Picture this: a party to a lawsuit proposes to show jurors images of a human brain to support its claim or defense. The other party objects, and the trial judge must make a ruling. What determines how the judge will rule? That is the question I attempt to address.
I begin in Part II by describing very briefly some existing methods of brain imaging—how they work and what they try to do—and cataloging some possible uses of these methods in courtrooms. Part III discusses current legal standards of admissibility of scientific evidence under the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE). Part IV examines the particular problem of scientific evidence offered to establish that a person was or was not telling the truth. Part V provides a brief history of some past attempts to introduce brain-imaging evidence into courtrooms. The article concludes with some general comments on the issues facing judges when parties to lawsuits offer brain-imaging evidence.