Neuroscientist: Dispeller of Myths

Mental Disabilities and the Criminal Justice System

Dr. Colleen Berryessa

This week Elizabeth Kelley talks with her guest, Dr. Colleen Berryessa. The two discuss about her expertise in the importance of having an expert involved in criminal cases with people who have autism spectrum disorder, and how neuroscience is used to better understand decision-making and the behavior of others and ourselves. She also share her insight regarding people with autism in the criminal justice system.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Colleen became interested in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorder

• How Colleen cultivated her expertise in the importance of having an expert involved in criminal cases involving people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

• What misunderstandings often come up in cases of this nature and how experts act as dispellers of the myths

• Why mass media portrayals of people with Aspergers Syndrome or high-functioning autism do a huge disservice to the Autism community

• What services should be provided to incarcerated people on the spectrum to allow for comfortability and a better understanding of their situation

• How to join Dr. Berryessa’s virtual book launch

• How to use neuroscience to better understand decision-making and the behavior of others and ourselves

Dr. Colleen Berryessa is an Assistant Professor at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University. Her research, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods, considers how psychological processes, perceptions, attitudes, and social contexts affect the criminal justice system, particularly related to courts, sentencing, and forms of punishment broadly defined.

She primarily examines these issues, using interdisciplinary methodologies, in relation to three areas: 1) how psychological and social phenomena influence public perceptions, support, and subsequent consideration of practices, policies, and the philosophical foundations surrounding sentencing; 2) how psychological and social phenomena influence the discretion and decision-making of criminal justice actors during the sentencing process; and 3) how psychological and social phenomena bear on motivations for and effects of expanded forms of legal and social punitiveness beyond the formal punishment stages of the criminal justice system.

Dr. Berryessa received her Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018. Before Penn, she graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Government and Mind, Brain, and Behavior, and she served as a CIRGE research fellow at Stanford University.

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