Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Editor biographies
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Section I Foundations of Executive Function/Dysfunction
- Section II Executive Dysfunction in the Neurodevelopmental and Acquired Disorders
- Section III Applications
- Chapter 17 Empirical status regarding the remediation of executive skills
- Chapter 18 Educational implications of executive dysfunction
- Chapter 19 Executive functions, forensic neuropsychology, and child psychiatry: opinions, cautions, and caveats
- 20 Reflections on executive functioning
- Appendix 1 Abbreviations used in the book
- Appendix 2 Tests/tasks referenced in the book
- Index
- References
Chapter 19 - Executive functions, forensic neuropsychology, and child psychiatry: opinions, cautions, and caveats
from Section III - Applications
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Editor biographies
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Section I Foundations of Executive Function/Dysfunction
- Section II Executive Dysfunction in the Neurodevelopmental and Acquired Disorders
- Section III Applications
- Chapter 17 Empirical status regarding the remediation of executive skills
- Chapter 18 Educational implications of executive dysfunction
- Chapter 19 Executive functions, forensic neuropsychology, and child psychiatry: opinions, cautions, and caveats
- 20 Reflections on executive functioning
- Appendix 1 Abbreviations used in the book
- Appendix 2 Tests/tasks referenced in the book
- Index
- References
Summary
There has been substantial discussion in the research literature and public press over the past decade about the growing body of knowledge concerning brain development across childhood and adolescence, and its impact on our thinking about responsibility, judgment, and choice. Of note has been the range of television, newspaper and magazine articles, and commentaries and opinion pieces that have attempted to wrestle with concerns of judgment, decision making, and culpability for juveniles and young adults in the criminal and civil justice arenas. The Supreme Court of the United States has grappled with this issue – particularly with regard to whether youth (with typical or atypical development) are capable of understanding the intentions and outcomes of their choices and actions, and how we as a society can address this concern through prevention and intervention (cf., Atkins v. Virginia, the 2002 decision regarding the diminished culpability of the intellectually disabled, ruling that the death penalty is inappropriate for such individuals; and Roper v. Simmons, the 2005 decision ruling that the death penalty for youth under 18 years of age is “cruel and unusual punishment”). This discussion is intimately intertwined with the unfolding body of research about EdF. It is within the area of EF perhaps more than anywhere else that we have been asked to provide guidance and direction to the legal, political, educational, and public safety systems to help them better understand the underlying neuropsychology of such concerns as “bad behavior” and “poor decision making” and how they impact broader society.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Executive Function and DysfunctionIdentification, Assessment and Treatment, pp. 247 - 261Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012