Epilessia e diritto penale

The analysis of criminal cases involving crimes committed by individuals with epilepsy had lead to the singling-out of several different issues. First of all, Law tends to consider epilepsy as a psychiatric illness rather than a neurological one and a person with epilepsy as socially dangerous. Further, the set of rules on the basis of which the judge must operate constitute a complex and unharmonious system which is badly adapted to the evaluation of single differentiated cases. Finally, the ease with which precautionary measures and psychiatric evaluations are requested when a subject with epilepsy find himself in front of the Criminal Court, is a clear symptom of the deep need for co-operation between the legal and scientific fields. The latter should make available to all legal operators engaged in issues concerning epileptic persons the wealth of neurological studies carried out in the past 10 years.