:-[

Well, Cats & Kittens,

I really hate to say "I told you so", but I think we all knew this day would come.  Like many applied topics in Psychology, the issue of polygraphy has much more to do with social and political realities than scientific support.

Good investigators do not use the squigglies produced by a polygraph to infer deception; they use them as a way of applying psychological pressure that can sometimes result in useful information.  That is why, for example, Canadian courts do not accept polygraph test results as forensic evidence, yet nearly every police department has a polygraph and a videocamera.  The videocamera is to record the confessions which ARE admissable evidence (Supreme Court of Canada: R. v Oickle, 200?).  The polygraph charts go in the file cabinet where they belong.

So, why would you expect the scientific status of polygraphy to have any bearing whatsoever on the political status of polygraphy, particularly in the wake of 09/11?

Still, you did your best and that's all any of us can do.  

Keep on truckin'!

-Vance