A Review of the Role of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Criminal Court.
A Review of the Role of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Criminal Court.
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DOI：
10.29158/jaapl.200054-20
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发表时间：
2021-03
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Morrison H
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Aaronson AL;Bordelon SD;Brakel SJ;Morrison H
慢性创伤性脑病（CTE）被认为是一种退行性脑疾病，其特征是重复性脑创伤，导致特定模式的神经病理学变化，其中一些与功能障碍和攻击有关。根据一项广泛宣传的研究，在多名已故的国家橄榄球联盟（NFL）球员中发现了这些相同的神经病理学变化后，诊断得到了更多的公众关注，其中许多人表现出侵略性，冲动性和执行功能低下的迹象。当一名被判谋杀罪的NFL球员在自杀后被发现有与CTE相关的神经病理学变化时，《纽约》的社论部分询问CTE是否是谋杀罪的辩护理由。这个想法提出了一个有趣的法律的和哲学问题，即一个人的犯罪行为是否可以由他们无法控制的事情决定，比如过去的头部创伤。为了开始尝试一个答案，本文回顾了目前已知的创伤性脑损伤，CTE和道德的神经生物学。通过研究美国刑事法院过去是如何处理痴呆症和创伤性脑损伤案件的，我们可以更好地理解如何在法医学背景下考虑这种死后诊断。
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is believed to be a degenerative brain disease characterized by repetitive brain trauma resulting in a specific pattern of neuropathological changes, which some have linked to functional disturbance and aggression. The diagnosis has gained greater public attention after these same neuropathological changes were discovered in multiple deceased National Football League (NFL) players, many of whom had exhibited signs of aggression, impulsivity, and poor executive functioning, according to a widely publicized study. When an NFL player convicted of murder was found to have the neuropathological changes associated with CTE following his suicide, the New York Times editorial section asked whether CTE was a defense for murder. This idea raises an interesting legal and philosophical question about whether an individual’s criminal actions can be determined by something outside their control, such as past head trauma. To begin to attempt an answer, this article reviews what is currently known about the neurobiology of traumatic brain injury, CTE, and morality. By looking at how U.S. criminal law courts have handled cases of dementia and traumatic brain injury in the past, we can better understand how to consider this postmortem diagnosis in its forensic context.