Science Fiction
Poised To Transform American
Courtrooms
Dallas,TX, May 9, 2012 -- The ability
to read minds has been an alluring dream for centuries. Now, advances in
neuroimaging technology such as the fMRI allow scientists to actually watch a
person thinking. This should make behavior easier to predict in the future, with
many implications for both civil and criminal law.
Neurolaw is the focus of Alison Bennett's recent article
in the Texas Bar Journal. “This research is cutting edge, poised to be a
significant catalyst for change in our legal system,” she says. “Neuroscientific
evidence has already been presented in more than 100 trials and has been cited
in at least one Supreme Court decision.”
In
the article, titled “Neurolaw: Brain Waves in the Courtroom,” Bennett and
co-author Jason Bloom illustrate how neuroscience may soon be a common tool for
use in jury selection, to help quantify pain and suffering in civil cases, and
even to provide compelling evidence in the courtroom.
“In civil law, it may be possible to 'see' pain and
emotional distress with a brain scan in the future, giving jurors a way to
quantify pain, and other subjective types of damages in civil trials,” Bennett
explains. “This could slow down or put an end to fraudulent claims that
sometimes clog up our legal system, and result in more fair judgments for those
who are truly suffering.”
During jury selection, jurors with bias towards any of
the parties or the subject matter should be released to serve in a different
trial, in theory. However, jurors often stay on a jury panel despite their bias.
In real world terms, this means one side or the other starts the trial behind
the other side. Scientists can now identify what bias looks like in the brain,
leading to the tantalizing possibility of seating impartial jurors at all trials
in the future…with a brain scan of each juror.
Alison Bennett provides services to some of the most
reputable law firms across the nation. As an author and co-author, Bennett has
been published in leading journals including the Texas Bar Journal, American Bar
Association In-House Litigator, Litigation Commentary and Review and The Jury
Expert. Bennett graduated summa cum laude from Texas Tech University, with a
Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology, Human Development and Communication
Studies and a B.A. in Political Science. She serves on the Professional
Standards Committee of American Society of Trial Consultants, and is an American
Bar Association member, Litigation Section.
Bennett is Senior Litigation Consultant with Bloom
Strategic Consulting, a trial consulting firm based in Dallas, Texas.
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