In criminal law cases the argument is increasingly made that there may be a connection between aggression and antidepressants.  In the United States, such cases are known as 'Prozac killings', but also in the Netherlands there have been some high profile cases where violent offences were supposedly committed under the influence of antidepressants.  It mainly concerns patients who have been prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s), such as paroxetine and fluoxetine. The linking of antidepressants with violent behaviour is extremely controversial and raises numerous questions at the interface of medicine, forensic psychiatry, medical law and  criminal law. This conference seeks to address medical, psychiatric and legal aspects of the possible relationship between antidepressants and violent offences.  What do we actually know about the aggressive side effects of certain medicines? And what are the legal consequences of a possible link between medication use and violent crimes? What kinds of defences are or should made  applicable in such cases?  What is the legal responsibility of doctors and other medical caretakers? Answering these questions asks for critical, interdisciplinary reflection. 

An important dimension of the 4th pillar of the programme concerns the interactions between various legal orders and other disciplines. An illustration of this is the need for a more integrated approach in the field of crime control (Research Programme 2016-2021, p. 7). The topical problem of ‘psychopharmacology in the courtroom’ is a paradigmatic example of how different fields of law (medical law and criminal law) increasingly interact with other disciplines, such as forensic psychiatry, medicine and the neurosciences. In cooperation with LACS (Network For Law and Cognitive Sciences), this conference will therefore also take the opportunity to promote a new interdisciplinary working group, called ‘science in court”, which endeavours to stimulate similar collaboration at our university. The conference will be the first official activity of this working group.

The registration fee will be € 50,- per person