The Return of Lombroso? Ethical Aspects of (Visions of) Preventive Forensic Screening

Munthe, Christian; Radovic, Susanna

The specific criminal law policy framing of the new Lombrosian vision may turn this logic either way. On the one hand, the apparent enormity of what is at stake for potential victims and society may be used to play down the standing of the individual, especially if a programme is thought to justify a restriction or exclusion P. If we believe that the assessment of I as possibly dangerous warrants severely coercive or exclusionary measures, it is not so far-fetched to argue that the room for a person to refuse testing may be curtailed-at least if there is some prior cause for suspicion. On the other hand, the variety of risks to both society and individuals of Lombrosian programmes sketched earlier may be framed inside the 'acquit rather than convict' logic of criminal jurisprudence, thus favouring a more cautious approach based on strong standards of pre-counselling and voluntary enrolment. Even with that type of design, however, there would be a risk of structural effects, where public attitudes of suspicion and/or societal pressures to a similar effect towards anyone refusing to enrol may undermine freedom of choice.