Introduction Advisory Board Scientific Board Management The Centre’s Researchers Research Groups and Projects Partnerships and Cooperation

DOI 10.54499/UIDB/04243/2020

HIPPOCRATES – Criminal Law and Medicine

Research projects

Research Group: Models of criminal imputation and behavioural sciences – Knowledge of the person in Philosophy and in the Sciences and criminal liability

Researchers: Maria Fernanda Palma, Helena Morão, Ricardo Tavares da Silva, António Brito Neves, Catarina Abegão Alves, Mafalda Moura Melim, Rita do Rosário, Vanessa Pelerigo, António Vaz Carneiro, Maria Luisa Figueira, Luís Madeira, Rui Tato Marinho, Luísa Alves, Maria do Céu Machado

Project Status: Ongoing (2024-2028)

Description

The research project “Hippocrates – Criminal law and medicine” merges research from criminal law sciences and medical sciences through a transdisciplinary approach, recognizing life and the human body as shared domains of intervention due to the ethical-legal dimension of medical activity. This is particularly relevant in extreme situations such as abortion and euthanasia, palliative care, and conflicts of lives in scenarios of resource scarcity. In addition to these traditional issues, emerging medico-criminal problems will also be highlighted, such as the relationship between mental health treatment and fundamental rights, as well as obstetric violence.

Objectives

This research project aims to critically examine the relationships between criminal law and medical sciences, engaging in a contemporary discussion of major issues involving fundamental ethical-legal choices. The goal is to foster critical thinking at the intersection of criminal law and medicine and, ultimately, contribute to the mutual reconfiguration of their foundational concepts. These issues touch on the philosophical and ethical foundations of medical practice, raising deeply divisive questions at the intersection of law and medicine, which therefore demand ongoing engagement and an updated debate. A particular focus was also placed on the relationship between Criminal Law and Mental Health, not only because the phenomenon of “mental disorders” consistently challenges the theoretical frameworks underpinning the theory of criminal offenses but also due to a matter of practical relevance, given the recent enactment of a mental health law.

Activities

  • Bimonthly Research Seminar (with researchers)
  • Final Collective Conference (with researchers and invited experts)
  • Publication of a collective work disseminating the results

Articulation with Postgraduate Education

Integration into the Project, as junior researchers, of Master’s and PhD students whose dissertation topics align with the description and purposes of the Research Project, as well as students from the postgraduate course ‘Criminal Law and Medicine,’ whose contributions prove to be an asset, particularly in light of the final reports submitted.

 

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