Decoding the mind. Questioning the law.
LATEST INSIGHTS & EXPLORATIONS
5 min read
The Enneagram of Personality: Is It Pseudoscience?
Many people take personality tests to gain insight into their character and identify their flaws. However, the scientific reliability of these tests is often debated. This paper compares the scientific arguments surrounding one of the most “accurate” personality tests, the Enneagram Test, to determine if it is, in fact, scientific.
July 7, 2026
5 min read
From Chaos to Cosmos
How is reality perceived by humans, and what are the different constructs on the topic of meaning? Diving into Le Poidevin’s account about human perception, and Borges’ demonstration in the Library of Babel on the artificial creation of meaning, this four-page essay connects the dots of each argument to lead to the conclusion that meaning is created by humans’ creation of structure.
May 26, 2026
Introducing the Neurolaw Youth Summit!
Today is International Youth Day. So we are announcing something big.
This fall, Mind on Trial is hosting the first Neurolaw Youth Summit. Students worldwide will submit real cases. We select the strongest. You present live using the three-lens framework. Our advisors respond. Everything gets published.
No one has done this before. We are doing it now. Applications open NOW!
Fun Fact
The insanity defense is used in less than 1% of criminal cases
And it succeeds even less often. Most people picture it as a loophole. In reality, it is rarely attempted and rarely works.
THE OPEN VERDICT LITERARY JOURNAL
Current Call for Submissions
Submissions are now open for our upcoming issue! We invite high school writers, artists, and thinkers to submit analytical essays, creative non-fiction, and visual art exploring the intersection of neuroscience, criminal justice, and human behavior.
Current Theme: IDENTITY & MEMORY
Deadline: Rolling Submissions
Follow us on Instagram
What We Do
Where the brain,
behavior & law meet.
Mind on Trial is a student-led nonprofit publication built on one central idea: neuroscience, human behavior, and the law belong in conversation with each other, and students are ready for that conversation.
We publish rigorous case analyses, accessible science explainers, and a literary journal where creative work is paired with neuroscience interpretation. Our analytical work comes from our school-based forensic analysis club. Our literary journal is open to students everywhere.
01
Case-Based Analyses
Real forensic and behavioral cases examined through our three-lens framework, scientific evidence, neuroscience, and legal outcome.
02
Science Explainers
Plain-language articles on memory, impulse control, adolescent brain development, psychiatric genetics, and more.
03
Neuro-Law Summaries
Accessible breakdowns of real legal cases where brain science played a role, making legal reasoning legible to non-lawyers.
04
Literary Journal (The OV)
Student creative work, essays, poetry, fiction, art, on themes of memory, identity, justice, and behavior. Each piece optionally paired with a neuroscience interpretation.