The origins of criminal law.

Laws against wrongdoing may originate in justice intuitions that are part of universal human nature, according to the adaptationist theory of the origins of criminal law. This theory proposes that laws can be traced to neurocognitive mechanisms and ancestral selection pressures. According to this theory, laypeople can intuitively recreate the laws of familiar and unfamiliar cultures, even when they lack the relevant explicit knowledge. Here, to evaluate this prediction, we conduct experiments with Chinese and Sumerian laws that are millennia old; stimuli that preserve in fossil-like form the legal thinking of ancient lawmakers. We show that laypeople's justice intuitions closely match the logic and content of those archaic laws. We also show covariation across different types of justice intuitions: interpersonal devaluation of offenders, judgements of moral wrongness, mock-legislated punishments and perpetrator shame-suggesting that multiple justice intuitions may be regulated by a common social-evaluative psychology. Although alternative explanations of these findings are possible, we argue that they are consistent with the assumption that the origin of criminal law is a cognitively sophisticated human nature.

A review of the new provisions for sanctioning mentally disordered offenders in China, in a broader historical context.

Reforms of the criminal justice system in China in recent years have included the 2012 Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP), which resulted in new disposals for mentally disordered offenders. From a Western perspective, changes in Chinese criminal law are sometimes clichéd as toothless window dressing, but they may represent a genuine step forward in safeguarding human rights. Taking a historical perspective, this paper reveals that in the East, as much as in the West, there is a 'moral tradition' of not punishing mentally disordered offenders who are not considered responsible for their acts. There are clear differences in disposal for those acquitted having been found 'not guilty by reason of insanity'. Whereas Western jurisdictions have offered (criminal) courts the opportunity for commitment in (forensic) mental hospitals from the early 19th Century, in China, disposal has remained, until the recent changes, the responsibility of the administration (mainly the police) or the family of the offender. A few high profile cases brought to light the inadequacy of these arrangements and the general disregard of obvious mental health issues when sentencing offenders. There was lack of clarity regarding who would take responsibility for treatment and issues of future public protection arising from a mental disorder. The 2012 CCP introduces the power of mental health commitment by the judiciary for those found non-responsible for an offense because of a mental disorder. Similar to provisions in Western jurisdictions there remain human rights concerns regarding aspects of 2012 CCP and the role of 'preventive detention' for mentally disordered offenders on indeterminate secure mental health detention. Nevertheless, the shift to judicial decision making in such cases and the possibility of mental health commitment are welcome steps in improving the human rights of this vulnerable population.

Use of Rorschach tests at the Nuremberg war crimes trial: A forgotten chapter in history of medicine.

Seventy years ago, psychiatrists and psychologists had unusual access to the Nazi leaders awaiting trial by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Early leaders in the field of psychosomatic medicine were instrumental in facilitating these interviews as well as arranging for the administration of psychological testing with the Rorschach inkblot test. These observations were kept under wraps for decades and there remains controversy even now about what these Rorschachs revealed-demonic psychopaths or just morally corrupt individuals.

In quest of constitutional principles of "neurolaw".

The growing use of brain imaging technology and the developing of cognitive neuroscience pose unaccustomed challenges to legal systems. Until now, the fields of Law much affected are the civil and criminal law and procedure, but the constitutional dimension of "neurolaw" cannot be easily underestimated. As the capacity to investigate and to trace brain mechanisms and functional neural activities increases, it becomes urgent the recognition and definition of the unalienable rights and fundamental values in respect of this new techno-scientific power, that must be protected and safeguard at "constitutional level" of norms such as: human dignity, personal identity, authenticity and the pursuit of individual "happiness". As the same as for the law regulating research and experimentation on human genome adopted in the past years, one may also argue if the above mentioned fundamental principles of "neurolaw" must be fixed and disciplined also at European and International level.

[Treatment instead of punishment. The process of diversion from custody]. / Buntetés helyett kezelés. Az elterelés intézménye.

In the paper, the functioning of treatment alternative to punishment principle (diversion from custody) is surveyed from legal, medical and financial points of views. In this regard, the philosophical aspects of the issue are also taken into account. The emergence of diversion from custody appeared in the Hungarian criminal code in relation to the joining process with European Union of Hungary. The history of the changes of legal regulations of diversion from custody and the current regulation of that are also made known. And afterwards the medical difficulties, particularly the motivation of clients, are discussed. The most serious criticism addressed from legal point of view can be given as to frequent changes of the rules, and the disharmonic and pro forma nature of law. Several critical points are seen from medical point of view, either. Among others and in particular, the lack of the differentiation of clients of various additional history according to their therapeutic needs, the unambiguous essence of therapy based on protocols fitting to health needs and follow-up studies. A critical factor is the motivation of clients, too. At the same time, further concern emerges in the regard of the lack of investigation of cost/benefit of diversion from custody and the missing definition of success. The author also rises the responsibility of patients and examines the dispute upon legalization of marihuana with particular interest in pros and cons. The reason for the existence of diversion from custody in the prison is, however, queried in this paper. Although the diversion from custody has been criticized by several and proposals have also been worked out, indeed, a system presenting the problem in a comprehensive manner has not been elaborated yet. Finally, the author outlines a uniform system of an addictional approach for the treatment alternative to punishment and hurries a decision along the stipulation of minima terms in the regard of personnel and material requirements. As important considerations are the guarantees for clients as well as the involvements of consequences of non-abstinent behaviour of them mentioned.

Contested boundaries: psychiatry, disease, and diagnosis.

Since the 19th century, we have come to think of disease in terms of specific entities--entities defined and legitimated in terms of characteristic somatic mechanisms. Since the last third of that century, we have expanded would-be disease categories to include an ever-broader variety of emotional pain, idiosyncrasy, and culturally unsettling behaviors. Psychiatry has been the residuary legatee of these developments, developments that have always been contested at the ever-shifting boundary between disease and deviance, feeling and symptom, the random and the determined, the stigmatized and the value-free. Even in our era of reductionist hopes, psychopharmaceutical practice, and corporate strategies, the legitimacy of many putative disease categories will remain contested. The use of the specific disease entity model will always be a reductionist means to achieve necessarily holistic ends, both in terms of cultural norms and the needs of suffering individuals. Bureaucratic rigidities and stakeholder conflicts structure and intensify such boundary conflicts, as do the interests and activism of an interested lay public.

First admission (1846) of hypnotic testimony in court.

The record of an 1846 trial for murder in New York state was reviewed. This was the first case in which testimony based on hypnosis (mesmerism) was admitted without objection in an American court of law. The allegations against the defendant were not supported by the evidence offered, and a verdict of not guilty was rendered.

Historical perspectives on law, medical malpractice, and the concept of negligence.

Since the dawn of human history, the inherent morbidity and mortality of human beings has made the diagnosis and treatment of human disease a high-risk profession. The ancient risk of physical retribution against the physician has been replaced by the modern risk of economic indemnity or compensation. Monetary settlements and awards are at times so huge that they may result in personal bankruptcy and professional disgrace. This article should not discourage health care providers from continuing their pursuits, but encourage them to enhance their knowledge about how and why medical malpractice has developed. It has been intended to facilitate the "prudent practitioner" with a more thorough understanding of some of the elements of negligence that have caused concerns in the past and will certainly create new concerns as science continues to drag the law in its wake.

Suggestibility of the child witness: a historical review and synthesis.

The field of children's testimony is in turmoil, but a resolution to seemingly intractable debates now appears attainable. In this review, we place the current disagreement in historical context and describe psychological and legal views of child witnesses held by scholars since the turn of the 20th century. Although there has been consistent interest in children's suggestibility over the past century, the past 15 years have been the most active in terms of the number of published studies and novel theorizing about the causal mechanisms that underpin the observed findings. A synthesis of this research posits three "families" of factors--cognitive, social, and biological--that must be considered if one is to understand seemingly contradictory interpretations of the findings. We conclude that there are reliable age differences in suggestibility but that even very young children are capable of recalling much that is forensically relevant. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of expert witnesses.

[The Austrian penal code and the Codex Ur-nammu--a comparison from the forensic medicine viewpoint]. / Das österreichische Strafrecht und der Codex Ur-nammu--Ein Vergleich aus gerichtsmedizinischer Sicht.

A comparison between the Mesopotamian Law (Codex Ur-nammu) and the Austrian Penal Code reveals the long-sightedness of the founder of the 3rd dynasty from Ur, called Ur-nammu. It seems extremely remarkable that at those remote times (3rd Millenium B. C.) body injuries were satisfied by simple money-penalties. The Codex Ur-nammu therefore not only represents on exceedingly piece of work from the historical point of view but also from the point of view from Legal Medicine.