Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

filling time, the defendant’s goal should be clearing time. The three activities most likely to beaffected and disrupted by the stress of litigation are paradoxically the most essential topreserving and promoting one’s viability as a legal client: diet, sleep, and exercise. The suedexpert cannot afford to abandon vacations, hobbies, and leisure activities, friends, and familyduring the pendency of litigation. This presentation will focus upon identifying the mosteffective and clinically supportable ways for providing services to – and for persevering as – theexpert witness as defendant.64. FASD and the Law: The Need for a Targeted TherapeuticResponseThe Colliding Directions of Science and the Law in Response to FASDMansfield Mela, University of Saskatchewan (mansfield.mela@saskatoonhealthregion.ca)Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), a consequence of prenatal alcohol exposure, isemerging as a significant issue in many parts of the world. The relationship between prenatalalcohol exposure and subsequent involvement with the Law intersects across several domainsincluding antisocial behaviour, criminal activity and violent/sexual offending behaviour. Apartfrom the concerns of accused with FASD offering false confession, reliability of witnesses withFASD and inculpatory behaviour by some FASD affected persons when facing criminal chargesare a few of the interfaces that the law requires scientific methods of psychiatric inquiry to weighin. With insanity statutes and fitness standards set in the background of functional psychoticdisorders, scientific understanding is required for the accommodation of the FASD deficits in theapplication of the law. As governments begin to craft effective responses, and provide servicesto people affected by this disorder, it is prudent to examine the state of current knowledge and todo so with a particular emphasis on the unavoidable collision between medicine, and hence thescience of FASD with the sociological, legal and economic challenges, so as to support thecross-infiltration of ideas, and thereby ensure that the provision of services to persons affected byFASD is handled in a manner which is not only purposeful and supportive, but is also effectivewith the broader societal context. Advances of science can sometimes be misaligned with theevolution of law. Concepts of moral responsibility may be difficult to separate from societalvalues but when premised from scientific circles, fairness, the base tenet of the law, may result asa welcome outcome.How Criminal Courts Can More Effectively Respond to the Adult FASDOffenderLarry Anderson, Provincial Court of Alberta, Canada (larry.anderson@albertacourts.ca)160