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Over the past 15 years, neuroscience and neuroimaging have made an accelerated foray into the courtroom. Conservative estimates indicate that neurobiological evidence is introduced in approximately 5%–6% of murder trials in the United States and in 1%–4% of an array of felony cases. Although methodological barriers in legal research cause a significant underestimation of these numbers, approximately 15% of recorded cases that discuss neuroscience also discuss brain scans as part of the analysis (Farahany 2016). Responsible legal scholars and neuroscientists have cautioned against the overuse of neuroimaging and other modalities in the determination of individual civil or criminal cases but also acknowledge that a deeper understanding of human cognition and motivation might assist fact finders in determining guilt and innocence and in tailoring sentences and other legal interventions (Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues 2015).
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