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Neuroscientific Evidence and Criminal Responsibility in the Netherlands

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International Neurolaw

Abstract

Insights from neuroscientific research are increasingly advancing our understanding of the neural correlates of human behaviour, cognition and emotion and can therefore be of significant practical use in a legal context. One of the most fundamental legal applications of neuroscience refers to the assessment of criminal responsibility. Recent empirical studies have established links between certain brain structures and antisocial or criminal behaviour. Three areas of brain abnormalities that are relevant for assessments of criminal responsibility can be differentiated: (1) impairments in the frontal lobes and associated problems with impulse control, aggressiveness and the processing of information that is evocative of moral emotions, (2) abnormalities in the limbic system and associated problems in affective processing and (3) the potential side effects of neurotechnologies and associated problems with impulse control, aggressiveness and disinhibited behaviour. This chapter addresses recent research findings in these three areas and how these could affect responsibility assessments. In addition, eight cases are discussed in which insights from neuroscientific research have been used by Dutch courts in responsibility assessments. By illustrating how neuroscientific evidence has already entered the courtroom in the Netherlands, the possible conditions and implications of such practice are addressed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The terms responsibility, accountability and liability will be used interchangeably in this chapter.

  2. 2.

    In all cases discussed in this chapter in which a neurologist was involved as one of the expert witnesses, he explained the suspect’s behaviour in terms of deficits caused by specific brain damage (with an exception of case LJN BM1948, in which the brain damage was not believed to have affected the suspect’s behaviour). On the basis of the summaries of the court decisions, it is unclear how exactly the expert assessed the brain damage and associated deficits. In all cases however, the expert referred to some kind of brain damage and explained the suspect’s behaviour in terms of this damage.

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  1. Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society, Tilburg University, 90153, 5000 LE, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Laura Klaming & Bert-Jaap Koops

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  1. Laura Klaming
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  2. Bert-Jaap Koops
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Correspondence to Laura Klaming .

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  1. , Institute of Science and Ethics, University of Bonn, Bonner Talweg 57, Bonn, 53113, Germany

    Tade Matthias Spranger

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Klaming, L., Koops, BJ. (2012). Neuroscientific Evidence and Criminal Responsibility in the Netherlands. In: Spranger, T. (eds) International Neurolaw. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21541-4_13

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