Does Childhood Trauma Lead To Criminal Behavior?
How Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Relate to Criminal Behavior This article is the first in a series about the effects of stressful and traumatic events in a child’s life and its relationship to the likelihood of this child committing serious, violent crimes later in life. These events can include such things as physical abuse, sexual […]
How Alternative Light Sources Are Used In Forensics
Alternative Light Sources and Their Effectiveness in Enhancing the Visibility of Injuries History of ALS A fairly new science has emerged within the past 70 years regarding the use of alternative light sources (ALS) to enhance the visibility of injuries, being used in forensics starting around 1990. There has been research done on this topic, […]
Prisoner or Patient?
Are Correctional Facilities Adequately Caring for the Health of Their Inmates? According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), incarcerated individuals are “disproportionately affected by chronic health conditions, mental illness, and substance abuse. However, they tend to receive inadequate healthcare before, during, and after incarceration or detention, further exacerbating their disadvantage.” As of 2016, […]
Medically Conscious but Legally Unconscious?
Conscious or Unconscious? Can someone be medically conscious but considered legally unconscious? What an interesting conundrum! According to the Oxford Dictionary, “unconsciousness is the state of being unconscious or the state of being uninformed or unaware” and “automatism is the performance of actions without conscious thought or intention, involuntary” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2021). Even in […]
Effect of Brain Damage on Personality
How can brain damage be used to create reasonable doubt? In 1990, a 40-year-old schoolteacher suddenly began using prostitutes and making inappropriate advances to his stepdaughter. The courts ordered him to go to Sexaholics Anonymous or go to prison. He failed the program because he kept asking people for sex. The hospital found a large […]
Traumatic Brain Injury or Mental Illness?
TBI and Mental Illness What if a defendant commits a crime because of being affected by either an acute brain injury or an acquired or inherited brain disease? This is called the “brain defense.” In criminal cases, defense attorneys are increasingly using clinical evidence of brain injury to either establish their client’s innocence or mitigate […]
Fracture from Child Abuse or Bone Disease?
Unexplained Fracture from Child Abuse or Bone Disease? Child abuse and neglect (CAN) is a profoundly serious problem that has implications and consequences affecting the child and his family for the rest of their lives, both mentally and physically, and potentially financially. The welfare of the child is a top priority in these cases so […]
Alcohol Intoxication or Medical Issue?
Alcohol, trauma, or underlying medical condition? The legal limit of blood alcohol content is set by the US Department of Motor Vehicles at 0.08%. However, not everyone presents the same way clinically, as different individuals have different tolerance levels depending on their level of regular alcohol use. Even the liver eliminates alcohol from the body […]
Pathological Fractures in Spinal Cord Injury Patients
What is a pathological fracture? Spinal cord injuries cause life-altering paralysis of the limbs and place the patient at risk for long term complications, including pathological fractures. A pathological fracture is a broken bone that is caused by disease, rather than injury. After a person suffers a spinal cord injury, they have immediate bone loss […]
Auto Brewery Syndrome
What is ABS? Auto brewery syndrome is a rare condition in which the gastrointestinal system produces ethanol through fermentation by fungi or bacteria in the gut. Normal digestion does produce some ethanol, but this process can become pathologic, producing so much that blood alcohol levels are detected. People with ABS can exhibit signs and symptoms […]
