Jane Doe III said:


Quote:

Re: Countermeasure considerations for the innocent   (Date posted: 05/05/01 at 23:32:34)  Logged -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello,  It seems to me that Mr. Barland is stating that polygraph examiners are now attempting to detect countermeasures from readings that would normally be considered a "truthful" reading. If that's the case then that would explain the high number of "inconclusive" results as polygraphers are naturally assuming that the examinee is going to employ countermeasures on the test. Thus to justify their suspicions they label the test results at best "inconclusive". I am certainly no expert in this field, but I think that a so-called scientific "truth or lie" machine that was declared to be imperfect and beatable should not be used to judge peoples lives and should be relegated to the circus side-show circuit.....of course, that's just my opinion. I could be right.

Jane,

Federal agencies have specific guidelines about when an examiner must render an "inconclusive" opinion.  I believe that with some agencies, one of the situations requiring that decision would be when the examiner has reason to believe the examinee is engaging in countermeasures or purposeful non-cooperation.

Frankly, I'm glad there is an inconclusive category.  With ambiguous situations, better to render no opinion than to make a mistake.

Peace.