Offering Neurointerventions to Offenders with Impaired Moral Functioning: Ethical and Criminal Justice Aspects

A wide variety of medications and neuromodulation techniques are being investigated to manage risk factors for deviant behavior. If certain neurointerventions can restore impaired moral decision-making and behavior in offenders, should the criminal justice system be permitted to use such neurointerventions and, if so, under which conditions? In this chapter, the authors argue that it can be ethical to offer neurointerventions to offenders as a condition of probation, parole, or sentence reduction, provided that the fulfillment of five minimal ethical conditions is verified on a case-by-case basis. The authors further argue that forcing neurointerventions as part of an offender’s sentence or as a postprison requirement is both ethically and practically problematic, with the possible exception of benign neurointerventions without side effects.