The Impact of Behavioral Genetics on Criminal Law is essential reading for anyone interested in the ongoing genomics and neuroscience revolution and its implications for criminal law. Building in part on a recent multi-disciplinary conference, this collection of essays offers a comprehensive discussion of the ramifications of behavioral sciences in criminal cases and brings together the leading behavioral geneticists, neuroscientists, philosophers, policymakers, and legal scholars to address the multi-faceted concerns at issue. Together, the essays in this volume discuss the scientific progress and limitations in behavioral science research relating to criminal conduct, and the ethical concerns and practical implications of introducing behavioral science evidence into criminal cases. Included is a detailed discussion of criminal cases in which biological and neurological predisposition testimony has been introduced, the implications for criminal responsibility and punishment, the consequences for DNA databank research, new directions in predictions of future dangerousness, and the concerns for ethnic and racial minorities arising from this research.

New discoveries from neuroscience and behavioral genetics are besieging criminal law. Novel scientific perspectives on criminal behavior could transform the criminal justice system and yet are being introduced in an ad hoc and often ill-conceived manner. Bringing together experts across multiple disciplines, including geneticists, neuroscientists, philosophers, policymakers, and legal scholars, The Impact of Behavioral Sciences on Criminal Law is a comprehensive collection of essays that address the emerging science from behavioral genetics and neuroscience and its developing impact on the criminal justice system. The essays survey how the science is and will likely be used in criminal law and the policy and the ethical issues that arise from its use for criminal law and for society.