Polygraph Article 1

Polygraph Articles Page 1

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
A polygraph screening program raises questions about the science of lie detection.
By: Tim Beardsley

In earlier centuries, claims of witchcraft may have led to a witch-hunt. Today, in the U.S., the sequence has been reversed. Demands in Congress that someone pay the price for supposedly allowing China to steal nuclear secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory have prompted the Department of Energy to institute polygraph screening to detect spies at three national laboratories that work on nuclear weapons. The screening will cover Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories as well as Los Alamos and may extend to as many as 5,400 employees. Testing started during the summer for federal workers and some volunteers employed by the contractors who run the labs. Routine testing of contractors deemed to have access to critical information was scheduled to start in October, after a series of public hearings.Continue Reading This Article-->

Lie Detection: The Science and Development of the Polygraph
Written by: Katherine To

The idea of using a polygraph for lie detection emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. Despite major technological advances in the twentieth century, the polygraph has evolved little since its invention. The polygraph works under the assumption that lies can be detected by certain measurable physiological changes, a theory proposed more than 100 years ago. The three physiological vectors measured in polygraphs in the 1920s—cardiovascular, respiratory and perspiratory activities—are still measured by modern polygraphs. Although the polygraph is still widely used, critics question its accuracy because of the subjectivity involved in the test. Recent technological breakthroughs have created new machines for lie detection. However, since many of these new technologies still operate under questionable assumptions, they are still prone to error and misinterpretation.Continue Reading This Article-->

Can a Polygraph Test Help Your Client
by: James W. Bassett

I asked a criminal defense attorney recently, ‘‘Why don’t more attorneys use polygraph testing?’’ His answer was, ‘‘Most of them don’t know very much about it and don’t know how to use it.’’

The purpose of this article is to suggest ways that you may be able to use polygraph testing to help your clients. But first, a few words about validity and reliability.

In 1997, the American Polygraph Association (www.polygraph.org) published a compendium of research studies on the validity and reliability of polygraph examinations conducted since 1980. Ansley, summarizing its content regarding field examinations (real tests, not simulations), wrote the following:

Researchers conducted 12 studies of validity following 3,174 field examinations, producing an average accuracy of 98 percent. Researchers conducted 11 studies involving the reliability ,f independent analyses (one examiner reviewing another’s charts) of 1,609 sets of charts from field examinations confirmed by independent evidence, producing an accuracy of 92 percent. Continue Reading This Article-->

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