Can it really see the truth locked in the murderer’s memory?

When evidence can’t be seen with the naked eye, investigators must use extraordinary means to find it.

Forensic science is constantly evolving, from the discovery of the uniqueness of the human fingerprint, to the ability to match a criminal to his crime through DNA profiling, technology continues to provide investigators with new weapons. But fingerprint and DNA evidence are discovered in the only one percent of all cases. When trusted techniques fail, investigators must turn to cutting-edge technology to bring invisible clues to light.

Every criminal leaves evidence behind. The key is to know how to find it. But the most compelling evidence is also the least tangible. It is the criminal’s knowledge of his actions.  A new technique is testing a way of tapping the suspect’s mind, to turn the criminal's own memory against him.

Dr. Lawrence Farwell is the Chairman and Chief Scientist at Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories in Seattle, Washington. He has developed a new computerized system known as Brain Fingerprinting. It reads the memory centers of the human brain. He believes that Brain Fingerprinting will one day be used to positively link perpetrators to their crimes.

Dr. Farwell: "Brain Fingerprinting is a scientific method of determining whether certain information is stored in a brain, or is not stored in a brain. If the person has committed a crime he will have certain information relevant to that crime stored in his brain. So we can use Brain Fingerprinting to determine scientifically whether he committed the crime or not."

When someone commits a crime, his brain records it has a memory.

Brain Fingerprinting seeks to reveal that memory, by showing the suspect evidence taken from the crime scene.

A head band with sensors is placed on the subject.

A series of pictures or words is flashed on the screen.

The computer records the brain waves produced in response to what the subject sees.

The responses are recorded as a wave form.

By analyzing the pattern of waves, Farwell can determine if the subject is recognizing what he is seeing.

Dr. Farwell: "So when you have a situation where a crime has been committed, and there are certain details only the suspect with know, then we can test: does this brain have these details stored in it? If so, then the suspect committed the crime. If not, then not."

The FBI is at the forefront of developing and evaluating new technology. After hearing of Farwell’s system, they put it to the test. The FBI tested Brain Fingerprinting on their own agents at the Bureau’s training facility at Quantico, Virginia.

Dr. Farwell: "We conducted a study on FBI agents, and the purpose of this study was to see if we could determine whether an individual is an FBI agent based on their brain waves. If we could determine an FBI agent, then we could determine if somebody is a member of, say, a foreign intelligence organization or a criminal group, just based on their brain responses."

Each agent was presented a series of words on a computer screen. Many were FBI acronyms or terms familiar only to agents. The FBI agents were specifically told to do everything they could to conceal from Farwell that they were in any way connected with the Bureau. The participants' responses to each stimuli were picked up by electrodes.  The electrodes were wired to the brain wave analysis software of Farwell’s system.

Dr. Farwell: "So what we did was to present stimuli, phrases, that only the FBI agents, because of their training, would know, mixed in with others. The FBI agents recognized them. We picked up the brain responses. We knew they were FBI agents."

The principle behind the Brain Fingerprinting system is very simple. Dr. Farwell has discovered that the memory centers of the human brain respond to the sight of familiar stimuli with a distinct change in electrical activity. He calls this change a MERMER.

Dr. Farwell: "And that is the specific brain response that we measure and we analyze with a computer in order to determine whether an individual recognizes the words or pictures that we flashed on the screen that are relevant to the crime, or whatever it is we are investigating."

When the subject sees anything on the screen it creates a pattern of brain activity. A MERMER is increased brain activity produced when the subject recognizes what he is seeing to. The test participants who did not work for the FBI did not recognize the specific FBI stimuli. So no MERMERs were detected.

Researchers with the United States Navy also heard the claims made about the system. They devised a test of their own to see if Brain Fingerprinting could distinguish military medical students from civilians. They used a list of acronyms specific to medicine and the military. Lt. Cmdr. Rene Hernandez conducted the test.

Lt. Cmdr Hernandez: "The test was 100 percent accurate. They were able to tell each and every one, because the brain will always answer it honestly."

Rigorously conducted the lab tests are one thing, but how would the Brain Fingerprinting system work on the front lines of a murder investigation? Could Dr. Farwell’s computer read the mind of an actual killer?

Like a page torn from a science-fiction novel, Brain Fingerprinting might be the next century's most powerful new forensic tool. No criminal secrets would be safe when his own brain waves could bring him to justice.

Captain Blaine Coral, Commander of the Investigation Division of the Alexandria police has also tested the system. Although he was initially skeptical about its use in the real world, he was quickly won over.

Captain Coral: "The vision I had was like of the Three Stooges with a salad bowl sitting on top of someone’s head with wires coming out of it. And I thought not only would this technique or this technology never be useful, but there was no way in the world it would be excepted by the law enforcement community."

Coral compared Brain Fingerprinting with a polygraph, the lie detector used by law enforcement for many years. The polygraph is still not admissible in court but has become a standard tool to guide police.

Captain Coral: "The polygraph works on the theory that you can’t control your heart rate or something called your Galvanic Skin Response or your breathing patterns. The Brain Fingerprinting sort of takes that a step further, and recognizes the fact that you can’t control the electrical activity in your brain."

A polygraph registers only stress or emotional responses, such as heart or respiration rates and sweating. By analyzing the readings, the operator tries to discern if the subject is being truthful or deceptive in his answers. But in some cases the polygraph can be fooled.

Brain Fingerprinting is often more general. It can identify the presence of hidden information in persons fraudulently claiming either knowledge or ignorance of certain facts. But again, it only reveals the presence of the information, not the details.

Captain Coral: "So, they are going to both help us towards the same end to, which is ultimately to find out the truth of what we are investigating, and formulate the best case for presentation in court. But they are going to sort of attack it from different angles. Both can be very crucial to a successful case."

In most cases Brain Fingerprinting a witness or accomplice can reveal knowledge of all kinds of crimes from espionage to terrorist plots. At least, that is the promise of this technology. It might be only a matter of time before it becomes a routine tool. The relatively new technique of DNA profiling is known to be so dead on accurate that genetic evidence is readily accepted.

Ultimately, scientists and criminal investigators agree that Brain Fingerprinting shows great potential in murder investigations. In a shooting death with no witnesses, the killer would be the only person with intimate knowledge of the crime. With Dr. Farwell’s computer, the murderer’s own brain could become a witness for the prosecution.

Technology is providing new ways to reveal evidence that would have been lost or unavailable just a few years ago. Today investigators can peer beneath paint, lift a smudged palm print from a bed sheet, and perhaps even tap into a suspect’s memory, to find the truth.

There may be no way to completely stop crime. But forensic science is finding ever more ingenious tactics to catch criminals.

Executive Producer: Mike Sinclair      Writer: Robert Whitehill       Narrator: Gene Gallusha       Head Writer: Steve Zorn