Forensic evaluations of insanity have recently borne witness to an influx of neuroimaging methods, especially structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, to assist in the development of explanations that help to excuse legal responsibility for criminal behavior. The results of these scanning methods have been increasingly introduced in legal settings to offer or support a clinical diagnosis that in turn suggests that an individual was incapable of knowing right from wrong, or to pinpoint brain dysfunction suggestive of an inability to control behavior. This paper examines how neuroimaging has been employed in insanity evaluations. After addressing the contentious use of neuroimaging scans in insanity evaluations and synthesizing relevant research, we conclude that such scans presently hold limited applicability for forensic determinations of insanity. Furthermore, they can in some cases distract the trier of fact, potentially leading to erroneous conclusions.

对精神错乱的法医评估最近证明了大量的神经影像学方法的涌现，特别是结构和功能磁共振成像以及正电子发射断层扫描技术，以协助提出有助于免除犯罪行为法律责任的解释。这些扫描方法的结果已越来越多地引入法律环境中，以提供或支持临床诊断，进而提示个人无从对错，或者指出无法控制行为的大脑功能障碍。本文研究了神经影像学在精神错乱评估中的应用。在解决了神经影像扫描在精神错乱评估中的争议性使用并综合了相关研究之后，我们得出的结论是，此类扫描目前在法医确定精神错乱方面具有有限的适用性。此外，它们在某些情况下可能分散事实的琐碎性，有可能导致错误的结论。