Systems Evolution via Communicative Transference: An Examination of Legal Adaptivity to Neurology Within the District Courts of Sweden

Abstract: The purpose of this paper was, via broad application, to empirically test and examine the theoretical framework of communicative transference, as proposed by Broström (2023a). The paper aimed at studying the transfer of communication taking place between medical and legal systems, with a specific focus on the defendants' neurological circumstances within the district courts of Sweden, during the period 2012-2022. The paper made use of a mixed method sequential explanatory design of QUAL-QUANT-QUAL progression, utilizing nested analysis of Large- and Small-N data. The data was composed of a systematic literature review (N=33), Large-N data of legal cases for statistical analysis (N=150), and Small-N data of legal cases for in-depth analysis (N=2). The paper found empirical support for legal systems becoming more accepting of, and willing to adhere to, communication from structurally coupled sources which themselves adhere to a judiciary-oriented language in their communication of neuromedical facts. The primary conclusion of the paper was that the extent to which the district courts of Sweden are adhering to neuromedical communication is lower than desired, but that the courts' adaptivity is greater than expected. Systems evolution, i.e., adaptivity to intrasystematic communication, can be understood and argued as the outcome of communicative transference.