Thank you for the advice.  Yes, we do have a lawyer and he gave the same advice but no reason why.  Your links posted gave us that reason.  The information given has been invaluable.

Thank you very much!

Sheba

Sheba,

Concur with Marty.  Get an attorney ASAP, and under no circumstances submit to a Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) exam.  In fact, don't even talk to the police unless you have counsel present.  So the cop was "mad" because you booted him out of your house?  That's too bad, you have rights.....protect them by keeping your kid's mouth shut. 

The CVSA is another piece of techno junk that lacks even a sliver of scientific credibility.  However, it is a great piece of gear for intimidating the uninformed masses, and coercing a confession.   

If you think I'm exaggerating, reference the Stephanie Crowe murder investigation (www.courttv.com/movie/crowe), where the Escondido Police Dept (California) used the CVSA and Gestapo interrogation tactics to coerce a confession from Stephanie's brother Michael Crowe.    

Good luck.

Kona

First, get a lawyer.

Sheba wrote on Jun 9^th, 2004 at 7:45pm:


You might want to check what the polygraph people say about the CVSA at polygraph.org. At least one study they cite indicates it is essentially worthless. It might carry more weight (print it out) with LE than similar information here.

No doubt CVSA advocates will say that polygraphers are just showing their financial motivation. "Follow the money" they might say.

They might be right. Both the polygraph and CVSA are often interrogation props and both can be very effective as such. CVSA, however, is a much cheaper one.

-Marty

Since this is my first time here and I am freely admitting that I am under tremedious stress, please don't blast me if I come across negative or harsh.  I grew up in a law enforcement family and have always had the greatest respect for those in that field.  Knowing what they do each day, I have always defended those in law enforcement to those who may not understand fully the stress and life they choose to lead.

Having said that...

I am a mother of 3 and my oldest son (14) has recently been accused of going through his best-friend's mothers bedroom and ransacking it.  In the process, taking a few items (not sure what, we haven't been told).  My son has never been in trouble with the law, doesn't do drugs or alcohol and the worst he thing he has ever done is lie about doing his homework (we count ourselves lucky).  His personality is such, that this is totally beyond him.

To make a long story short, we live in a small town and pissed off the officer when I told him he was done bullying my son into a confession and must leave my house.  He now wants to do some Voice thing, he mentioned it was like the "old-fashioned lie detector tests".  Never having heard about this, my husband and I declined.  Needless to say, the officer is a bit miffed at us.

Is there some material that explains what this is, what the ratio of false-positive/false-negatives are, how accurate is this procedure is and what it entails?  Also, my son suffers from depression and does what is called "flooding" when emotions or stress get to a certain point will this affect the test and if yes, how?

I hope this post doesn't sound like I am bashing anyone but at this point, 35 years of trust and respect for the law enforcement community is going down the drain.

Thank you for any help,
Sheba