“A judge and jury may find defendants are less responsible because of a genetic factor,” said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, “but also feel that they are more likely to re-offend.”
"There is an urgency to this problem," said Dr. Adam Bisaga "The tragedy is, we have medication to treat opioid addiction. But death rates keep going up."
"Twenty-five is the new 18, and delayed adolescence is no longer a theory, but a reality," says Dr. Mirjana Domakonda, who was not involved in the new study.
Along with Dr. Paul Appelbaum, Dr. Nicholas Scurich has spent the last few years trying to understand the effect this type of evidence actually has on court proceedings.
Dr. David Hellerstein agreed that false positives could come up. In other words, the questionnaire may suggest that people have clinical depression when they don't actually have the condition.
Dr. Adam Bisaga noted that the report raises some good points on the issue of drug addiction and policy-making, but omits a number of important factors and is “one-sided.”