“Telling the Truth About Lie Detectors”

Dan Vergano reports for USA Today. Excerpt: A long-time law enforcement favorite, the lie detector, now finds itself sweating the hot lights of scientific inquiry. Crime dramas have long depicted the polygraph’s tangle of wires and wiggling chart lines uncovering lies during a hard-boiled criminal interrogation. As suspects are questioned, the device checks for sweaty …

Israeli Scientist Who Spied for Soviets Passed “Successive Lie Detector Tests”

Boston Globe correspondent Dan Ephron reports on the case of Dr. Marcus Klingberg in an article titled, “Israel details damaging espionage case.” Excerpt: JERUSALEM – The first reports of his arrest surfaced in 1991. By that time, Marcus Klingberg, one of Israel’s leading scientists, already had been languishing in jail for eight years. Even then, …

Polygraph “Testing” of Rape Victims Debated in NC Sheriff’s Election

Alex McAllister reports for the Jacksonville, North Carolina Daily News in an article titled, “Sheriff faces his challengers.” Excerpt: Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown on Wednesday defended his use of the polygraph tests on rape victims when investigating cases of sexual assault. Brown addressed the issue during a forum for candidates running for sheriff hosted …

“Spooky Goofs” [Abdallah Higazy Case]

Chisun Lee reports for the Village Voice. Excerpt: Last fall, after inventorying the rooms guests had fled on September 11 in a hotel directly across from the World Trade Center, a security guard reported finding a ground-to-air aviation radio locked in the safe of Egyptian student Abdallah Higazy. Higazy was called in, questioned, and thrown …

Hatfill Contradicts Kristof on Polygraphs; Kristof Stands by Columns

In a 13 August 2002 op-ed piece titled “The Anthrax Files,” New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof reported that anthrax investigation “person of interest” Dr. Steven J. Hatfill had “failed” three polygraph “tests” since January and declined a fourth. In an article titled “Anthrax figure steps up offense,” Baltimore Sun staff writer Scott Shane …