Registration must be made 24 hours in advance of the conference date to attend. Capacity is limited; the registration page will direct you to a waitlist when space is full.
This conference is primarily intended for legal practitioners (lawyers, government officials, judges) and neuroscience researchers of all levels.
Neuroscientific evidence is increasingly used, and often even expected, in legal practice at multiple levels, from trial-level advocacy to clemency work. Legal practitioners are challenged to stay up to date on the state of scientific research, and scientists often conduct research without knowing how their work may best be used in legal applications. In our one-day conference, Current Directions in Neuroscience & the Law, neuroscientists and legal practitioners will come together to discuss state-of-the-art neuroscience research, and strategize about how best to direct this research towards current legal battles.
The conference will focus on several key topics: (1) excessive sentencing & life course development (2) adverse childhood experiences, (3) mental illness and competency. Each session will include research presentations and a panel discussion bringing together scientists and legal practitioners to interpret scientific research and strategize about areas of potential application. The conference will close with a panel dedicated to workshopping the practicalities of applying neuroscience in the courtroom at all levels.
Tentative Conference Schedule:
8:00am–9:00am: Check-in & Breakfast
9am-9:15am: Opening Remarks
9:15am-11am: Symposium 1: Excessive Sentencing & Life Course Development
- BJ Casey, PhD, Barnard College
- Leah Somerville, PhD, Harvard University
- Federica Coppola, PhD, IE University
- Mujahideen Muhammad, MPS, Columbia University
- Panel moderator: Steve Zeidman, CUNY School of Law
11:30am-1pm: Symposium 2: Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Nim Tottenham, PhD, Columbia University
- Bianca Jones Marlin, PhD, Columbia University
- Charles Corbin, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Panel moderator: Zoe Root, Center for Appellate Litigation
1pm-2pm Lunch (catered)
2pm-3:30pm: Symposium 3: Competency and Mental Illness
- Chriscelyn Tussey, Psy.D, Metropolitan Forensic and Neuropsychological Consultation
- Angela Radulescu, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai
- Alfredo Rivera, MPS
- Panel moderator: Laura Stasior, The Bronx Defenders
4pm-5:30pm: Symposium 4: Neuroscience in Practice
- Zoe Root, Center for Appellate Litigation
- Steve Zeidman, CUNY School of Law
- Laura Stasior, The Bronx Defenders
- Nathalie Greenfield, Phillips Black