LegaL responsibiLity and expert psychiatry: in neuroimaging can we trust?

Résumé

Structural and functional neuroimaging in psychiatry have made considerable progress since a few decades.
Structural abnormalities have been described in prefrontal cortex and in the limbic system in violent subjects presenting with psychiatric or personality disorders. Frontal dysfunction have been described, involving cerebral networks regulating empathy, emotions and anger; Functional studies can provide evidence of auditory hallucinations, or of iatrogenic desinhibition that can lead to violent aggressions.
Nevertheless, the use of these new techniques are still to be discussed for the determination of legal reponsibility