Criminal Accountability and the Essay example -- Biology Essays Resear

bend Accountability and the I Function The prevalence and misuse of the insanity justification in our legal system is astounding. Cases upon cases site drugs, brain tumors, car accidents involving peak injury, blackouts and antisocial behavior as circumstantial evidence of a evil that was committed. These crimes involve murder, rape and robbery. The question of where criminal accountability dwells and how we are fitted to hold someone accountable for an act may boil mint to the brain itself. Where in the brain do reason, morality and inhibition lie? If these areas are affected by some disorder does that then suppose that a criminal is no longer held accountable for their actions? Is there a specific area of the brain where accountability itself may lie? These come along to be questions that are not only debated in the classroom, but hospitals and courtrooms as well.The classic example of this dilemma is the case of Phineas Gage. Phineas lived circa 1845 and was a railroad ac tor known for macrocosm a kind and generous family man. However, Phineas suffered from a underprivileged accident. After a dynamite explosion caused a metal pole to be passed through Phineass head, he was a changed man. Phineas no longer was interested in family life, his personality seemed somehow changed. He became a drifter and a rebel and has left scientists wondering to this day how he was able to be totally unaffected by a metal rod being passed through his skull despite the obvious change in his moral think and determine (1). This has led neurologists to believe that moral reasoning and the existence of values may be localized to one are of the brain. How else can we exempt Phineas? Neuroscientists at the University of Iowa were interested in this phenomeno... ...ing of the brain itself. The legal system has to check brain research. While we may not find exactly where the I is, we can become much closer to understanding what disorders truly magnetic core the ability to understand ones actions and be held accountable for them. WWW Sources1) Cyberpunks.org , http//cyberpunks.org/display/176/ condition/2) The Biological bum of Morality part 2 , http//www.theatlantic.com/issues/98apr/bio2.htm3) The Biological Basis of Morality , http//www.theatlantic.com/issues/98apr/biomoral.htm4) Aggression and Insanity , http//www.forensic-psychologist.com/pub/or12-3.html5) Mincey vs. Head , http//www.law.emory.edu/11circuit/mar2000/97-9078.man.html6) Mental affection and Criminal Responsibility , search results for insanity defense and mental complainthttps//web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/,