Vanderbilt University Law School
Nita Farahany
Assistant Professor of Law Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Voice: (615) 322-6091
Fax: (615) 322-6631
Email: nita.farahany@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Room 292A
View curriculum vitae (.pdf)
Links
Research Interest(s)
Criminal law, philosophy of law, philosophy of biology related to behavioral genetics and neuroscience
Education
J.D., M.A., and Ph.D. (Philosophy) Duke University
A.L.M. (Biology) Harvard University
B.A. Dartmouth College
Biography
Nita Farahany focuses on the intersection of criminal law, behavioral genetics, neuroscience and philosophy. She earned her undergraduate degree in genetics, cell and developmental biology from Dartmouth College and a master's degree in biology from Harvard University, where her thesis, “Prescribing Culpability,” explored the difficulties arising from the use of scientific criteria to define legal concepts. She earned her J.D., as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy of biology and philosophy of law, from Duke University. Her doctoral dissertation, “Rediscovering Criminal Responsibility through Behavioral Genetics,” evaluated the use of behavioral genetics in criminal law from a scientific and philosophical perspective. During 2004-05, she clerked for the Honorable Judith W. Rogers on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In 2005-06, she served as a special editor of the Winter and Spring Symposium issue of the journal Law and Contemporary Problems, which addressed "The Impact of Behavioral Genetics on the Criminal Law." She has presented her work to legal, scientific and philosophical audiences, including at the Second Circuit Judicial Conference, the Stanford Center for the Integration of Research on Genetics and Ethics at Stanford University, to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Media Mentions
"The Government Is Trying to Wraps Its Mind Around Yours," op/ed piece published in the Washington Post on April 13, 2008: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103296.html
Representative Publications
Books
The Impact of Behavioral Sciences on Criminal Law (Oxford University Press, forthcoming) (editor of collected volume)
Articles
"Cruel and Unequal Punishment," 86 Washington University Law Review __
(forthcoming 2009)"Bad Nature, Bad Nurture, and Testimony in Murder Trials," 52 Journal of Forensic Science 1362 (2007) (with William Bernet, Cindy L. Vnencak-Jones and Stephen A. Montgomery)
"Behavioural Genetics in Criminal Cases: Past, Present and Future," 1 Genomics, Science & Policy Journal 2 (2006) (with William Bernet)
"Foreword," 69 Law & Contemporary Problems 1 (2006)
"Genetics and Responsibility: To Know the Criminal from the Crime," 69 Law & Contemporary Problems 115 (2006) (with James E. Coleman Jr.)
Working Papers
"Incriminating Thoughts"
"Punishment and Behavioral Genetics: To Know the Criminal and the Crime"
"Recent Use of Behavioral Sciences in the Criminal Law," book chapter in edited volume by CIRGE at Stanford University (Oxford University Press, forthcoming)
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