Criminal Accountability and the Essay example -- Biology Essays Resear

Criminal Accountability and the I Function The prevalence and misuse of the insanity defense in our jural system is astounding. Cases upon cases site drugs, brain tumors, car accidents involving head injury, blackouts and antisocial demeanour as circumstantial evidence of a crime that was committed. These crimes involve murder, enchant and robbery. The question of where flagitious accountability lies and how we atomic number 18 able to hold somebody accountable for an act may boil down to the brain itself. Where in the brain do reason, morality and inhibition lie? If these spheres are affect by some disorder does that then mean that a criminal is no longer held accountable for their actions? Is there a specific area of the brain where accountability itself may lie? These seem to be questions that are not only debated in the classroom, but hospitals and courtrooms as well.The classic exemplar of this dilemma is the case of Phineas Gage. Phineas lived circa 1845 and was a railr oad worker known for world a kind and generous family man. However, Phineas suffered from a unfortunate accident. After a dynamite explosion caused a metal rod to be passed through Phineass head, he was a changed man. Phineas no longer was enkindle in family life, his constitution seemed somehow changed. He became a drifter and a rebel and has left wing scientists wondering to this day how he was able to be totally uninfluenced by a metal rod being passed through his skull despite the obvious change in his moral reasoning and values (1). This has guide neurologists to believe that moral reasoning and the existence of values may be localized to one are of the brain. How else can we explain Phineas? Neuroscientists at the University of Iowa were interested in this phenomeno... ...ing of the brain itself. The legal system has to follow brain research. succession we may not find exactly where the I is, we can fabricate much closer to looking what disorders truly effect the a bility to understand ones actions and be held accountable for them. WWW Sources1) Cyberpunks.org , http//cyberpunks.org/display/176/article/2) The Biological earth of Morality part 2 , http//www.theatlantic.com/issues/98apr/bio2.htm3) The Biological Basis of Morality , http//www.theatlantic.com/issues/98apr/biomoral.htm4) invasion and Insanity , http//www.forensic-psychologist.com/pub/or12-3.html5) Mincey vs. Head , http//www.law.emory.edu/11circuit/mar2000/97-9078.man.html6) Mental Illness and Criminal indebtedness , search results for insanity defense and mental illnesshttps//web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/,