Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Nick Budnick reports for Willamette Week in an article titled, “True Lies? Polygraph Expert Questions Francke Investigation Tactics.” Excerpt: In three decades of giving so-called “lie detector” tests, you’d think Ken Simmons would have seen everything; but after reviewing a string of reports in the controversial Michael Francke murder case, he’s stunned. “I’ve done polygraphs …
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy reports in the Project’s Secrecy News e-mail publication: JUSTICE DEPT INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEWS POLYGRAPH POLICY The Department of Justice Inspector General is undertaking a review of the use of polygraph testing throughout the Department. “Polygraph examinations are used in criminal investigations and counterintelligence …
A report about Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) on the website of Central Ohio television station WBNS (“Tool Catches Fibbing Suspects”) concludes by mentioning that the Special Forces are using CVSA to interrogate suspected terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. The entire report is reproduced here: More and more police departments in Ohio are turning to …
The following report from IsraelNationalNews.com is cited here in full. It makes reference to the compulsory polygraph “testing” of Israeli officers in an attempt to track the source of a media leak about a military disagreement with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: (IsraelNN.com) MK (Yahad) Avshalom Vilan, who served in an elite IDF unit, expressed sharp …
John Tuohy reports for the Indianapolis Star in an article titled, “Voice analyzers draw praise, flak.” Excerpt: Police departments across Indiana and the country are spending thousands of dollars apiece on a truth verification device that some scientists say doesn’t work. The Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, designed by a former Indianapolis Police Department officer, claims …
In a press release by Rovner & Associates, Dr. Louis Rovner makes some dubious claims regarding polygraphy: WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ — “Almost no human being can beat a polygraph test,” says Dr. Louis Rovner, a noted psychologist and polygraph expert in Woodland Hills, California. In fact, lie detection technology has become so …
In a report titled, “TSA probe of whistleblowers criticized,” Star-Ledger staff writer Ron Marisco reports that Transportation Security Administration employees have been threatened with possible lie detector “tests” in an attempt to identify and punish a whistleblower. Excerpt: New Jersey’s senior U.S. senator and two congressmen yesterday rebuked federal officials for trying to ferret out …
Zvi Zrahiya reports for Ha’aretz. This short article is cited here in full: The Knesset’s Labor and Welfare Committee on Wednesday approved a bill preventing employers from requesting or demanding that a job candidate undergo a lie detector test. The bill, submitted by MK Yehiel Hazan (Likud), sets special circumstances under which an employer would …
SWNEBR.net reports. Excerpt: KEARNEY, NE–In Kearney, Nebraska today Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson announced that the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) will receive one million federal research dollars to study two important issues. The first project is to improve the reliability of polygraph technology in an effort to make it more useful in law enforcement …
Jamie Satterfield reports for the Knoxville, Tennessee News-Sentinel: If a polygraph test can help land a person in jail, a Knoxville lawyer argues, why can it not be used to free the accused? Knoxville attorney Gregory P. Isaacs wants to use the results of a polygraph examination to try to prove to a jury that …