Legal decision-making in criminal contexts includes two essential functions performed by impartial "third parties:" assessing responsibility and determining an appropriate punishment. To explore the neural underpinnings of these processes, we scanned subjects with fMRI while they determined the appropriate punishment for crimes that varied in perpetrator responsibility and crime severity. Activ...

Should criminal law principles be applied to life insurance claims made by the beneficiaries of an insured person who commits suicide? Any discussion of the criminal law and the M'Naghten test of criminal responsibility, as sometimes used by the courts and recommended by the authors, obfuscates the resolution of contemporary issues.

Forensic psychiatry expertise may be useful to criminal courts in several ways, including evaluating competence (e.g., to stand trial, waive Miranda rights, confess, plead, represent oneself, or be sentenced), assessing responsibility for alleged criminal behavior, and clarifying mental or psychosocial factors that may mitigate criminal charges or the form and severity of punishment. This colum...

This article reviews the application of clinical neuropsychology to criminal court proceedings, a complex, underserved, yet growing area of neuropsychological practice. The authors write from the perspective that the audience is primarily neurorehabilitation clinicians with limited experience in criminal matters. Discussions on the theoretical differences between clinical and forensic work, the...