Paedophilia, Invasive Brain Surgery, and Punishment

A possible relationship between brain tumours and acquired behavioural changes, including criminal conduct, has been and is still the focus of a multidisciplinary debate (Gilbert and Focquaert 2015). A significant number of clinical cases demonstrating behavioural changes and cognitive impairment due to brain lesions have been reported in the medical literature for many decades (Vidor 1951; Lishman 1968). A previous study we conducted on eighty-six patients suffering from brain lesions, revealing that 38 per cent developed disruptive personality and behavioural changes (including hypersexuality and aggressiveness), aligns with these clinical reports (Vranič and Gilbert 2014). However, even if a correlation between acquired behavioural changes and brain tumours seems to be a plausible medical hypothesis, its exact legal and ethical interpretation is not.