Does Brain-Based Lie Detection Belong in American Courtrooms?
Channel: HMS Center for Bioethics
Date: 2015-05-12

As neuroimaging and other technologies advance, will traditionally-excluded tests of veracity (or lack thereof) find a place in American courtrooms? What is the state of our neuroscience and understanding of brain-based lie detection techniques?

Are these advances ready for "prime time", or should we proceed with caution? What are the implications of existing research for the legal system and our moral assumptions about lying?

Join our conversation between leaders in neuroethics, forensic psychology, and neurolaw as we consider the state of the science and the implications of neuroscientific advances for ethics and law. Can neuroscientific methods accurately distinguish truth-telling from lying? Are there limitations in our science? If so, can these limitations be addressed sufficiently to meet rules of evidence? If not, will these tests have any role in the courtroom? What are the legal and ethical implications of including or excluding neuroscientific evidence of lying?

Panel:

James Girodano, Ph.D., is Chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program at the Pelligrino Center for Clinical Bioethics and is Co-director of the O'Neill-Pellegrino Program in Brain Science and Global Health Law and Policy. He is also a professor in the Department of Neurology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Ekaterina (Kate) Pivovarova, Ph.D., is a Researcher and Assistant Professor in the Law and Psychiatry Division at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Department of Psychiatry. She is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice.

Dr. Francis X. Shen, Ph.D. JD, is a McKnight Land-Grant Professor and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota, where he directs the Shen Neurolaw Lab. He also serves as Executive Director of Education and Outreach for the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.


Co-sponsored by:
The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, HLS
Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, MGH
Institute for the Neurosciences, BWH
Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative, Harvard University
Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Department of Neurobiology, HMS
 
With funding from:
Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative, Harvard University
The Harvard Brain Initiative Collaborative Seed Grant Program