@ tessalonia

I feel like you and I have gone through an extremely similar experience.  I have kids, I have a happy life, I love my wife, and I have always been 100% faithful.  My wife has experienced the pain of her father's infidelity negatively impacting her family life growing up, and she has always had serious trust issues.  When she accused me of cheating I was supportive at first, but eventually I became frustrated and indignant about her disgusting allegations.  During a particularly bad fight I looked up a polygraph company and booked it on the spot for the very next day.

Side note: Please remember that most people are unaware of the fallibility of these tests if they have no previous exposure to them.  If you are reading this, you are not "most people."  Obviously I would never have suggested this had I known what I know now.  Please do not call me stupid, and don't you dare call tessalonia stupid.  We are at worst, victims of being too naive, and overly trusting of what appears to be a legitimate procedure.  I can personally attest that anyone going through this, is going through hell.  Turning your back on them while they are looking for support is cruel.

The next day felt exactly like tessalonia described it.  I was happy, confident, and relieved that we finally came up with a way to shut down these accusations once and for all.  My Wife was happy too and was already starting to apologize for what she too expected to be a test that exonerated me from any wrongdoing.

I am sick to my stomach just thinking about that moment when we got the results.  It was the single worst moment of my life.  I felt like I was in an episode of the twilight zone.  I screamed and cried and begged my wife to believe me, but she turned on me so hard.  My soul mate, the one person I truly let all the way into my heart was tearing me apart from the inside with her words, and even got to the point of becoming physically abusive towards me.  But the worst part of it all was that I was literally witnessing the person I love more than anything having to experience the pain of being cheated on.  I promised I would never let her feel that pain for the rest of her life.  While I've always remained vigilantly faithful, somehow I had failed this horrible test, and by doing so I had effectively broken my promise to her.

After months of therapy, and a meticulous reconstruction of my activities and whereabouts for the times in question (from text records, call records, and GPS tags on photos) she has finally come around to start trusting me again.  I also had to say that the way the test was conducted made me nervous, and that explains the false positive.  That is true of course, but she still is holding on hope that a slight variation of the test would rule out this issue, allowing me to pass the polygraph test after all.  When she brings it up I get uncomfortable to a level that I can only describe as PTSD.  I have tried to delicately explain this to her but it, "just sounds like something a guilty person would say."  While that may be true, it completely undermines my particular situation.

The bottom line is that whenever she has a nervous feeling about me cheating, or ever having cheated in the past for that matter, this horrible polygraph test experience comes up.  If I tell her how much her accusations hurt me, she points to the Polygraph Test, "Can you blame me for being suspicious now?"  When I try to talk about how traumatic that experience was, and how much it hurts for her to even bring it up, she talks about how much she was hurt by the experience too.  Either way you look at it, it's all my fault, and she is slowly but surely painting me into a box where the only "escape" would be submitting to another polygraph test.

To tessalonia:  You are not crazy and you are not stupid.  I am sorry you are going through this, and I hope that things have gotten better since your post in June.  If you ever see this please know that you are not alone.  The polygraph test ruins people's lives, and it's about time more people hear our stories, and stop putting their faith in these horrible inaccurate tests.  Hang in there.

Thank you for your kind words, David! Expect a 6th edition some time in 2019. 

Randall,

I agree with Animal's comment above that you need the advice of an attorney with experience in such matters. I am not one. However, you'll be interested in a 2016 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit that a convicted sex offender in a post-conviction polygraph program cannot be compelled to answer questions about his sexual history that could tend to incriminate him:

https://antipolygraph.org/blog/2016/05/15/federal-appeals-court-rules-certain-ma...

This ruling is not binding in Texas, which is under the 5th Circuit, but the facts and arguments that led to this ruling will no doubt be of relevance for others in similar situations.

You need the advice of an attorney with experience in these types of cases. Treatment providers claim that recovery cannot occur unless all past deviant behaviors have been illuminated. But others would be more in favor of your incarceration. Absent some kind of legal agreement with prosecutors, you could be in jeopardy for any admissions of crimes. Even if the criminal statute of limitations have passed, there could be civil litigation. Your other alternative is try to beat the test; the ethic of this strategy I'll leave to others to hash over.

I am currently on parole for two convictions of Aggravated Sexual Assault, child under 14. In the state of Texas. One occurred in 1986, the other in 1987. I am not guilty of the alleged offense of 1987. However, I recently failed a instant case polygraph regarding this allegation. After serving 22yr's, I was released under mandatory supervision in 2009. Since that time I have taken and passed several maintenance polygraphs. And underwent counselling. Was released from counselling (Dallas County) approx. 2012. And was placed on yearly maintenance. In 2016 I moved from Dallas Co. To Henderson Co. Texas. In 2017 I was required to take my yearly Maintenance polygraph. This examine consisted solely of questions concerning Alcohol/Drug use. No questions concerning my sexual conduct since my previous polygraph. Which I find unusual because that's the purpose of the maintenance polygraph. I failed this polygraph due to alcohol use. ( Drinking wine to help me sleep nights). Because of this I was placed back into sex offender treatment. Which I strongly opposed, to no avail. Due to the conduct of SOTP provider I was placed under. I filed a grievance against her with the Counsel of Sex Offender Treatment. Due to this grievance I was removed from her class in 2017. Am currently attending a weekly class under a second SOTP. Time for my yearly maintenance polygraph is at hand. However, I am currently being forced to take a sexual history polygraph. Which has never been required. I fear this polygraph because I am being forced to disclose information concerning my previous sexual conduct during my entire life span and I am 59yr's old. My fear is that some of my previous sexual history, if disclosed, could be used against me even though statue of limitations has expired and no other complaints have occurred. My question, at this point is, is this legal? Is it legal to be forced to disclose information concerning my past offences that were never brought to light. And in my opinion, should stay way.

Congratulations, George!

I know the new edition was a lot of hard work.  It is a great accomplishment.

Thank you for continuing to be voice for truth!

AntiPolygraph.org is pleased to announce the release of the 5th edition of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector. This is the first new edition in 13 years.

Here's what's new:

• Previous editions were typeset on a pre-OS X Macintosh computer using software that is now obsolete; thus, the entire book has been redesigned (albeit with a familiar format) on Apple Pages, with a new font. The redesign was a lot of work, but it will make more frequent updates easier in the future;
• All of the previous black and white illustrations have been replaced with newer, color ones;
• We suggest that applicants for federal positions that require polygraph screening withdraw their applications and not submit to any federal pre-employment polygraph "test." We used to limit this advice to the FBI. We now extend it to all federal agencies;
• On the topic of polygraph countermeasures, we no longer suggest making any "throwaway" admissions and instead suggest to make no post-"test" admission(s) of any sort;
• We have added to Chapter 4 a brief section on Operation Lie Busters, a federal criminal investigation that targeted polygraph countermeasure instructors for entrapment;
• In addition to PDF format, EPUB (suitable for reading in Apple's iBooks or any EPUB reader on iOS or Android) and MOBI (Amazon Kindle) versions are now available. Note that by choice, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector is not available for sale on Amazon. All versions of our book are freely available here.

You can download the 5th edition of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector in PDF, EPUB, and MOBI versions, respectively, here:

https://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf

https://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.epub

https://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.mobi

Has ANYONE ever been able to secure a federal position and security clearance after the end of the disbarment?  I have been unfairly disbarred and can't fight it well in court without a $30,000 lawyer.  I just want to know what hope I'll have getting another federal position in the future.

Does anyone know what the Portland Police Bureau's policy is regarding failed polygraphs at other agencies? I know Oregon has prohibited the use of polygraphs for law enforcement pre employment screening, but is there anything prohibiting them from looking at an out of state polygraph? If not does anybody have insight into their specific views on any failed polygraphs?

I haven't failed any and I don't plan on it. But, I'm currently waiting for my BI to start and I'm afraid that if I apply to my local PD or any other agency that polygraphs, and I do happen to fail (not that uncommon it seems like), that PPB will use that as a reason to DQ me since they can't run a poly of their own.

I've looked at Mcminnville PD in OR and their application specifically asked if you've ever failed a poly. So this makes me want to steer clear of any agency that polygraphs. It's just frustrating because all the agencies in my state seem to poly.

Also, if anybody has info on whether other states that don't poly (e.g. Minnesota, Michigan, etc.) can use out of state polygraphs to DQ applicants.

It seems to me most would jump at the chance to do so given that they can't run one of their own. Whereas agencies that can run a new one on you might seem more forgiving of a failed poly since they seem to trust their own results so much.

I wish I had this website three years ago. I was submitted for a high-pressure polygraph when I was submitted to get my security clearance for my job. I, knowing nothing about how these worked, confessed to literally everything I did ever, giving a couple of damaging admissions in the process. Of course, I was denied my security clearance because of it. Now, three years later, my company wants to promote/re-locate me and it would be a great opportunity for my family, but I would have to go through the clearance process all over again.
Is it even worth going through it again because of my previous damaging admissions? Should I even try? What do I do? What do I say?