Theoretically whether we can distinguish preferences from action, but whether we can identify those either before the fact or after the fact that had that inability to control their actions. Yeah, but what we do know is that even like the one that kent presented, the pedestriano file out of virginia, that the vast majority of people who have a tumor like that who may have preferences and desires to act on sexual impulses dont. Though we may not know in any particular case whether a person is an automoton, usually you can. The law has a bright line. It says if you engage in a wongful action, there is a defense called the insanity defense which never works as most of us know because we dont recognize it. Should we recognize it, thats an interesting question. Should we have a more robust concept of diminished responsibility in light of the understanding that some people have less control over their preferences and desires or should we have better sentencing schemes or get rid of incarcera
Actions, not for bad preferences and desires. So then the question is, how do we take account for preferences and desires that may be outside of your control . That may be things like gray matter lighten kent showed us that showed us that people like psychopaths have decreased gray matter in particular regions of their brain. It could be Something Like the guy who he was talking about out of virginia who had the large tumor in his brain and chose to act on but didnt have control over having the tumor in his brain. How do we take account for that in law . Thats, i think, the interesting struggle that neuroscience presents us with, but it doesnt change the issue of free will. In fact, we have just as robust of evidence from neuroscience that supports this concept of action which is what we punish for in law to begin with. And, doctor, would you like to comment on that last . No. [laughter] i would like to raise an issue. Theoretically, that may all be true. There is a problem in distingu
Washington, dc; dr. Gary bond, professor of psychiatry, dartmouth Psychiatric Research center, lebanon, new hampshire; peggy burns, eap counselor, Employee Assistance program, university of maryland medical system, baltimore city, maryland; neli vasquezrowland, president , a safe haven, chicago, illinois. Of those individuals that are unemployed, there was about a 15. 7 percent rate of drug dependency among them. Of the ones that are employed with a drug dependency, there were 23. 3 Million People overall, and about 49. 8 percent of them were employed. And from the Mental Health community, there were 6 Million People who were served by Mental Health authorities across the nation, and roughly 21 percent, or about, of the 6 million, were employed. What does that tell us . What types of challenges, david, do these individuals present as they approach the employment marketplace . Well, thats telling me that, actually, most people that are, that are served by my agency, which provides welfa
Employment for people in recovery. Joining us in our panel today are david berns, director, district of Columbia Department of human services, washington, dc; dr. Gary bond, professor of psychiatry, dartmouth Psychiatric Research center, lebanon, new hampshire; peggy burns, eap counselor, Employee Assistance program, university of maryland medical system, baltimore city, maryland; neli vasquezrowland, president , a safe haven, chicago, illinois. Of those individuals that are unemployed, there was about a 15. 7 percent rate of drug dependency among them. Of the ones that are employed with a drug dependency, there were 23. 3 Million People overall, and about 49. 8 percent of them were employed. And from the Mental Health community, there were 6 Million People who were served by Mental Health authorities across the nation, and roughly 21 percent, or about, of the 6 million, were employed. What does that tell us . What types of challenges, david, do these individuals present as they approa
Should we have better sentencing schemes or get rid of incarceration and come up with different models of trying to deal with punishment once we understand people have wrong selections. I think those are all interesting questions, but is there free will . Well, the fact that almost everybody in the audience raised either their right or left hand contemplated it and were quickly able to act and respond. That to me says, yes, there is. Now what do we want to do about it . Now that we understand that those of us in the audience or up here that like chocolate cake may not have control over it, how do we want to account for that if at all in the criminal Justice System . To date, we havent. In the future, we may wish to. I agree with that. I think that, first of all, the fact that everybody in the audience could control themselves raising their hands gives me some comfort as i walk out the door, but one of the problems with the disconnect that i was alluding to earlier between how science d