The Nature of Aggression during Epileptic Seizures

Since 1889, there have been only 15 appellate cases in the United States in which epilepsy has been used as a defense against charges of murder, homicide, manslaughter, or disorderly conduct. Recently, medical investigators have implied a causal relation between temporal-lobe epilepsy and violence.1 2 3 As a result, epileptic automatisms have been used as part of the "diminished legal responsibility" or "insanity" defense against at least 12 charges of crimes of violence since 1977. In 1979 alone, five cases of murder went to court with epilepsy as the defense. Because these criminal cases have had undue attention in the lay press, . . .