Rethinking responsibility in offenders with acquired paedophilia: Punishment or treatment?

Gilbert, Frédéric; Focquaert, Farah

doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2015.01.007

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…This evidence justifies the claim that, generally speaking, DBS is not a threat to personal, but some patients might not experience well any form of estrangement. Patients would benefit from being informed ahead of any potential risks, prior to consenting to being implanted, as in other types of invasive brain intervention (Viaña, Vickers et al 2017;Gilbert et al 2014;Viaña, Bittlinger et al 2017;Gilbert 2015b;Bretzner et al 2011;Gilbert, Vranic, and Hurst 2013;Gilbert 2014;Vranic & Gilbert 2014;Gilbert & Cook 2015;Gilbert 2017;Gilbert & Dodds 2013;Gilbert & Focquaert 2015;Gilbert & Vranic 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

I Miss Being Me: Phenomenological Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation

et al. 2017

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

I Miss Being Me: Phenomenological Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation

et al. 2017

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“…Although some psychiatrists still consider these “psycho-dynamic” interpretations of pedophilia emerging late in life as valid (Scarpazza et al, 2018 for a critical discussion; Cohen et al, 2002 ; Drapeau et al, 2008 ), more recent neuroscientific evidences have suggested that late-onset pedophilia is likely to emerge as a consequence of brain disorders (see Mohnke et al, 2014 for a review). This has dramatic consequences on the legal phenomenon of late-onset pedophilia: even though the psycho-dynamic interpretation of the paedophilic behavior indicates that the defendant should be considered fully responsible for his own action, the neuroscientific interpretation, if proven, implicates that the defendant should be considered not guilty by reason of insanity (Gilbert and Focquaert, 2015 ). Indeed, whether patients with acquired paedophilic behavior experienced paedophilic sexual preferences before the brain injury is irrelevant for the legal context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Insanity Assessment of Pedophilia: The Importance of the Trans-Disciplinary Approach. Reflections on Two Cases

Scarpazza

Pennati²,

Sartori

2018

Front. Neurosci.

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A 60 plus-year-old male was charged with pedophilia for forcing a child to touch him inappropriately near a primary school fence. In another case, a 70 plus-year-old male was charged with pedophilia for intimately touching a boy in a cinema. What led them to manifest this socially-inappropriate and legally-relevant behavior? Is there an explanation for the sexually-related behavioral changes emerging late in life of these two men? Indeed, a common point exists between the two men: both were found to suffer from highly-disabling neurological conditions, known to have a potential effect on social behavior. Specifically, a large right frontoparietal meningioma was found to have important influence on the first man's cognition and control inhibition, whereas frontotemporal dementia prevented the second man from understanding the moral disvalue of his sexually-inappropriate behavior and controlling his sexual impulses. In the current presentation, particular emphasis is placed on the logical reasoning supporting the conclusions that both the pedophiles should be considered not guilty by reason of insanity. Furthermore, experimental methods have been used to explore both cases, which rely on the existence of cognitive models for the phenomena under study, the integration of insights offered by different disciplines and the application of a variety of tools and approaches that follow the “convergence of evidence” principle, which could be safely used in court to support a mental insanity claim. Here, we describe how the use of the experimental method could become useful to reduce the uncertainty in mental insanity assessments. The use of a transdisciplinary, scientifically-grounded approach can help to change the way legal phenomena are interpreted. For instance, when assessing mental insanity, consultants should not only investigate the eventual existence of a diagnosis, but should assess the cognitive/affective abilities that are necessary to understand our own behavior and emotions as well as those of others. The criteria for responsibility should be symptoms-based and not diagnosis-based. Since pedophilia is among the most hideous behaviors condemned by society, a more comprehensive and transdisciplinary approach is recommended in court.

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“…What should be done if these devices are remarkably effective at dealing with certain targeted symptoms but patients seems to respond by not being able to cope well with the results of being symptom-free? Any brain surgery involves a set of ethical concerns (Gilbert and Vranic 2015;Gilbert and Focquaert 2015), especially when links to novel invasive electromaterial technologies (Gilbert et al 2014;Gilbert 2013b;Gilbert and Dodds 2013). By ensuring that we can better understand the impacts of predictive brain devices on patients' postoperative quality of life, neuroethics will be ideally positioned to assess the novel issues raised by clinical trials and the long-term use of these novel devices in humans.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Threat to Autonomy? The Intrusion of Predictive Brain Implants

Gilbert

2015

AJOB Neuroscience

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The world's first-in-human clinical trial using invasive intelligent brain devices-devices that predict specific neuronal events directly to the implanted person-has been completed with significant success. Predicting brain activity before specific outcomes occur brings a raft of unprecedented applications, especially when implants offer advice on how to respond to the neuronal events forecasted. Although these novel predictive and advisory implantable devices offer great potential to positively affect patients following surgery by enhancing quality of life (e.g., provide control over symptoms), substantial ethical concerns remain. The invasive nature of these novel devices is not unique; however, the inclusion of predictive and advisory functionalities within the implants, involving permanent monitoring of brain activity in real time, raises new ethical issues to explore, especially in relation to concerns for patient autonomy. What might be the effects of ongoing monitoring of predictive and advisory brain technologies on a patient's postoperative sense of autonomy? The role played by predictive and advisory implantable brain devices on patient's feelings of autonomy following surgery is completely unknown. The first section of this article addresses this shortcoming by reporting on a pilot study that we conducted with one of the patients implanted with one of these novel brain devices. The second section examines how overreliance on predictive and advisory brain technologies may threaten patients' autonomy. The third section looks into ethical problems concerning how devices delivering automated therapeutic responses might, hypothetically speaking, be used to monitor and control individual's autonomy through inhibition of undesirable behaviors.

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Rethinking responsibility in offenders with acquired paedophilia: Punishment or treatment?

Cited by 27 publications

References 70 publications

I Miss Being Me: Phenomenological Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation

I Miss Being Me: Phenomenological Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation

Mental Insanity Assessment of Pedophilia: The Importance of the Trans-Disciplinary Approach. Reflections on Two Cases

A Threat to Autonomy? The Intrusion of Predictive Brain Implants

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