Interested in Contributing to the Mind on Trial Blog?

If you have been reading Mind on Trial and thinking you have something to add, you probably do.

Mind on Trial publishes student writing at the intersection of neuroscience, behavior, and law. That is a wide space. It includes case analyses, science explainers, policy arguments, personal essays, and research breakdowns. If your thinking touches any part of that space, we want to hear from you.

Here is what we are looking for:

Case analyses. Pick a real case where brain science, mental illness, or behavior played a role in the legal outcome. Walk us through what happened, what the neuroscience says, and what the law did with it. You do not need to use our three-lens framework perfectly. You just need to engage seriously with all three dimensions.

Science explainers. Take one neuroscience concept and make it genuinely understandable to someone who has never taken a biology class. The best explainers do not simplify by dumbing down. They simplify by finding the right analogy, the right example, the right entry point.

Policy arguments. Pick a specific legal reform related to neuroscience or mental health and make the case for it. Use evidence. Cite sources. Tell us what should change and why the science supports it.

Research and data. If you have done original analysis, run a study, or worked with a dataset related to criminal justice, neuroscience, or mental health policy, we want to know about it. This is the kind of work that does not have many homes at the high school level. It has one here.

Guest essays. If you have a perspective on the intersection of mind, behavior, and law that does not fit neatly into any of the above, write it anyway. Some of the most interesting work we have published started as something the writer was not sure belonged anywhere.

What we do not require.

You do not need to be pre-med. You do not need to have taken neuroscience or law. You do not need to write like an academic. What we do require is that you have done the reading, that your claims are supported, and that you are saying something you actually believe.

How to submit.

Email your pitch or full draft to info@mindontrial.org with the subject line: Blog Submission. Include your name, grade, school, and a one-sentence description of what you want to write about. We will get back to you within two weeks.

If you have questions before submitting, email us at the same address. We are happy to talk through an idea before you write a full draft.

We read everything we receive.