,
, minds, freedoms and rights
Recent developments in the cognitive sciences, particularly the emergence of
neurotechnologies and their potential applications in a variety of contexts, have
prompted a debate on what freedoms and rights people have in relation to their
brains and minds. Lawyers and philosophers are especially interested in the possi-
bilities offered by the neurosciences in conducting risk assessments and risk man-
agement. Minds, Freedoms and Rights deepens our understanding of these legal
issues by investigating the human rights that relate to the mind and by exploring
their implications for possible uses for neurotechnology for criminal rehabilitation
or “neurorehabilitation”. By harnessing and integrating both legal and ethical
perspectives, the authors investigate possible uses of neurorehabilitation that are
cutting-edge yet simultaneously protect and respect human rights and freedoms.
This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Dr. Sjors Ligthart is an associate professor of criminal law at Tilburg University, the
Netherlands, and the principal investigator of the project Mental Liberty in the Age
of Modern Technology: Towards Absolute Protection of the Mind? (VI.Veni.231 R.022).
He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and
Criminology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, on the research project Law and
Ethics of Neurotechnology in Criminal Justice (VI.C.201.067). Ligthart is the author of
Coercive Brain-Reading in Criminal Justice: An Analysis of European Human Rights Law
(Cambridge University Press 2022) and co-editor of Neurolaw: Advances in Neuroscience,
Justice and Security (Palgrave Macmillan 2021).
Dr. Emma Dore-Horgan is a Government of Ireland postdoctoral research fellow at the
Department of Philosophy, University College Cork, previously working on the research
project Law and Ethics of Neurotechnology in Criminal Justice (VI.C.201.067). She is an
honorary research associate of the Uehiro Oxford Institute for Practical Ethics. She has
published in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Criminal Law and Philosophy,
Bioethics, AJOB Neuroscience and the Journal of Law and the Biosciences.
Prof. dr. Gerben Meynen is full professor of ethics, in particular bioethics, Department of
Philosophy, VU University Amsterdam, and full professor of forensic psychiatry, Willem
Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology of Utrecht University. He is the
author of Legal Insanity. Explorations in Psychiatry, Law, and Ethics (Springer 2016) and
he co-edited Neurolaw: Advances in Neuroscience, Justice and Security (Palgrave
Macmillan 2021). In addition, he is one of the editors of Brain and Crime, Volume 197
in the Elsevier series Handbook of Clinical Neurology (2023). In 2021, he received a Vici
grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for the project Law and Ethics of
Neurotechnology in Criminal Justice (VI.C.201.067). He also works as a psychiatrist.
, LAW AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES
Law and the Cognitive Sciences publishes book monographs exploring connections between law
and the cognitive sciences. The books will be of interest to academics, students, and practitioners,
and in particular to the scholars in the fields of legal theory, philosophy of law, psychology of law,
the theory of law and artificial intelligence, general theory of private and criminal law, and
evidence.
General Editors
Bartosz Brozek, Jagiellonian University
Jaap Hage, University of Maastricht
Francis X. Shen, University of Minnesota Law School
Nicole A. Vincent, University of Technology Sydney
, minds, freedoms and rights
Recent developments in the cognitive sciences, particularly the emergence of
neurotechnologies and their potential applications in a variety of contexts, have
prompted a debate on what freedoms and rights people have in relation to their
brains and minds. Lawyers and philosophers are especially interested in the possi-
bilities offered by the neurosciences in conducting risk assessments and risk man-
agement. Minds, Freedoms and Rights deepens our understanding of these legal
issues by investigating the human rights that relate to the mind and by exploring
their implications for possible uses for neurotechnology for criminal rehabilitation
or “neurorehabilitation”. By harnessing and integrating both legal and ethical
perspectives, the authors investigate possible uses of neurorehabilitation that are
cutting-edge yet simultaneously protect and respect human rights and freedoms.
This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Dr. Sjors Ligthart is an associate professor of criminal law at Tilburg University, the
Netherlands, and the principal investigator of the project Mental Liberty in the Age
of Modern Technology: Towards Absolute Protection of the Mind? (VI.Veni.231 R.022).
He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and
Criminology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, on the research project Law and
Ethics of Neurotechnology in Criminal Justice (VI.C.201.067). Ligthart is the author of
Coercive Brain-Reading in Criminal Justice: An Analysis of European Human Rights Law
(Cambridge University Press 2022) and co-editor of Neurolaw: Advances in Neuroscience,
Justice and Security (Palgrave Macmillan 2021).
Dr. Emma Dore-Horgan is a Government of Ireland postdoctoral research fellow at the
Department of Philosophy, University College Cork, previously working on the research
project Law and Ethics of Neurotechnology in Criminal Justice (VI.C.201.067). She is an
honorary research associate of the Uehiro Oxford Institute for Practical Ethics. She has
published in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Criminal Law and Philosophy,
Bioethics, AJOB Neuroscience and the Journal of Law and the Biosciences.
Prof. dr. Gerben Meynen is full professor of ethics, in particular bioethics, Department of
Philosophy, VU University Amsterdam, and full professor of forensic psychiatry, Willem
Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology of Utrecht University. He is the
author of Legal Insanity. Explorations in Psychiatry, Law, and Ethics (Springer 2016) and
he co-edited Neurolaw: Advances in Neuroscience, Justice and Security (Palgrave
Macmillan 2021). In addition, he is one of the editors of Brain and Crime, Volume 197
in the Elsevier series Handbook of Clinical Neurology (2023). In 2021, he received a Vici
grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for the project Law and Ethics of
Neurotechnology in Criminal Justice (VI.C.201.067). He also works as a psychiatrist.
, LAW AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES
Law and the Cognitive Sciences publishes book monographs exploring connections between law
and the cognitive sciences. The books will be of interest to academics, students, and practitioners,
and in particular to the scholars in the fields of legal theory, philosophy of law, psychology of law,
the theory of law and artificial intelligence, general theory of private and criminal law, and
evidence.
General Editors
Bartosz Brozek, Jagiellonian University
Jaap Hage, University of Maastricht
Francis X. Shen, University of Minnesota Law School
Nicole A. Vincent, University of Technology Sydney
