MacArthur Foundation
How your brain decides blame and punishment—and how it can be changed
Sep. 16, 2015—New work by researchers at Vanderbilt University and Harvard University confirms that a specific area of the brain, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is crucial to punishment decisions.
Law and neuroscience research gets $1.4 million in additional grant money
Sep. 14, 2015—A $1.4 million grant will allow a research network based at Vanderbilt to continue its study of the intersection of neuroscience and criminal justice.
Peabody collaboration encourages teens to become ‘makers of content’
Sep. 16, 2014—A collaboration between Peabody College and the Nashville Public Library has created a new public library makerspace for area teens called Studio NPL.
Landmark book ‘Law and Neuroscience’ released
Sep. 5, 2014—The new book 'Law and Neuroscience' is the definitive reference book on the use of neuroscientific evidence in courtrooms.
Fault trumps gruesome evidence when it comes to meting out punishment
Aug. 3, 2014—A new brain study has identified the brain mechanisms that underlie our judgment of how severely a person who has harmed another should be punished.
Change the world, former surgeon general tells Vanderbilt seniors
May. 8, 2014—Former surgeon general Regina M. Benjamin told Vanderbilt graduating seniors to change the world during her Senior Class Day address in Memorial Gym.
Two Vanderbilt professors part of PBS series ‘Brains on Trial’ Sept. 11 and 18
Sep. 5, 2013—Research conducted at Vanderbilt is featured in "Brains on Trial with Alan Alda," a two-part televised series airing Sept. 11 and Sept. 18 on PBS that explores how the growing ability to separate truth from lies may radically affect the way criminal trials are conducted in the future.
Groundbreaking legal research shows potentially serious failures in the Model Penal Code
Dec. 1, 2011—Groundbreaking new legal research from a team of Vanderbilt University and other researchers suggests that juror confusion over how to apply the Model Penal Code in criminal trials could cause major, unnoticed and life-altering sentencing errors.
Innovative Vanderbilt joint degree combines neuroscience and law
Nov. 17, 2011—Applications are being accepted for the second class of Vanderbilt University’s innovative Ph.D/J.D. program combining the study of law and neuroscience. Vanderbilt launched the first such program in the country in 2010 when it enrolled Bowdoin College alumnus Matthew Ginther to be the first to take on the challenging curriculum that alternates classes at Vanderbilt Law School and the university’s graduate program in neuroscience.
VUCast: Future diabetes vaccine?
Sep. 12, 2011—Vanderbilt leads the nation in a breakthrough drug study that may prevent type-1 diabetes! Plus, how studying the brain could impact criminal law. And a special tribute on the anniversary of 9/11.
Landmark law and neuroscience network expands at Vanderbilt
Aug. 24, 2011—Vanderbilt University has been awarded a $4.85 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to manage the newly established MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience.
Landmark national project on law and neuroscience to be based at Vanderbilt
Jul. 20, 2010—Vanderbilt University professor Owen Jones, who is one of the nation’s few professors of both law and biology, has been named director of the national Law and Neuroscience Project, which will now be headquartered at Vanderbilt.