Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Leonora LaPeter reports for the St. Petersburg Times. Excerpt: TAMPA – Here are a few of the questions that polygraph examiner Mike Alaiwat asked a 60-something woman during a lie detector test recently: “Did you leave a razor in Mr. Jones’ bathroom?” “Do you know who put the razor in Mr. Jones’ bathroom? “Are you …
Taylor Bright of the Birmingham Post-Herald reports on the scandal in Irondale, Alabama in which the mayor has ordered wide-ranging polygraph “testing” of municipal employees. Excerpt: The mayor of Irondale has gone on the offensive to find the person who released a police report naming a city councilman’s son in a marijuana trafficking incident. Jefferson …
Staff writer Anita Debro reports for the Birmingham News. Excerpt: The City of Irondale will spend $200 for each polygraph test given to employees and city officials in an effort to find out who leaked confidential police information. There are about 60 people who work in the municipal complex on 20th Street South who could …
Staff writer Anita Debro reports for the Birmingham News. Excerpt: Irondale Mayor Allen Ramsey is ordering all City Hall employees to undergo a polygraph test to determine who may have leaked confidential police information. Ramsey said Tuesday night he will submit to the testing and he is also asking members of the Irondale City Council …
The Post of Perth, West Australia, reports in an article titled, “QC asks judges to visit scene of ’94 murder.” Excerpt: On Tuesday night, some TV news bulletins showed interviews with a Mallard family member, and several, including the 7.30 Report, showed videotape of Mallard doing an electronic lie detector test. A longer segment on …
David Darragh reports for the West Australian on the appeal of convicted murderer Andrew Mallard, who has sought the admission of polygraph results. THE Court of Criminal Appeal has criticised heavily what it described as emotive and one-sided television news reports of convicted murderer Andrew Mallard’s appeal that could influence witnesses at the hearing. Mallard’s …
Joe Gerrety reports for the Lafayette, Indiana Journal and Courier in an article titled, “Gov. O’Bannon denies clemency for Trueblood.” Excerpt: Gov. Frank O’Bannon denied condemned triple murderer Joseph L. Trueblood’s request for clemency, making his Friday morning execution a near certainty. “The judicial system has provided Trueblood repeated opportunities in multiple appeals to challenge …
Shannon Tan reports for the Indianapolis Star. Excerpt: MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — With just days to live, Joseph L. Trueblood asked Gov. Frank O’Bannon on Tuesday for a polygraph test to prove the Death Row inmate has been telling the truth. Trueblood insists his lawyers told him he would not face death when he pleaded …
The Sunday Times reports that “[the] admissibility of lie detector tests in criminal trials will be tested for the first time in a superior Australian court when an appeal against a 1994 murder conviction goes to the West Australian Supreme Court this week.”
Andrea Widener reports for the Contra Costa County Times. Excerpt: Last fall, a panel of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences found that polygraph tests are unproven, and perhaps even dangerous, as a tool to search for potential spies at the nation’s nuclear weapons labs. Its measures of heart rate, breathing and sweaty palms are …