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Real Neurolaw in the Netherlands: The Role of the Developing Brain in the New Adolescent Criminal Law

Previous publications discussed the conditions under which courts admitted or could admit neurotechnological evidence like brain scans. There were also first attempts to investigate legal decisions neuroscientifically. The present paper analyzes a different way in which neuroscience already influenc...

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Autor principal: Schleim, Stephan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7403452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32849043
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01762
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author Schleim, Stephan
author_facet Schleim, Stephan
author_sort Schleim, Stephan
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description Previous publications discussed the conditions under which courts admitted or could admit neurotechnological evidence like brain scans. There were also first attempts to investigate legal decisions neuroscientifically. The present paper analyzes a different way in which neuroscience already influenced the law: The legal justification of the new Dutch adolescent criminal law explicitly mentions findings on brain development to justify a higher maximum age for the application of juvenile criminal law than before. The lawmaker’s reasoning is compared with the neuroscientific studies on which it is based. In particular, three neurodevelopmental publications quoted by the Dutch Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles to justify that adolescents can be legally less responsible are analyzed in detail. The paper also addresses possibilities under which brain research could improve legal decision-making in the future. One important aspect turns out to be that neuroscience should not only matter on the level of justification, but also provide better instruments on the individual level of application.
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spelling pubmed-74034522020-08-25 Real Neurolaw in the Netherlands: The Role of the Developing Brain in the New Adolescent Criminal Law Schleim, Stephan Front Psychol Psychology Previous publications discussed the conditions under which courts admitted or could admit neurotechnological evidence like brain scans. There were also first attempts to investigate legal decisions neuroscientifically. The present paper analyzes a different way in which neuroscience already influenced the law: The legal justification of the new Dutch adolescent criminal law explicitly mentions findings on brain development to justify a higher maximum age for the application of juvenile criminal law than before. The lawmaker’s reasoning is compared with the neuroscientific studies on which it is based. In particular, three neurodevelopmental publications quoted by the Dutch Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles to justify that adolescents can be legally less responsible are analyzed in detail. The paper also addresses possibilities under which brain research could improve legal decision-making in the future. One important aspect turns out to be that neuroscience should not only matter on the level of justification, but also provide better instruments on the individual level of application. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-07-29 /pmc/articles/PMC7403452/ /pubmed/32849043 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01762 Text en Copyright © 2020 Schleim. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Schleim, Stephan
Real Neurolaw in the Netherlands: The Role of the Developing Brain in the New Adolescent Criminal Law
title Real Neurolaw in the Netherlands: The Role of the Developing Brain in the New Adolescent Criminal Law
title_full Real Neurolaw in the Netherlands: The Role of the Developing Brain in the New Adolescent Criminal Law
title_fullStr Real Neurolaw in the Netherlands: The Role of the Developing Brain in the New Adolescent Criminal Law
title_full_unstemmed Real Neurolaw in the Netherlands: The Role of the Developing Brain in the New Adolescent Criminal Law
title_short Real Neurolaw in the Netherlands: The Role of the Developing Brain in the New Adolescent Criminal Law
title_sort real neurolaw in the netherlands: the role of the developing brain in the new adolescent criminal law
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7403452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32849043
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01762
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