Education and Outreach

The mission of the Education and Outreach Program is to move the knowledge created by the Research Networks into the deliberation of judges, legislators, and other policy makers, catalyzing change for the public good. Education and Outreach program Co-Directors Oliver Goodenough and Monika Gruter Cheney will lead this work in collaboration with the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research (www.gruterinstitute.org).

The Education & Outreach Program will create opportunities for judges and other legal experts to meet together with leading neuroscientists to discuss how neuroscience can shed light on problems of law and justice. The Program will also educate media and academic leaders on the intersection of neuroscience and the law and of the research findings of the Networks. In pursuit of these goals, the Education and Outreach Program will organize conferences each year for judges, legislators, practicing lawyers, or news reporters. These conferences will feature lectures and discussions led largely by members of the Research Networks. The goal will be to educate legal professionals about neuroscience's relevance to the law and to assist Network members to learn about each others' fields as they continue their interdisciplinary dialogue. Network members will also gather feedback from practicing legal professionals about which kinds of research will be most useful in real courtrooms. Many of the Education & Outreach conferences will be co-sponsored by the National Judicial College, Federal Judicial Center, and/or various state judicial educators.

Program Co-Director Oliver Goodenough is a law professor at Vermont Law School and Chair of Planning and Programming at the Gruter Institute for Law & Behavioral Research. Program Co-Director Monika Gruter Cheney is Executive Director of the Gruter Institute for Law & Behavioral Research.

• Education and Outreach Conference Schedule and Reports
  • Past Conferences and Reports
    • "Neuroscience for Judges" for 17 state court judges the weekend of October 19-21, 2007, at Dartmouth's Minary Center in Holderness, New Hampshire,co-sponsored by the National Judicial College.
    • Conference Program (pdf)
    • Conference Report: The Education and Outreach Program sponsored its inaugural conference "Neuroscience for Judges" for 17 state court judges the weekend of October 19-21, 2007, at Dartmouth's Minary Center in Holderness, New Hampshire. The conference was co-hosted by the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research and the National Judicial College. The topics for the conference included: an overview of the history and current state of neuroscience; adolescent brain maturation and decision making; emerging issues at the intersection of neuroscience, law and ethics; the role of emotion in human thought; neuroeconomic perspectives on decision making; and moral decision making. In addition, the judges were given an opportunity to discuss the implications neuroscience might have in the courtroom and to pose questions that neuroscience may help answer.
  • Upcoming Conferences
    • "Neuroscience for Federal Judges" June 5-6, 2008, Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, California, co-sponsored by the Federal Judicial Center.
    • "Neuroscience for State Judges" September 12-14, 2008, Dartmouth's Minary Center in Holderness, New Hampshire, co-sponsored by the National Judicial College.