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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.
Development of the triadic neural systems involved in risky decision-making during childhood
Risky decision-making increases from childhood, peaks in adolescence, and declines into adulthood. While neural underpinnings are known for adolescents and adults, how these systems work in children remains largely unknown.
Using risk of crime detection to study change in mechanisms of decision making
Research indicates that the perceived risk of getting caught for a crime impacts whether someone commits that crime. However, there is less evidence that the perceived risk directly correlates with the actual objective risk of detection.
Friendship changes differentially predict neural correlates of decision-making for friends across adolescence
Adolescence involves increased risk-taking for peers amid a changing social world. Friendship changes may impact adaptive risk-taking for friends and brain activity related to reward processing.
Racial discrimination and risk for internalizing and externalizing symptoms among Black youths
Racial discrimination impacts Black youth's mental health, increasing internalizing and externalizing symptoms. A youth's amygdala response to threats can moderate this association.
Associations between externalizing behavior problems and risky sexual behaviors in adolescence: Attachment as a mediator
Adolescence is a time of increased risk for health issues and new relationships. Some adolescents engage in risky sexual behaviors, like early sex or not using condoms, which can lead to health problems.
The Life-Course of Juvenile Lifers: Understanding Maturation and Development as Miller and Its Progeny Guide Juvenile Life Sentence Release Decisions
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that most juveniles sentenced to life in prison can mature and change. These individuals should have a chance to show they have reformed and earn release.