(LITTLE ROCK, AR) -- The center line keeps drivers on the proper side of the road, but some people with brain disorders disregard that center line and drive into the oncoming lane at breakneck speed. No one would choose to do that and those people should not be judged in a court of law, says Arkansas scientist Edgar Garcia-Rill and Arkansas law professors Erica Beecher-Monas, Teri Beiner and John Di Pippa. They argue in a publication, "The Law and the Brain--Using Science to Make Legal Decisions," that scientific definitions of mental illnesses should be used in legal decision-making. Their work -- which has been cited in the courts in Hawaii (2000WL 576162, *6 Hawaii App.) and Texas (2000WL 426212, *13 5th Cir. Tex.) -- emphasizes that brain disorders provide the grounds for believing that the accused to be incompetent.
Garcia-Rill, Ph.D., a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences professor of anatomy and psychiatry, says, "Law often ignores scientific insights. In the words of Judge Richard Posner, 'Law lags science.' In particular, we look at how scientific information about stress disorders can transform legal practice."
For example, Garcia-Rill says, "Will people with mental diseases be able to stay in the 'right' lane throughout the trial to assist in the defense? Questionable. Were they on the wrong side of the road when the crime was committed? Highly likely. Will they find themselves on the wrong side of the road in the future? Highly likely, if they remain without treatment. Are they in full command of their faculties? Sometimes."
The incidence of post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) in the general population is quite high, Garcia-Rill says. "It is likely that lawyers will face issues related to PTSD in some aspect of their practice, whether it be in dealing with the stressed client or the legal system's failure to recognize what modern science tells us about PTSD."
In Law and Brain, Garcia-Rill addresses the physiology of stress disorders, giving the practitioner an idea of the thought processes and potential reactions of affected clients. The other advocates discuss how client stress affects the lawyer-client relationship, particularly in legal counseling decisions. Third, they discuss how stress affects the victim's responses to sexual harassment, and the law's failure to account for its impact in the development of legal rules. Finally, they present the evidentiary problems in admitting evidence of PTSD in legal proceedings.
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Media contact: Bonnie Brandsgaard 501-686-8013, [email protected]
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