“My Brain made me do it” US defendants turn to science to try to explain crimes
27th November 2013
Over recent years the US courts have seen a huge increase in neurological evidence being used to reduced sentences or clear people of all culpability. Typically lawyers will draw upon brain scans or neuropsychological tests in an effort to demonstrate that the defendant was not fully responsible for their criminal actions i.e. ‘their brain made them do it’.
This appears to suggest that if a criminal behaviour can be explained within a deterministic framework then an individual cannot be held morally responsible for their actions. However, research by Monterosso, Royzman & Schwartz (2005) identified a “naïve dualism” which identified that a social or psychological determining factor, such as childhood abuse was viewed differently compared to a physiological cause. They found that judges would reduce the culpability of a defendant if their behaviour had been determined by physiological causes as opposed to psychological / social causes.
At the end of the article Nita Farahany, a professor of law, expresses her concern about the legal systems’ basis towards the validity of neuroscience and the need to use it appropriately. Please use the link to access the full article