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Impulse control and criminal responsibility: lessons from neuroscience.

Steven Penney1

  • 1Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, 4th Floor Law Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2H5. spenney@ualberta.ca

International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
|January 21, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Neuroscience supports the irresistible impulse defense, finding that individuals can understand wrongdoing yet be unable to control actions. The law can accommodate this defense in limited, specific circumstances.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience and Law
  • Criminal Responsibility
  • Legal Defenses

Background:

  • Legal systems worldwide recognize the M'Naghten rule, focusing on the inability to appreciate wrongfulness.
  • Debate exists on extending legal defenses to defendants who understand wrongfulness but lack impulse control.
  • The irresistible impulse defense, or volitional test, remains a contentious area in criminal law.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if contemporary neuroscience can inform legal decisions regarding the irresistible impulse defense.
  • To empirically assess if a person can comprehend an act's wrongfulness while being unable to resist committing it.
  • To evaluate the practical legal accommodation of the irresistible impulse phenomenon.

Main Methods:

  • Comprehensive review of relevant neuroscientific literature.
  • Analysis of legal frameworks and case law in the United States and other nations.
  • Examination of the volitional test for insanity and its application.

Main Results:

  • Neuroscientific evidence confirms that individuals can understand an act's wrongfulness yet be powerless to refrain from it.
  • The law can practically accommodate the irresistible impulse defense, but only under specific, limited conditions.
  • Recognition of the irresistible impulse defense is supported when total incapacity to control conduct is demonstrated.

Conclusions:

  • The irresistible impulse defense is empirically supported by neuroscience.
  • Legal systems can incorporate the irresistible impulse defense, provided there is a demonstrated total loss of volitional control.
  • This defense should be recognized in limited circumstances where defendants cannot control their actions despite understanding their wrongfulness.