Elmhurst College :: Philosophy > Faculty & Staff

I am interested in criminal responsibility and punishment, and the impact scientific theories of decision-making or action should have on culpability. Most recently I have been working with William Hirstein on a theory that the seat of legal responsiblity resides in executive function, and that many criminal defenses can be understood as these functions going wrong. I have also been using virtue theory to critique certain types of criminal punishment.

I hold a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of London, King's College. My Ph.D. thesis, entitled 'Psychology and the Criminal Law', was supervised by David Papineau, and explores the nature of the folk concepts underpinning criminal responsibility and how those concepts may be updated via scientific psychology. I also have a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law, and a B.A. in psychology from Valparaiso University. Before teaching at Elmhurst College I was a Rockefeller Fellow in Law and Public Policy and a Visiting Professor in philosophy at Dartmouth College. Prior to earning my Ph.D., I worked as a senior research analyst on projects for the National Institute of Justice.

At Elmhurst College I teach Problems of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Law and Criminal Law. I am in the process of developing a Neuroethics course with a colleague in psychology, Pat Ackles.

Areas of Specialization

Philosophy of Law
Philosophy of Mind
Ethics

Areas of Competence

Philosophy of Psychology
Ancient philosophy

Office: Hammerschmidt Chapel, 004
Mailbox: 241
Phone: (630) 617-6475
Fax: (630) 617-3609
E-mail: sifferdk@elmhurst.edu
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Katrina-Sifferd/1265445847

My Blog on philosophy of criminal responsibility, Pleas and Excuses: http://pleasandexcuses.com/

Law and Neuroethics

Philosophy of Brains
SSRN
Academia
Philpapers

Papers Submitted or In Preparation

"Virtue Theory and the Criminal Character" (in preparation for a volume edited by Jonathan Webber, currently under review at OUP)

Papers Published or In Press

(Forthcoming 2013) "Translating Scientific Evidence into the Language of the Folk: Executive Function as Capacity-Responsibility" in Nicole A Vincent (ed) Legal Responsibility and Neuroscience, OUP series on neuroscience and law (series editors: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Lynn Nadel, and Fred Schauer).
(2012) "On the Criminal Culpability of Successful versus Unsuccessful Psychopaths" (with William Hirstein) Neuroethics (currently online first)
(2012) "Changing the Criminal Character: Nanotechnology and Criminal Punishment," in Proceedings of the Young Scholar Symposium on Law and Science, (edited by Amedeo Santosuosso, European Centre for Law, Science and New Technologies) University of Pavia Press, Italy.
(2011) "Neuroethics" for the Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (2nd Edition), Elsevier, OUP (Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, Editor).
(2011) "The Legal Self: Executive Process and Legal Theory", co-authored with William Hirstein, Consciousness and Cognition, 20, 156-171.
(2010) "The Unique Challenges Posed By Mock Trial: Evaluation and Assessment of a Simulation Course", co-authored with Teri Bengtson, Journal of Political Science Education, 6(1), 70-86.
(2008) "Nanotechnology and the Attribution of Responsibility", Nanotechnology Law and Business Journal, 5(2), 177-190.
(2007) "The Intersect of Science and Criminal Responsibility", The Human Future: A Newsletter from the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future, Summer Edition.
(2007) "Can Baird's View of Adolescent Morality Inform Adolescent Criminal Justice Policy?" Moral Psychology Vol. 3: The Neuroscience of Morality, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong ed., (MIT Press).
(2006) "In Defense of the Use of Commonsense Psychology in the Criminal Law", Law and Philosophy 25: 571-612.
(2003) "You Can Get There From Here", Essay Review of Daniel Dennett, Freedom Evolves, British Journal of the History and Philosophy of Psychology 5(1), 107.
(2003) Essay Review of Carolyn Price, Functions in Mind: A Theory of Intentional Content, British Journal of the History and Philosophy of Psychology 5(1), 104.
(2003) "Making sense of modern Darwinism", Review of Laland and Brown, Sense and Nonsense, Heredity 90, 418.
(2002) "A Process and Impact Evaluation of Cook County’s State’s Attorney’s Office Victim Witness Assistance Program", Report Prepared for the National Institute of Justice, written with Stevens, P., Myrent, M. and Lurigio, A. (available at: http://www.icjia.org/public/pdf/researchreports/CCSAOVWAP.pdf).
(1998) "Victim Services Stretched Far in Rural Areas." Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. The Compiler 17(4): 11-14.