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Stephen J. Morse

Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law; Professor of Psychology and Law in Psychiatry; Associate Director, Center for Neuroscience & Society

Stephen Morse

Stephen J. Morse works on problems of individual responsibility and agency. Morse has published numerous interdisciplinary articles and chapters and has co-edited collections, including (with A. Roskies) A Primer on Criminal Law and Neuroscience and (with L.Katz & M. Continue reading… Stephen J. Morse works on problems of individual responsibility and agency. Morse has published numerous interdisciplinary articles and chapters and has co-edited collections, including (with A. Roskies) A Primer on Criminal Law and Neuroscience and (with L.Katz & M. Moore)  Foundations of Criminal Law. He was a contributing author (with L. Alexander and K. Ferzan) to Crime and Culpability: A Theory of Criminal Law. He is working on a new book, Desert and Disease: Responsibility and Social Control. Morse was Co-Director of the MacArthur Foundation Law and Neuroscience Project. Morse is a Diplomate in Forensic Psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology; a past president of Division 41 of the American Psychological Association; a recipient of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology’s Distinguished Contribution Award; a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mental Health and Law; and a trustee of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.

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Expertise

  • Criminal Law
  • Mental Health Law

Books

CRIME AND CULPABILITY: A THEORY OF CRIMINAL LAW (2009) (contributing author, with Larry Alexander & Kimberly Kessler Ferzan).

FOUNDATIONS OF CRIMINAL LAW. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999; Foundation Press, 2000 (co-edited with L. Katz & M.S. Moore).
[Available Here]

Articles and Book Chapters

Common Criminal Law Compatibilism, in NEUROSCIENCE AND LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY (Nicole A. Vincent ed. 2013).

Legal Regulation of Addictive Substances and Addiction, in ADDICTION NEUROETHICS: THE ETHICS OF ADDICTION NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH AND TREATMENT 261 (Adrian Carter et al. eds., 2012).

New Therapies, Old Problems, or, a Plea for Neuromodesty, 3 AM J. BIOETHICS: NEUROSCIENCE 60 (2012).

Evaluation of Criminal Responsibility, in HANDBOOK OF PSYCHOLOGY VOLUME 11: FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY 440 (Irving B. Weiner & Randy K. Otto, eds., 2012) (with Alan M. Goldstein and Ira K. Packer).

Neuroimaging Evidence in Law: A Plea for Modesty and Relevance, in NEUROIMAGING IN FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY: FROM THE CLINIC TO THE COURTROOM 341 (Joseph R. Simpson ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).
[Available Here]

Genetics and Criminal Responsibility, 15 TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES 378 (2011).

Mental Disorder and Criminal Law, 101 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 885 (2011).

Lost in Translation?: An Essay on Law and Neuroscience, LAW AND NEUROSCIENCE, 13 CURRENT LEGAL ISSUES 529 (Michael Freeman, ed., 2011).

Gene-Environment Interactions, Criminal Responsibility, and Sentencing, in GENE INTERACTIONS IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 207 (Kenneth A. Dodge & Michael Rutter, eds., Guilford Press, 2011).

Severe Environmental Deprivation (aka RSB): A Tragedy, Not a Defense, 2 ALA. C.R. & C.L. L. REV. 147 (2011).

The Future of Neuroscientific Evidence, in THE FUTURE OF EVIDENCE: HOW SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WILL CHANGE THE PRACTICE OF LAW 137 (Carol Henderson & Jules Epstein eds., ABA Publishing: 2011).
[Available Here]

Protecting Liberty and Autonomy: Desert/Disease Jurisprudence, 48 SAN DIEGO L. REV. 1077 (2011).

An Accurate Diagnosis, But Is There a Cure?: An Appreciation of The Role of Science in Law by Robin Feldman, 3 HASTINGS SCI. & TECH. L.J. 157 (2011) (book review).

Avoiding Irrational NeuroLaw Exuberance: A Plea for Neuromodesty, 62 MERCER L. REV. 837 (2011).

The Status of NeuroLaw: A Plea for Current Modesty and Future Cautious Optimism, 39 J. PSYCHIATRY & L. 595 (2011).

Neuroscience and the Future of Personhood and Responsibility, in CONSTITUTION 3.0: FREEDOM AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE 113 (Jeffrey Rosen & Benjamin Wittes eds., Brookings Institution Press, 2011).

Protecting Liberty and Autonomy: Desert/Disease Jurisprudence, 48 SAN DIEGO L. REV. 1077 (2011).

Addiction and Criminal Responsibility, in ADDICTION AND RESPONSIBILITY 159 (Jeffrey Poland & George Graham eds., 2011)

Against Control Tests for Criminal Responsibility, in CRIMINAL LAW CONVERSATIONS (Paul H. Robinson et al., eds., 2009).

Determinism and the Death of Folk Psychology: Two Challenges to Responsibility from Neuroscience, 9 MINN. J. L. SCI. & TECH. 1 (2008).

The Ethics of Forensic Practice: Reclaiming the Wasteland, 36 J. AM. ACAD. PSYCHIATRY & L. 206 (2008).

The Uneasy Entente Between Legal Insanity and Mens Rea: Beyond Clark v. Arizona, 97 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 1071 (2007).

Moral and Legal Responsibility and the New Neuroscience, in NEUROETHICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: DEFINING THE ISSUES IN THEORY, PRACTICE AND POLICY 33 (J. Illes ed., Oxford Univ. Press 2006).

More publications can be found here.

Research Areas

  • Criminal Law
  • Mental Health Law
  • Neuroscience and Law

Positions

Penn Law - Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law (1988-); Professor of Psychology and Law in Psychiatry (1991-); Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (1990-92)

USC - Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law (1982-88); Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (1979-80); Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences (1979-88); Professor of Psychology (1982-88); Associate Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences (1977-79)

Visiting Professor - California Institute of Technology (Law and Social Science); Cardozo; Georgetown; Virginia

Trustee, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, 1995-2004

Courses

  • Criminal Law
  • Mental Health Law
  • Freedom & Responsibility
  • Perspectives on Cognitive Neuroscience: Mind, Brain and Society (co-taught in the College's Pilot Program)

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