title: Epilepsy and criminal law.
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.
authors.affiliation: Rutherford College, University of Kent, Canterbury.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Lange
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001332:Automatism / Q000523:psychology*; D003416:Criminal Law / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004739:England; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology*; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007298:Insanity Defense; D008297:Male; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D014754:Violence