Why sleep forensics?
Since the Albert Jackson Tirrell Case of 1846, sleepwalking has been a recognized defense in American law. Much remains to be understood, however, about the spectrum of overt extreme behaviors attributed to parasomnias—the category of sleep disorders involving abnormal movement, behavior, emotion, perception and/or dreams that occur during the many states of sleep or during arousal from sleep.
As physician-experts in the field of sleep medicine who are also researchers, we are constantly seeking to understand and to explain. Yet clinical research regarding bizarre sleep-related behaviors would be largely impractical, if not ethically challenged (can you imagine recruiting study participants?). Instead, we took an ethological behaviorist research approach and undertook to become a resource to the international legal community, with the intent of gathering information.
Since forming Sleep Forensics Associates in 2006, our involvement as medico-legal consultants has allowed us to review cases of extreme parasomnias, the likes of which we would otherwise not have had access.
Our mission
We seek to capture, assess and categorize previously indescribable human behaviors arising from the platform of sleep and to serve as a reputable and recognized resource to the law enforcement and legal communities.
Special note
We are proud to announce that SFA has a formal policy strictly forbidding associates and staff from engaging in remunerated activities with the pharmaceutical or technical industries.
