Purpose

Neuroscientific research on addictions has prompted a paradigm shift from a moral to a medical understanding – with substantial implications for legal professionals’ interactions with and decision-making surrounding individuals with addiction. This study complements prior work on US defense attorney’s understandings of addiction by investigating two further perspectives: the potential “next generation” of legal professionals in the USA (criminal justice undergraduates) and legal professionals from another system (Germany). This paper aims to assess their views on the brain disease model of addiction, dominance and relevance of this model, the responsibility of affected persons and preferred sources of information.

Design/methodology/approach

Views of 74 US criminal justice undergraduate students and 74 German legal professionals were assessed using Likert scales and open-ended questions in an online survey.

Findings

Neuroscientific research findings on addictions and views that addiction is a brain disease were rated as significantly more relevant by American students to their potential future work than by German legal professionals. However, a majority of both samples agreed that addiction is a brain disease and that those affected are responsible for their condition and actions. Sources of information most frequently used by both groups were publications in legal academic journals.

Practical implications

In the USA, information for legal professionals needs to be expanded and integrated into the education of its “next generation,” while in Germany it needs to be developed and promoted. Legal academic journals appear to play a primary role in the transfer of research on addiction into legal practice.

Originality/value

This study complements prior work on US defense attorney’s understandings of addiction by investigating two further perspectives.

中文翻译：

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探索法律背景下成瘾神经科学研究的重要性：对美国刑事司法学生和德国法律专业人士的调查

目的

关于成瘾的神经科学研究推动了从道德理解到医学理解的范式转变，这对法律专业人员与成瘾者的互动和决策产生了重大影响。这项研究通过调查两个更深入的视角，补充了美国辩护律师对成瘾理解的先前工作：美国潜在的“下一代”法律专业人员（刑事司法本科生）和来自另一个系统（德国）的法律专业人员。本文旨在评估他们对成瘾脑疾病模型、该模型的主导地位和相关性、受影响者的责任以及首选信息来源的看法。

设计/方法论/途径

在一项在线调查中，使用李克特量表和开放式问题评估了 74 名美国刑事司法本科生和 74 名德国法律专业人士的观点。

发现

与德国法律专业人士相比，美国学生认为关于成瘾的神经科学研究结果以及成瘾是一种脑部疾病的观点与其未来潜在工作的相关性要高得多。然而，这两个样本中的大多数都同意成瘾是一种脑部疾病，受影响的人应对自己的状况和行为负责。两个群体最常使用的信息来源是法律学术期刊上的出版物。

实际影响

在美国，法律专业人士的信息需要扩大并纳入其“下一代”的教育，而在德国则需要开发和推广。法律学术期刊似乎在将成瘾研究转化为法律实践方面发挥着主要作用。

原创性/价值

这项研究通过调查两个进一步的观点，补充了美国辩护律师对成瘾理解的先前研究。