Ethics

Editorial on 'new' lie detection technologies in court proceedings (Reiner)

By Peter Reiner

There is an editorial in the new issue of Nature Neuroscience on the use of the "new" lie-detection technologies in court proceedings.  From the abstract:

Lie-detection tests have not been scientifically proven to reliably detect deception at an individual level, yet they are being marketed by several companies and have even been admitted as evidence in an Indian court. This calls for a critical appraisal of these technologies and regulatory measures to prevent misuse.

The editorial concludes with these thoughts:

Stanford law professor Hank Greely and neuroethicist Judy Illes have called for much tighter regulation of lie-detection technology, suggesting a ban on nonresearch uses of lie-detection, unless the method is proved to be safe and effective to the satisfaction of a regulatory agency and fully vetted by the scientific establishment. Although there are many issues to consider when formulating such regulation, more discussion of such options is very welcome.

Full post as published by Neuroethics and Law on October 28, 2008 (boomark / email).