Time to Take Brain-Fingerprinting Seriously?

A Consideration of International Developments in Forensic Brainwave Analysis (FBA), in the Context of the Need for Independent Verification of FBA’s Scientific Validity, and the Potential Legal Implications of its Use in New Zealand

Abstract

Any investigation into the potential legal application of a new scientific technology to legal contexts is invariably met with diverse perceptions and reactions, covering the range from adamant support, disguised bias, open-minded enquiry, cautious scepticism, outright scepticism, polite dismissal, to vehement rejection. These reactions are amplified when the relevant technology is related to the human brain, due to well-documented differences among many credible researchers about brain functioning and the reliability of inferences that can be drawn from brain-related experiments.