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33 Dalhousie L.J. 85 (2010)
Reading the Judicial Mind: Predicting the Courts' Reaction to the Use of Neuroscientific Evidence for Lie Detection

handle is hein.journals/dalholwj33 and id is 87 raw text is: Jennifer Chandler* Reading the Judicial Mind: Predicting the Courts' Reaction to the Use of Neuroscientific Evidence for Lie Detection How will the courts react to the emerging technology of detecting deception using neuroscientific methods such as neuro-imaging? The sociological theory of the autonomy of technology suggests that if neuroscientific techniques come to be seen as reliable for this purpose, other objections will soon be abandoned. The history of the judicial reaction to DNA evidence illustrates this pattern. As DNA evidence came to be seen as highly reliable, the courts rapidly abandoned their concerns that juries would be overwhelmed by the mystique of science and that the justice system would be dehumanized. The legal justifications for rejecting polygraph evidence are explored in order to illustrate that the judicial resistance to lie detection technologies, including neuro-imaging, can be expected to follow a similar pattern. The author argues that technologies that are widely accepted as reliable cannot be permitted to remain outside the justice system to deliver their own verdicts that are incompatible with those of the courts. The continued legitimacy of the justice system cannot tolerate this. The rules of evidence and, in particular, the constitutional right to make full answer and defense are the legal mechanisms by which this accommodation would take place. Comment les tribunaux reagiront-ils face & la technologie 6mergente qui permet de ddtecter la supercherie J l'aide de mdthodes neuroscientifiques comme la neuro-imagerie? La thdorie sociologique d'autonomie de la technologie veut que si des techniques neuroscientifiques en viennent 6 6tre consid6r6es comme 6tant fiables 6 cette fin, d'autres objections seront aussi, .6ventuellement, laiss6es de cit6. L'expbrience de la rdaction du pouvoir judiciaire aux preuves provenant de I'analyse de lADN illustre bien ce cheminement A mesure que la fiabilitd de Ia preuve provenant de I'analyse de l'ADN s'avdrait, les tribunaux ont mis de cat6 l'inqui6tude que les jurds seraient d6passds par le c6td mystdrieux de la science et que le systbme de justice serait dishumanis6. Les motifs d'ordre juridique pour refuser la preuve polygraphique sont examin6s pour expliquer que Ion peut s'attendre & ce que la r6sistance du pouvoir judiciaire face aux technologies de d6tection des mensonges, dont la neuro-imagerie, suive le mame parcours. L'auteur plaide que les technologies dont la fiabilit6 est largement accept6e ne doivent pas rester 6trangares au systame de justice parce qu'elles rendent des verdicts incompatibles avec ceux des tribunaux. La 14gitimit6 du syst~me dejustice ne saurait le toldrer Les rbgles de preuve, en particulier le droit constitutionnel & une defense pleine et entibre, sont les mdcanismes juridiques par lesquels cet accommodement serait accord6. Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. Many thanks to the anonymous peer reviewer for an extremely helpful review, and to Jocelyn Downie for suggestions and support for my work on neuroscience and the law.

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