Of Rights, Risks, and Relocations

Stockton Record staff writer Michael Fitzgerald comments on the U.S. Government’s denial of entry to the United States of two citizens for declining to submit to FBI interrogation and polygraph “testing.” Excerpt: I always wondered how white Americans could have stood by during World War II and allowed authorities to drag patriotic Japanese-Americans off to … Read more

American Citizens Denied Entry to U.S. for Refusing FBI Polygraph

Two United States citizens have been denied re-entry to the United States for exercising their constitutional right to refuse to submit to FBI interrogation and polygraph “testing.” UPI Homeland and National Security Editor Shaun Waterman reports in part: WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (UPI) — A Californian father and son are in legal limbo in Pakistan after … Read more

Michigan State Police Polygrapher Who Wrongly Accused Innocent Woman Named

The Michigan State Police polygraph operator who falsely accused Lisa Hansen of Grand Rapids of deception regarding the alleged embezzlement of funds from her employer has been identified as Sergeant Ben Escalante. On 23 August 2006, Grand Rapids WZZM 13 News reported: The Muskegon based public interest group Innocent, today called for a public apology … Read more

Woman Who Failed Michigan State Police Polygraph Vindicated

The Grand Rapids Press and the Detroit Free Press report that Lisa Hansen of Grand Rapids, Michigan, failed a polygraph “test” administered by a Michigan State Police sergeant on 22 December 2005. Hansen, a receptionist at a local Panopoulos Salon, stood accused of stealing some $425 in cash and checks, which she maintained she had … Read more

Suspect Detection Systems’ Cogito Passenger Screening Trial at Knoxville Airport

The Transportation Safety Administration conducted a trial run of Suspect Detection Systems’ polygraph-derived passenger screening system, dubbed “Cogito,” at the Knoxville airport (presumably McGhee Tyson Airport), the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, 14 August in an article by Jonathan Karp and Laura Meckler titled, “Which Travelers Have ‘Hostile Intent’? Biometric Device May Have the Answer.” … Read more

Lies Wide Open

On Sunday, 6 August 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle published in its Insight section an article by Vicki Haddock titled, “Lies Wide Open” about fMRI based “lie detection.” Excerpt: Imagine a day when a machine can perform a search and seizure of your mind, pronouncing judgment on whether you are telling the truth — in … Read more

wikiHow on “How to Cheat a Polygraph Test”

On 2 August 2006, the popular collaborative website wikiHow gave featured billing on its homepage to an earlier-written article titled “How to Cheat a Polygraph Test (Lie Detector).” The article appears to have reached a wide audience, having been accessed more than 95,000 times at the time of this writing. Public comments on the article, … Read more

New Jersey Supreme Court Rules Defendants May Cross-Examine Prosecution Witnesses about Polygraph Results

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 … Read more

To Catch a Liar

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 … Read more

California Court to Rely on Polygraphs for Sentencing Rapists

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. … Read more