@article{ref1,
title="A multidisciplinary approach to insanity assessment as a way to reduce cognitive  biases",
journal="Forensic science international",
year="2020",
author="Scarpazza, Cristina and Zampieri, Ilaria and Miolla, Alessio and Melis, Giulia and Pietrini, Pietro and Sartori, Giuseppe",
volume="319",
number="",
pages="e110652-e110652",
abstract="Insanity assessment requires the evaluation of the psychopathological condition that  underlies the mens rea. Psychopathological evaluation may be quite challenging due  to (i) absence of biomarkers; (ii) low inter-rater reliability; (iii) presence of  cognitive bias. This intrinsic low reliability of forensic psychiatric diagnosis  does impact on insanity assessment, leading to arbitrary and unjust legal outcomes  for the examinee. Thus, strategies to improve the reliability of insanity evaluation  are strongly needed. A multidisciplinary approach has been proposed as a way to  enrich clinical diagnosis with reliable and biologically founded data, thus  minimizing subjectivity, reducing controversies and increasing inter-subject  concordance in insanity assessment. By discussing a real case, here we show how the  convergence of multiple indices can produce evidence that cannot be denied without  introducing logical fallacies. Applying this approach, the forensic discussion will  move from the presence/absence of psychopathology to the impact of psychopathology  on insanity. This article illustrates how a multidisciplinary evaluation, which  integrates neuroscientific methods with the classical insanity assessment, may lead  to a more accurate approach in insanity evaluation. Critically, this approach will  minimize the impact of cognitive bias on insanity opinion and thus result in an  improvement of the whole criminal justice process.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0379-0738",
doi="10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110652",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110652"
}