Nationally renowned neuroscientist BJ Casey will deliver the second annual Weaver Distinguished Lecture in Law, Brain Sciences, and Behavior in The Moore Room at Vanderbilt Law School from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26.
Casey’s lecture is titled “Explorations in Law and Neuroscience: The Adolescent Brain.” It will highlight unique vulnerabilities along with tremendous opportunities for growth and change in adolescents; clarify the current state of the science on typical behavioral and brain development during adolescence that extends beyond 18 years of age; and demonstrate that behavior, personality, and psychopathic traits are dynamic and show continued change beyond adolescence. The science will be discussed in the context of rethinking the ways in which young offenders are treated in the justice system.
Casey is the Christina L. Williams Professor of Neuroscience at Barnard College – Columbia University. She is a member of The Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School and the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience.
She was the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the typically developing human brain, especially during the period of adolescence, accelerating the emergence of the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience.
Casey’s scientific discoveries have been published in 250 articles in top-tier journals including Science, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; cited over 71,500 times; highlighted in amicus briefs on the sentencing of young offenders; and covered by NPR, NY Times and National Geographic.
She has received lifetime achievement awards for her work and mentoring from the Society for Neuroscience, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Science.
The Weaver Distinguished Lecture is sponsored by the Weaver Family Program in Law, Brain Sciences, and Behavior at Vanderbilt Law School, which is directed by Owen Jones, who holds the Glenn M. Weaver, M.D., and Mary Ellen Weaver Chair in Law, Brain and Behavior. The Weaver Program was established in 2023 with a $3.85 million endowment from the Glenn M. Weaver Foundation in honor of Dr. Weaver, a pioneer in the field of forensic psychiatry, his wife Mary Ellen Weaver, and the Weaver family.
