Article on the use of brain scans in criminal court
Posted Mar 17 2010 12:00am
Interested in brain technology and its use in the legal system? Then you will want to read this article from Nature News. From " Science in court: Head case ":
The purpose of the work [scanning brains of criminals], [Kent] Kiehl says, is to eliminate the stigma against psychopaths and find them treatments so they can stop committing crimes. But [Brian] Dugan's lawyers saw another purpose. During sentencing for capital crimes, the defence may present just about anything as a mitigating factor, from accounts of the defendant being abused as a child to evidence of extreme emotional disturbance. Kiehl's research could offer a persuasive argument that Dugan is a psychopath and could not control his killer impulses. After reading about Kiehl's work in The New Yorker, Dugan's lawyers asked Kiehl to testify and offered him the chance to scan the brain of a notorious criminal. Kiehl agreed and Dugan's case became what is thought to be the first in the world to admit fMRI as evidence. Kiehl's decision has put him at odds with many in his profession, and stirred debate among neuroscientists and lawyers.
"It is a dangerous distortion of science that sets dangerous precedents for the field," says Helen Mayberg, a neurologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Mayberg, who uses brain imaging to study depression, has testified against the use of several kinds of brain scan in dozens of cases since 1992. Although other brain-imaging techniques have been used in court, it is especially hard to argue that fMRI should be, argue critics. The technique reveals changes in blood flow within the brain, thought to correlate with brain activity, and it has become popular in research. But most fMRI studies are small, unreplicated and compare differences in the average brain activity of groups, rather than individuals, making it difficult to interpret for single cases. It is rarely used in diagnosis. Moreover, a recent scan, say some critics, wouldn't necessarily indicate Dugan's mental state when he committed his crimes.
Interested in brain technology and its use in the legal system? Then you will want to read this article from Nature News. From " Science in court: Head case ":
"It is a dangerous distortion of science that sets dangerous precedents for the field," says Helen Mayberg, a neurologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Mayberg, who uses brain imaging to study depression, has testified against the use of several kinds of brain scan in dozens of cases since 1992. Although other brain-imaging techniques have been used in court, it is especially hard to argue that fMRI should be, argue critics. The technique reveals changes in blood flow within the brain, thought to correlate with brain activity, and it has become popular in research. But most fMRI studies are small, unreplicated and compare differences in the average brain activity of groups, rather than individuals, making it difficult to interpret for single cases. It is rarely used in diagnosis. Moreover, a recent scan, say some critics, wouldn't necessarily indicate Dugan's mental state when he committed his crimes.