Liberty and Justice for All
By Jordyn Hanover, Behavioral Neuroscience 2017
“He made me do it!” This common defense is a phrase every person has probably heard at some point in their lives, for reasons ranging from eating an extra cookie to going to a party instead of studying. In the criminal justice system, a new form of this argument has emerged — this defense has evolved into “my brain made me do it”. Since 2011, unverified, and often incorrect, neurological scans have been used in court to prove that defendants were not completely responsible for the crimes they committed.
A member of the bioethics committee, Nita Farahany says that using neurological scans as evidence has often been considered competent; when the scans are presented to a jury as evidence, they are considered legitimate, though few people can understand what the scans actually say. These readings have, in a number of cases, affected the verdicts in some trials. Many lawyers and judges need to be educated in the limitations of this form of evidence, and the degree to which scans and neurological readings can be reliably applied.
While neurological evidence is oftentimes unreliable, there have been instances in which it has helped. In the early 2000’s, there were several instances where brain damage revealed by these scans showed a change in behavior and actions. Using these scans, it was determined that the brain damage caused the negative behaviors that had been displayed which defendants usually wouldn’t have taken. However, these were extreme circumstances, typically where a large tumor was directly pressing on a specific, well-studied area of the brain. Lawyers have used other — less reliable — scans in an attempt to garner the same conclusion, when the evidence may not be quite as indicative, or true.
The crux of the matter is that brain science in court is in its early stage — the scans are not always reliable and not always accurate representations of cause and effect. As the technology progresses, and the scan interpretations become more definitive, the use of brain scans as evidence will become more concrete and consistent.