Law and Emotion

The interdisciplinary field of law and emotion challenges the long-held belief that emotion is the enemy of reason. The emerging consensus in every field that studies decision-making, including psychology, neuroscience, and sociology, is that emotion plays an integral role in the decision-making process. This course examines how law can reflect a more realistic, sophisticated understanding of the impact of emotions on legal actors, legal decision-making, legal doctrine, and legal institutions. For example, should judges exercise empathy or would that conflict with the rule of law? Should itmatter whether defendants are remorseful, and if so, can judges or jurors evaluate remorse? Why are victims permitted to give victim impact statements? Are legal education and legal practice too focused on deductive logic at the expense of the emotional and moral components of reasoning? Why is a heat of passion homicide considered less culpable than a coldblooded murder? In an excessive force case, how should jurors determine whether a police officer's fear is reasonable? What can the study of emotion tell us about how to discourage illegal harassment or discrimination in the workplace, or about how law can be used to redress mass violence? These are just a few examples of a larger point that applies in both civil and criminal law contexts. Emotion pervades the law, in ways that are not alwaysobvious. The first steps are to identify and evaluate these emotional dynamics, both in light of legal goals and in light of findings from other disciplines. The next step is to determine how to regulate emotion in ways that advance the aims of the justice system. Grading and Method of Evaluation:Letter grade only. Students will write a series of short papers analyzing the link between emotion and the law in several of the assigned readings. Grades will be based on the quality of the papers and class participation. There is no final exam.