Indias Use of Brain Scans in Courts

1
Indias Use of Brain Scans in Courts

• From an article in the New York Times, Sept. 15,
  2008,
• by Anand Giridharadas
• A UCB Cognitive Sciences Society Presentation by
• Mason Kelsey
• October 8, 2008

2
The Case

• Aditi Sharma was accused of killing her former
  fiancé with arsenic-laced food at a McDonalds.
• With her permission an EEG was performed on her
  using 32 electrodes on her head.
• She was asked questions related to the crime.
  Especially about things supposedly only the
  criminal would have known about.
• Aditi was found to have experiential knowledge
  for having a plan to murder Udit by giving him
  arsenic, writes The Times of India.3
• BEOS Software used to analyze EEG results.
• Judge S.S. Phansalkar-Joshi convicted Aditi and
  sentenced her to live imprisonment, stating the
  scans were proof of experiential knowledge of
  having committed the murder, rather than just
  having heard about it.
• First case where recorded brain activity was used
  to help convict.

3
BEOS Software

• Stands for Brain Electrical Oscillations
  Signature.
• Developed by Dr. Champadi Raman Mukundan, a
  neuroscientist who formally ran the clinical
  psychology department at NIMH and Neuro Sciences
  in Bangalore.
• System built on methods developed at American
  universities by Emanuel Donchin, Lawrence A.
  Farwell, and J. Peter Rosenfeld.
• Two Indian states, Maharashtra and Gujarat, have
  set up labs using BEOS for their prosecutors.

4
How Software Works

• Tries to detect whether, when the crimes details
  are recited, the brain lights up in specific
  regions.
• These areas are presumed to show measurable
  changes when experiences are relived.
• Smells and sounds are summoned back to
  consciousness.
• Claim is that the system can distinguish between
  peoples memories of events they witness and
  deeds they committed.

5
American Scientific Opinion

• American scientists do not support BEOS software
  use in criminal cases.
• Rosenfeld wrote, Technologies which are neither
  seriously peer-reviewed nor independently
  replicated are not, in my opinion, credible.
• Michael Gazzaniga, neuroscientist and director of
  the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at UC
  Santa Barbara, said, Well, the experts all
  agree. This work is shaky at best.
• Henry Greely, a bioethicist at Stanford Law
  School wrote, We keep looking for a magic,
  technological solution to lie detection. Maybe
  well have it someday, but we need to demand the
  highest standards of proof before we ruin
  peoples lives based on its application.
• Various scientists in the forefront of
  brain-based lie detection, call BEOS use in legal
  cases fascinating, ridiculous, chilling,
  and unconscionable.

6
Support for Software

• One British forensic psychologist, Keith
  Ashcroft, found the presentation highly
  convincing. He wrote, According to the cases
  that have been presented to me, BEOS has clearly
  demonstrated its utility in providing admissible
  evidence that has been used to assist in the
  conviction of defendants in court.
• Sunny Joseph, a state forensic investigator in
  Maharashtra who used to work with Dr. Mukudan as
  a researcher on BEOS in Bangalore, said the test
  results were highly reliable. He said Dr.
  Mukundan had done extensive testing, as had the
  state.

7
Testing of BEOS

• Testing appears to be limited to state sponsored
  examination of 75 crime suspects and witnesses in
  late 2006.
• No indication of a valid double blind scientific
  test.
• No public availability of tests results.
• No replication by independent studies.

8
Development in the USA

• No Lie MRI, a company in California, promises on
  its Web Site to use MRI scans to help with
  developing interpersonal trust and military
  intelligence, among other tasks.
• New Truth Verification Technology
• See www.noliemri.com
• Their claims
• Bypass conscious cognitive processing
• Measure the activity of the central nervous
  system (brain and spinal cord) rather than the
  peripheral nervous system (as polygraph testing
  does).

9
The Future

• We can expect a push to use EEG and MRI in
  interrogations of terrorists and criminals, even
  if not used in courts.
• If use becomes validated, we can expect a diffuse
  use throughout society.
• Could give a student a whole new meaning to the
  term test.
• And a whole new industry might blossom to defeat
  the success of these devices, of course,
  providing new jobs for philosophy majors.

10
References

• http//www.engadget.com/2008/09/15/indian-neurosur
  geon-peers-into-a-womans-brain-finds-guilt/
• http//www.engadget.com/2008/09/15/indian-neurosur
  geon-peers-into-a-womans-brain-finds-guilt/
• http//www.findingdulcinea.com/news/science/Septem
  ber-October/Indian-Courts-Criticized-for-Using-Bra
  in-Scans.html
• http//io9.com/tag/neuroscience/
• http//www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/world/asia/15bra
  inscan.htm