Violence and the epilepsy defense

The role of an attorney in the US criminal justice system is to serve as an advocate for his or her client. This requires a search for any possible ar guments that might support the client's case. This judicial system, which p its two advocates against each other in a contest at trial, rather than see king truth and justice as the primary goal of the proceedings, has led to t he development of what has come to be termed the epilepsy defense. The esse nce of the epilepsy defense is the argument that a crime was committed as t he result of the perpetrator having epilepsy, and thus that he or she shoul d not be held responsible for the act. Because neurologists are frequently asked to make a judgment as to whether an alleged act may have been the res ult of an epileptic condition, it is worthwhile to review the evidence that such acts may occur, and to ask what criteria should be used to decide tha t a given act was, or could have been, the result of an epileptic seizure.