Posted by Eugene Volokh:
"MRI Lie Detection To Get First Day in Court":
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_15-2009_03_21.shtml#1237314497
[1]Wired reports:
In an upcoming juvenile-sex-abuse case in San Diego [a child
protection hearing to determine if the minor should stay in the
home of the custodial parent accused of sexual abuse], the defense
is hoping to get an fMRI scan, which shows brain activity based on
oxygen levels, admitted to prove the abuse didn't happen.
The technology is used widely in brain research, but hasn't been
fully tested as a lie-detection method. To be admitted into
California court, any technique has to be generally accepted within
the scientific community.
The company that did the brain scan, No Lie MRI, claims their test
is over 90 percent accurate, but some scientists and lawyers are
skeptical.... The company's report says fMRI tests show the
defendant's claim of innocence is not a lie.
Laboratory studies using fMRI, which measures blood-oxygen levels
in the brain, have suggested that when someone lies, the brain
sends more blood to the ventrolateral area of the prefrontal
cortex. In a very small number of studies, researchers have
identified lying in study subjects with accuracy ranging from 76
percent to over 90 percent (pdf). But some scientists and lawyers
like [Stanford law professor Hank] Greely doubt that those results
will prove replicable outside the lab setting, and others say it
just isn't ready yet....
[On the other hand,] even if the science behind a technology isn't
fully established, Brooklyn Law School's Edward Cheng, who studies
scientific evidence in legal proceedings, said it might still be
appropriate to use it in the courtroom.
"Technology doesn't necessarily have to be bulletproof before it
can come in, in court," Cheng.
He questioned whether society's traditional methods of lie
detection, that is to say, inspection by human beings, is any more
reliable than the new technology....
Read the whole article -- very interesting stuff both on the possible
problems with the technology and some of the legal questions it raises
(on which I can't opine, since I'm not an expert in scientific
evidence law). Thanks to [2]GeekPress for the pointer.
References
1. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/noliemri.html
2. http://geekpress.com/
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