting a critical gap in the justice system.
Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS): A team science effort to predict societal trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood
The Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) program examines how young people contribute to society. It combines individual, social, and societal factors to understand why some adolescents navigate challenges more successfully.
Examining Associations Between Genetic and Neural Risk for Externalizing Behaviors in Adolescence and Early Adulthood
This article explores how inherited traits and brain activity relate to externalizing behaviors like ADHD and substance use. It finds genetic factors and a specific brain response (P3 amplitude) are both linked to these behaviors.
Alexithymia as a mediator of the associations between child maltreatment and internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescence
Child maltreatment is linked to difficulties in managing emotions, known as alexithymia. This alexithymia may explain the connection between childhood abuse and later behavioral problems in adolescents.
Prospective associations of family conflict with alcohol expectancies in the adolescent brain cognitive development study: Effects of race and ethnicity
Alcohol use in adolescents is a major public health concern. Family conflict is linked to alcohol use and its anticipated outcomes, called expectancies. These expectancies operate differently across racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Capital sentencing and neuropsychiatry
The U.S. Supreme Court has deemed the death penalty unconstitutional for intellectually disabled and juvenile offenders. It also halted executions in 1972, finding Georgia's law allowed arbitrary sentencing.
Bio-behavioral scientific evidence alters judges' sentencing decision-making: A quantitative analysis
Research shows mental health evidence, particularly innate conditions, increasingly influences criminal sentencing. However, its impact varies, with inconsistencies across cases and differing views on mitigating versus aggravating factors.
Mandatory Sentences as Strict Liability
This article argues that mandatory sentences should be viewed as a type of strict liability, similar to crimes not requiring criminal intent. It proposes applying the same limits on strict liability crimes to mandatory sentences.
Neuroscience and the insanity defense: Trying to put a round peg in a square hole.
Public perception of the insanity defense is largely negative, viewing it as a loophole despite its infrequent use. Forensic evaluations for insanity also face challenges with consistency and objectivity among different evaluators.
Neuroscience and the Model Penal Code's Mens Rea Categories
A study using brain imaging to investigate legal mental states was poorly designed and did not accurately measure brain activity for "knowledge" or "recklessness." Brain science may not be the right way to validate these legal concepts.
Age-related changes in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation are associated with daily prosocial behaviors two years later
This study explored how adolescents’ brains change while engaging in community-based prosocial behaviors. Researchers found that early to mid-adolescence is a key period for developing these behaviors, impacting daily helpfulness later on.
How beliefs around peers’ risk preferences get incorporated into adolescents’ decision making
This study examined how adolescents' beliefs about their friends' preferences influence their risky decisions. It found that the accuracy of these beliefs and whether individuals prioritize themselves or their friend's wishes vary with age.