Citation

Paul GM, Lange KW. Med. Sci. Law 1992; 32(2): 160-166.

Affiliation

Rutherford College, University of Kent, Canterbury.

Comment In:

Med Sci Law 1992;32(3):255-6

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, British Academy of Forensic Sciences, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1614301

Abstract

Automatic episodes of aggressive or violent behaviour may occur during or after an epileptic fit. Epileptic automatisms are regarded by the law as 'insane automatisms'. A person who commits a crime during the course of a seizure is therefore legally insane and must be committed to a psychiatric hospital. The law of insanity is inappropriate when applied to epileptic automatisms. A change in the law is therefore necessary to remove epileptic offenders from the legal ambit of insanity, and to save them the threat of detention in a mental hospital as a consequence of their crime.

Language: en