Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
On 17 July 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in State v. Castagna et al. that the trial court erred in not permitting the defendants, who were charged for the killing of a bar patron, to present evidence that a prosecution witness, Violet Arias, had failed a polygraph examination administered by New Jersey State …
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television program Catalyst examined lie detection in an episode titled, “To Catch a Liar”: How good are you at spotting a lie? We’re lied to up to 100 times a day, yet research shows fewer than one in a 1000 people can reliably detect lies. But science has declared a …
Chris Durant of the Eureka, California Times-Standard reports in “Rape sentencing awaiting polygraph results”: EUREKA — The four men who are accused of holding a woman in their Whitethorn home in March and repeatedly raping her entered guilty pleas to some charges Monday, but their exact sentences won’t be determined until after each are polygraphed. …
A committee of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, is proceding with legislation that would ban polygraphs from the workplace. Sheera Claire Frankel reports for the Jerusalem Post: The Knesset Labor, Health and Sports Committee moved forward on a law to ban the use of Knesset polygraph testing in the workplace on Monday. MK Zahava Gal-On …
Christian Toto writes for the Metro section of today’s (29 June 2006) Washington Times in “Lie catchers stand by their polygraphs.” The article is cited here in its entirety, interspersed with commentary: Detective Leonard Keeler developed the first lie detector — or polygraph — test in the 1930s, and the machines used today are not …
Writer-historian Joel Shurkin comments on polygraphy in an entry on his Of Cabbages and Kings blog titled, “Liar, liar pants on fire. OK, maybe not.” Significantly, Shurkin notes that an article he once wrote for a major science magazine was suppressed because of outside pressure on the editor.
Washington Post staff writer Shankar Vedantam, who in May reported with Dan Eggen on the FBI and CIA’s questionable reliance on polygraphy, follows up with a new front page story titled, “Polygraph Readings Vary Among Agencies.” In this story, Vedantam addresses the experiences of victims of the polygraph. Excerpt: The National Security Agency denied a …
Kevin Johnson of USA Today reports on the FBI’s plans to polygraph police officers serving on Joint Terrorism Task Forces: WASHINGTON — The FBI will give lie-detector tests to hundreds of state and local police officers assigned to terrorism task forces across the country as part of a new effort to battle espionage and unauthorized …
In reply to an ethics complaint against polygrapher Edward I. Gelb of Los Angeles, who is falsely holding himself out to the public as a Ph.D., the American Polygraph Association has stated that “the APA does not attempt nor does it presume to govern the designation of titles or degrees conferred upon its members.” As …
Philip Messing of the New York Post reports on the New York Police Department’s polygraph program: THE ‘TRUTH SQUAD’ HURTS (CRIMINALS) By PHILIP MESSING June 5, 2006 — Call it the NYPD “Truth Squad.” They’re nearly one dozen newly trained detectives skilled in administering “lie detector” exams – tests given to several hundred witnesses and …