Acting on impulse: using the neuroscience of impulse control to improve the law

This thesis investigates the potential legal utility of neurotechnologies which measure correlates of impulsive behaviors. Chapter 1 explains my philosophical position and how this position compares to others in the field. Chapter 2 explores some of the technical concepts which must be understood for the discussion of neurotechnologies and their applications to be fruitful. These chapters will be important for both explaining the capabilities of a neuroscientific approach to neural abnormalities as well as how they relate to the kind of regulation in which the law is engaged. The purpose of Chapter 3 will be a descriptive account of Canadian law where I will begin to explore how to apply ideas and experiments from neuroscience to specific areas of law. Chapter 3 will look at actual examples of Canadian criminal law and will span topics from the creation of law to the construction of appropriate sentences. Chapter 4 will debate if and how we should apply the neuroscientific perspective to the law given the ethical concerns surrounding the applications described in Chapter 3. The thrust of the chapter is that the development of the law does not occur in a vacuum and any alteration either to the laws themselves, how they are interpreted, or the technologies used to provide evidence, must have an ethical justification, that is, a way in which the proposed change will better meet the needs of society and the ethical objectives of the law. Sometimes these justifications can be drawn directly from constitutional documents, such as the Charter, or from the Criminal Code, while at other times these justifications depend upon arguments about furthering meaningful responsibility and therapeutic outcomes

Th Eye Inside: Remote Biosensing Technologies in Healthcare and the Law

This article focuses on the potential legal impacts of healthcare technologies that can record and remotely transmit biometric data, what the author calls Remote Biosensing Technologies. The legal relevance of remotely recorded biometric data is explained by examining how it can be used in three legal contexts: personal injury cases, search warrants, and informed consent. Within each of these contexts, the author draws from Canadian case law to show how existing legal principles can be modified when dealing with Remote Biosensing Technologies to protect privacy and autonomy while also maximizing the legal utility of the resulting data. The author concludes with recommendations aimed at achieving the immense medical potential made possible by Remote Biosensing Technologies while avoiding the potential harms to individual autonomy posed by the application of the legal gaze

Expanding Open Science to Ethics and Innovation - Talk for Neurosymposium 2020

Slides and related material for talk on Open Science, Ethics, and Innovation. Talk given on June 18, 2020 for the NeuroSymposium virtual symposium

Links Included in Slides

Links included in slides are presented in the wiki on this page in the order they appear in the presentation

Additional Resources

Non-exhaustive list in wiki of additional resources to check out before beginning a project, during your project, or for sharing results after a project is done