Eyeman mentioned to me a while ago that a sleep disorder was featured on Law and Order, which I had happened to blog about. I'm pretty sure I've seen sleep disorders on House as well. Well, recently I became interested in real-life sleep forensics. For instance, how commonly are sleep disorders cited in criminal cases? What types of evidence have cleared criminals in the past? I've heard of cases where defendants claiming to have a sleep disorder were both acquitted and not acquitted - for instance, in the ABC news video I blogged about earlier.
An internet search revealed a legal advising group, Sleep Forensics Associates. They consist of a team of sleep experts in Minneapolis. Although their website doesn't reveal a ton of information, it does say that the number of requests are increasing. They also broke down the types of cases that have been completed (as of 2009). (Sexual assault is the most common, which may not be surprising.) I also found a nicely written US News article about SFA that you might want to check out, too.
During my investigations, I also came across a book called Forensic Aspects of Sleep. It couldn't be more perfect! - except, it's $255 (for only 216 pages) and not available at any Harvard libraries. Rats. On the off-chance that one of Harvard library's friends had it, I put in an interlibrary loan request. Well, a couple hours ago, I received word that they found the book for me. I'm stoked, and if I find something to write about you'll be sure to know.
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