法庭上的脑科学

Brain science in the courtroom

最近半个世纪以来,脑科学的飞速发展,使人们对记忆、情绪、意识以至自由意志有了比以前深入得多的认识,从而对目击者证词和嫌犯自供的可靠性、新的证据采集手段、是否有自由意志甚至人是否应该为自己的行为负责都从新的角度提出了问题,开始形成像"神经法学"和"法医神经科学"这样介于法学和脑科学之间的交叉领域,孕育着对司法制度根本原则的变革。

In the last half of century, with the swift development of brain science, deeper insight into memory, emotion, consciousness and even free will have got much knowledges, thus questions about how reliable the testimony by eyewitnesses and the confession of the suspects is, new technology to collect evidences, and even if there is free will or people should be responsible for their actions, are raised from new angles of view. Some interdisciplinary fields such as neurolaw and forensic neuroscience have been emerging, a radical reform of the main principles underlying the law is on its way.