District attorneys and their kind at various levels of the Law are aware of the excuse for malfeasance, particularly for a killing, of "mentally incompetent". Some persons apparently are incompetent.

But, up to now, this judgment has been up to "experts", basing themselves upon outer behavior.

In another file at thie Website, I note that "Disabled" may sometimes excuse some who are not as physically fraught as one who has suffered, say, paralysis from polio. And I note that physicians may make valuable distinctions here. With the development of MRI devices for scanning the brain, similar distinctions may soon be made.

Biologists use the term genotype to describe an indicator on the level of the gene (or, now, a DNA component), and the term phenotype for an biological theorizing and predicting. I now adapt terms from these for the present discussion.

Let neurotype denote an indicator on the level of brain scanning, comparable to genotype in biology. To formulate a term comparable to phenotype, I take the term "overt" for overt behavior, and I create the term "overtype". So correlations may be sought between neurotype and overtype.

Given persons who seem definitely of the "mentally incompetent" overtype, look for neurotypes which "separate" them from the "competent". If these are found, look for some intensity of these hypothesized neurotypes in those alleged to be "mentally incompetent".

If the public can become convinced about the savings this would bring, grants for research may become available for those capable of doing this researh.

At another Website, wildcat.htm , I describe a measure I developed for correlating hypothesis with predictinns, along with a calculator for doing so. This asserbility measure relates to the declarative statements of hypothesis and prediction in the way that the probability measure does to events. Thus, "Given the scanning observation of neurotype A, it is predicted that overtype B will be observed in the patient".

Given such efforts, perhaps fewer undeserving persons will succeed in the "mentally incompetent" scd.