Brains behind bars: public support for TBI-related and neuroscience-informed correctional practices

Examine whether exposure to traumatic brain injury (TBI) information influences public willingness to fund neuroscience-informed correctional practices and identify individual characteristics associated with funding support. Using a national survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, respondents were randomly assigned to receive TBI information incorporating text and brain images or no information. Analyses examined hypothetical willingness to pay additional taxes and associations with humanizing and empathetic beliefs toward incarcerated individuals, racial resentment, political ideology, and other characteristics. Exposure to TBI information did not significantly influence willingness to pay. Humanizing beliefs toward incarcerated individuals were positively associated with funding support, whereas racial resentment was negatively associated with support. Informational interventions alone may be insufficient to increase public support for neuroscience-informed correctional practices. Broader attitudes toward incarcerated individuals may be more consequential. Findings are limited by the hypothetical funding measure and the combined informational treatment, which precludes isolating the effects of text and imagery.