RT Article
T1 The Legalome: Nutritional Psychology and Microbiome Sciences at the Intersection of Criminal Justice, Mens Rea, and Mitigation
JF Criminal justice and behavior
VO 52
IS 6
SP 990
OP 1004
A1 Prescott, Susan L.
A1 Logan, Alan C.
A2 Logan, Alan C.
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1926579461
AB Recent studies have linked ultra-processed foods with neuropsychiatric disorders, and behaviors of relevance to the criminal justice system. This nutritional epidemiology has been bolstered by mechanistic bench science, human intervention trials, addiction science, and advances in microbiome research. Here, we examine this burgeoning research through the lens of diminished capacity and criminal intent. We use recent legal decisions related to auto-brewery syndrome as a way to illustrate how intersecting diet and gut microbiome science is already finding its way to criminal courtrooms. The legalome—microbiome and omics science applied in forensic and legal psychology—is emerging as an important consideration for experts within the field of criminal justice and behavior. It is our contention that decisions related to auto-brewery syndrome are merely a prelude to the ways in which the combination of forensic microbiology and forensic psychology will challenge basic assumptions of free will and mens rea.
K1 omics
K1 diminished capacity
K1 ultra-processed foods
K1 auto-brewery syndrome
K1 Forensic Psychology
K1 Nutrition
K1 microbiome
DO 10.1177/00938548241302468