Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Colorado television station KUSA 9News investigative reporter Jace Larson examines the use of the “Computer Voice Stress Analyzer” (CVSA) in the state: KUSA – A device used by Colorado law enforcement agencies to identify when someone is lying, may not work and may be costing taxpayers money. Computer Voice Stress Analyzers (CVSAs) claim to measure …
The National Institute of Corrections has published a research study on voice stress analysis (VSA) conducted by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services with support from the National Institute of Justice. From the abstract (emphasis added): …The goal of this study was to test the validity and reliability of two popular …
In a 28 April 2007 editorial cryptically titled, “Wired Policing Stresses Voices, More,” the Daytona Beach News-Journal skewers local law enforcement agencies’ reliance on voice stress analyzers: As the urban legend goes, police interrogating a suspect put a colander on the suspect’s head, run wires from the colander to a copy machine, make a meaningless …
Writer Ian Williams raises the question in “The New Salem Witch Trials,” a stinging commentary on the British government’s harebrained scheme to use voice stress analysis to assess the truthfulness of applicants for social welfare benefits.
Steven Aftergood reports in the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News newsletter & blog that on 25 January 2007, the Department of Defense issued a new directive governing polygraph policy: The Department of Defense has revised and supplemented its polygraph program to include non-polygraph techniques for detecting deception. A new Pentagon directive (pdf) introduces the …
A March 2006 ABC News Primetime story on Charles Humble, the phony Ph.D. behind the pseudoscientific Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, has been posted to YouTube: For previous discussion of this news story, see Innocent Until Proved Guilty? (CVSA Exposé) on the AntiPolygraph.org message board.
Retired NYPD detective Warren J. Sonne writes for Officer.com in an article titled, “Tremors of the Trade: Investigative Tool or Troublesome Black Magic?” Excerpt: Over the past decade, police departments all over this country have lined up to purchase Voice Stress Analyzers. In a country that has placed restrictive rules of law on the police …
On 6 April 2006, Adrian Blomfield of the Daily Telegraph reported that Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport would soon begin requiring passengers to submit to voice-based lie detector “testing” in an attempt to identify terrorists and drug smugglers. The device, Nemesysco’s GK-1 Security Access Control System, is completely unsupported by any peer-reviewed scientific research whatsoever. Now, in …
Northwest Indiana Times reporter Bob Kasada reports on Computer Voice Stress Analysis. This story ran on nwitimes.com on Saturday, April 15, 2006 12:42 AM CDT Lie detectors raise doubts BY BOB KASARDA bkasarda@nwitimes.com 219.462.5151 Portage police Detective Capt. Terry Swickard has a lot of confidence in the department’s computer voice stress analyzer. The results of …
San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Onell R. Soto reports. (The National Institute for Truth Verification, which markets the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer (CVSA), had earlier admitted in court that their device is not capable of lie detection, but continues to suggest otherwise on its website): The maker of a machine police used while interrogating the …