Dr. James Tabery, an associate professor of philosophy and adjunct associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah, will present the lecture, “How Will the Science of Bad Behavior Play Out in the Courtroom?”

Tabery’s lecture will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, in the Donaghey Student Center Room 102-D.

The event, sponsored by the UALR Socratic Society and the UALR Department of Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies, is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

Tabery will discuss the results of a study he and his colleagues conducted about the impact on courtrooms across the U.S. as more emerges from the scientific community regarding the link between a person’s biological background and criminal behavior.

For example, there are now genetic tests for genes associated with violence, brain images of purportedly psychopathic brains, and psychiatric diagnoses of antisocial tendencies.

Tabery and his colleagues asked a sample of U.S. judges how these scientific explanations will be received: “Will the judge reduce a sentence because individuals are deemed less responsible for their behavior? Or will the judge increase a sentence because the individual is deemed a continued threat? Or, will the scientific explanations have no effect at all?”

Tabery will also discuss the philosophical implications of the study, as it relates to questions of free will and moral responsibility.

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