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Essay On Sleepwalking

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Sleepwalking, formally known as somnambulism, is a behavior disorder that originates during deep sleep and results in walking or performing other complex behaviors while asleep (Siclari). It usually occurs when a person is transitioning from a deep stage of sleep to a lighter stage of sleep, or as they are awakening. Because a sleepwalker is neither awake nor aware during an episode, he or she cannot respond during the event and may not remember the incident afterwards. The disorder is diagnosed mostly in children between the ages of four and eight, but it also occurs in adults. In fact, each year, about 8.4 million U.S. adults sleepwalk; that is 3.6 percent of people in the United States (Popat). Research has found that sleepwalking is …show more content…

Yet, there is no law in existence that provides a set of determined actions for when someone commits a crime or acts out in an aggressive way while asleep. Therefore, parasomnias that result in illegal activity - specifically violence - create a grey area within the justice system: should those who commit crimes and/or violence while sleepwalking be persecuted for their actions? In the legal case of Mr. A, he was not found guilty for his wife’s homicide with a defense of sleepwalking which many people did not agree with. Nine months before his wife was killed, Mr. A began dealing with high stress caused by his job. He was assigned to be project manager of a new product that he believed was going to fail from the start. He continued to work hard and put in long hours in his office. He feared that he would be held responsible for a failure that would cost the company millions of dollars and cause his team members to lose their jobs. As a result, he went to bed late and reported feeling extremely exhausted and depressed. He began using caffeine tablets to stay awake while on the job, leading to a sporadic sleep schedule consisting of two to four late nights of short and poor quality sleep followed by a night of going to bed early to catch up on sleep (Cartwright). The day of the homicide, Mr. A got home from work and had dinner with his wife and children. His wife asked him to check

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