Automatism is a notoriously difficult subject for law students, lawyers and judges. This book explores the science and medicine of sleep disorders and examines how the criminal process deals with such disorders when presented as a defence. It systematically examines the legal doctrines involved, and their implications for the use of the evidence key to establishing automatism, while also exploring the medical conditions that can cause automatism (particularly epilepsy, sleepwalking and diabetes). This book is a valuable resource for law students, lawyers, judges and expert witnesses.
Criminal law has struggled to keep pace with developments in psychiatry, both in substantive and procedural terms, and it is widely recognised that increased inter-disciplinary discussion of mental condition defences is required in order to address this gap between the law and psychiatry. This edited collection comes at a time of review of this sensitive area of criminal law. The Law Commission for England and Wales recently placed its evaluation of insanity, automatism and intoxication on hold, while it considers the law on unfitness to plead. These reviews are set against the backdrop of earlier Law Commission reports on partial defences to murder which informed significant changes that were made to the law in this area under sections 52–56 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. Recent developments in case law in this substantive area illustrate not only the importance of the role of the medical expert, but also that reform in this area is informed by ongoing inter-disciplinary research. This collection brings together medical and legal conceptions of mental disorder in order to appraise the operation of mental condition defences. In this respect, it provides invaluable and original insights into mental condition defences and criminal law.
Psychiatric Expert Testimony: Emerging Applications is for practitioners who need to be at the cutting edge of admissibility in court. The book avoids standard applications, such as the insanity defense and specific capacity assessments, in favor of those that may be controversial or require evidentiary hearings. It is divided into two broad areas: human development and its deviations; and science and technology. In each chapter, the reader will find a discussion of the science behind the testimony and, where applicable, relevant case law. In the human development area, there are discussions of the genesis of moral thinking, how early trauma can affect behavior, how to approach the child witness, and how Autism Spectrum Disorder is regarded in criminal justice. In the technology area, there are diverse discussions, including sleep disorders, fMRI lie detection, the uses of neuroimaging, traumatic encephalopathy, and designer drugs. Dr. Weiss and Dr. Watson provide a framework for understanding why and how the justice system needs expert testimony and the instances where there is resistance to it. Unlike other books, which either treat the subject generally or in a prescriptive manner, Psychiatric Expert Testimony: Emerging Applications provides a foundation for practitioners to use available science and then to fashion their own work product. In this way, the expert is not held to a formula or format. By using the content of Emerging Applications, the practitioner will be better able to fashion expert reports and field questions during evidentiary hearings.
This is the leading work on forensic medicine and the law in the UK. Written by a team of leading legal practitioners, pathologists and other experts, this Seventh Edition has been fully revised to bring it up to date with the latest legal, medical and scientific developments. It is the only book directed at both the legal practitioner and the expert medical witness. It provides unique commentary on the law in all three UK jurisdictions: England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. It guides experts on their role and duties to the courts and highlights areas of current scientific and legal controversy with additional reference sources. In addition to two new chapters on forensic psychiatry and forensic science, the Seventh Edition includes updates and new material on: - Introduction to medicine, the systems of the body and autopsy procedure - Forensic medicine covering assaults, firearms, head injuries, road traffic collisions, falls, asphyxia, drowning, hypothermia, and heat and electricity - Sexual offences, deaths in detention, forensic odontology and toxicology - Guidance for the expert medical witness on giving evidence in the UK courts, covering the UK's criminal justice systems, coroners' courts and fatal accident inquiries This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Personal Injury Law online service.
This resource is an illustrated guide to the performance and interpretation of EEG and management of epilepsy. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, and features hundreds of detailed EEGs covering the science in extensive scope and detail, beginning with basic electronics and physiology, followed by EEG interpretation, epilepsy diagnosis, and ultimately epilepsy management. It also includes all basic classifications and definitions of seizures and epilepsy.
Part of the Oxford Textbooks in Clinical Neurology (OTCN) series, this volume covers the scientific basis, clinical diagnosis, and treatment of epilepsy and epileptic seizures, and is complemented by an online edition.
