Coercive Brain-Reading in Criminal Justice: An Analysis of European Human Rights Law

by Sjors Ligthart

Overview

Emerging neurotechnology offers increasingly individualised brain information, enabling researchers to identify mental states and content. When accurate and valid, these brain-reading technologies also provide data that could be useful in criminal legal procedures, such as memory detection with EEG and the prediction of recidivism with fMRI. Yet, unlike in medicine, individuals involved in criminal cases will often be reluctant to undergo brain-reading procedures. This raises the question of whether coercive brain-reading could be permissible in criminal law. Coercive Brain-Reading in Criminal Justice examines this question in view of European human rights: the prohibition of ill-treatment, the right to privacy, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and the privilege against self-incrimination. The book argues that, at present, the established framework of human rights does not exclude coercive brain-reading. It does, however, delimit the permissible use of forensic brain-reading without valid consent. This cautionary, cutting-edge book lays a crucial foundation for understanding the future of criminal legal proceedings in a world of ever-advancing neurotechnology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009252461
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2022
Series:	Law and the Cognitive Sciences
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Sjors Ligthart is assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Law at Tilburg Law School and postdoctoral researcher at the Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology at Utrecht University His research interests include human rights over the mind and the legal implications of brain-reading, neurointerventions, virtual reality, and persuasive technologies in criminal justice. He is co-editor of Neurolaw: Advances in Neuroscience, Justice & Security (2021).

Table of Contents

1. Setting the stage: Why 'reading' brains raises fundamental legal questions for European human rights law; 2. Brain-reading technologies: Their legally relevant features; 3. Coercive brain-reading and the prohibition of ill-treatment; 4. Coercive brain-reading and the right to respect for private life; 5. Coercive brain-reading and the rights to freedom of thought and to freedom of expression; 6. Coercive brain-reading and the privilege against self-incrimination; 7. Procedural implications of brain-reading in breach of the ECHR: Excluding unlawfully obtained evidence?; 8. Discussion and perspectives: Emerging challenges for European human rights law; 9. Concluding observations; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

‘Should our criminal justice systems adopt new neuroimaging technologies for the purposes of determining responsibility, establishing guilt or assessing risk of recidivism? Ligthart traces the myriad ways in which European human rights law bears on this question. His book provides a compelling, lucid and even-handed analysis, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the ethical and legal status of forensic brain-reading.’ Tom Douglas, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford

‘This important book, by one of the leaders of the new generation of neurolaw scholars, effectively challenges complacent assumptions that existing European safeguards provide adequate protection to the threats to human rights arising from neurotechnologies. A ‘must-read’ for policymakers, legislators and all who care about human rights.’ Paul Catley, Professor of Neurolaw and Honorary Associate, The Open University

From the Publisher