Owen Jones

As the combination of neuroscience and law—or “neurolaw” as some call it—has been gaining traction in courtrooms in recent years, Professor Owen Jones and his colleagues have used the burgeoning field to ask deeper questions about the criminal justice system itself. Read More

Evolution may explain why we overvalue some things—but not others—to an irrational degree. Read More

The Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative seeks to position the university as a global leader in evolutionary studies by engaging a large group of scholars who share this research interest. Read More

Vanderbilt’s six newest endowed chairs were honored by colleagues, university leaders, family members and donors at a ceremony on April 30 in the Student Life Center. Read More

A student from the nation’s first joint law and neuroscience J.D. and Ph.D. program, housed at Vanderbilt University, has earned a $50,000 graduate research fellowship from the National Institute of Justice. Read More

Intent to commit a crime is a crucial factor in determining prison sentences. A new neuro study suggests it is possible to measure subtle variations in intent while a crime is being committed. Read More

Ten members of Vanderbilt University’s faculty have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Read More

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. Read More

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. Read More

The new book 'Law and Neuroscience' is the definitive reference book on the use of neuroscientific evidence in courtrooms. Read More

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. Read More

Owen Jones was named winner of the Joe B. Wyatt Distinguished University Professor Award at Spring Faculty Assembly. Also honored with awards were Teresa Goddu, Jay Clayton, Marc Hetherington and Leigh Gilchrist. Read More

Federal judges will reflect and learn at a Vanderbilt seminar designed to help them meet the extraordinary demands, both personal and professional, of their work. Read More

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. Read More

An executive committee has been named and will meet regularly this summer to develop a framework of ideas to guide a university-wide academic strategic planning process that will set the course for Vanderbilt’s future. Read More

It turns out that chimpanzees behave much like humans in displaying the controversial trait known as the “endowment effect,” which has implications for law. The endowment effect causes people to consider an item they have just come to possess as higher in value than the price they would have paid just a moment before. Read More

By Michael Blanding Jamie Cullen Imagine you are paid to carry a briefcase through a checkpoint that may or may not be guarded. In one scenario, you know the case contains illegal contraband, and if you get caught you will be arrested. In another scenario, you choose one of three… Read More

Groundbreaking new research in the field of “evolutionary analysis in law” not only provides additional evidence that chimpanzees share the controversial human psychological trait known as the endowment effect – which in humans has implications for law – but also shows the effect can be turned on or off for single objects, depending on their immediate situational usefulness. Read More

Neuroscientists from Vanderbilt and Harvard have proposed the first neurobiological model for third-party punishment, outlining potential cognitive and brain processes that evolutionary pressures could have re-purposed to make this behavior possible. Read More

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. Read More