For nearly 20 years, neuroscientist James Fallon of the University of California-Irvine has studied the brains of psychopaths. Fallon tells National Public Radio the evidence is accumulating that some people's brains predispose them toward violence and that psychopathic tendencies may be passed down from one generation to another.
In the first in a three-part series, NPR asks, "What about people who rape and murder — should we feel empathy for them? Should they be allowed to argue in court that their brains made them do it? Enter the new world of "neurolaw" — in which neuroscience is used as evidence in the courtroom."
