|
Believe me, I understand your anger. The mystique surrounding the magic polygraph makes people believe in it, even when they know nothing about it. My husband is on probation, and was falsely accused of a crime by some wackadoo. Hi PO made him take a polygraph (cost us $500), and he failed. The polygrapher was an old buddy of the PO, and had not been at it long. He lied in his report, saying that there were 3 relevant questions, and that my husband was DI to all 3. Luckily, my husband had written some things down after the exam, and remembered 4 relevant questions. He was NDI on the 4th relevant question, which contradicted his answers to the other 3. We had to ask several times (through our lawyer), and finally received a list of the questions asked. There were indeed 4 relevant questions. The examiner was obviously inexperienced, and set up a flawed exam. We paid $1,000 to a private polygrapher (a renowned academic in the field), and the results of that test were inconclusive until the final round of questions. In this final series, when asked the control question that he had been instructed to lie to, "Have you ever made a mistake," my husband thought about his ex-wife when he said "no." In the end, the prosecuting attorney did not bring up the polygraph at all (we had pointed out the polygrapher's deception on the # of Q's), the false accuser was impeached several times on the stand, and my husband was exonerated.
My advice to you: 1) Try to (politely) educate your PO on the flaws of the polygraph. The few truly scientific studies in a non-laboratory setting that have been done have indicated a high tendency towards false positives (lying indicated whne people are truthful). Point him to this website, or Dr. Lykken's research (professor emeritus at University of Minnesota). There are some very simple "truths" if you will, about the fallibility of the magic machine. The sensors measure physiological stress in response to questions - not necessarily your answers to those questions. These same signs of physiological stress (increased pulse rate, sweating, etc) may be caused by lying (sometimes, in some people), but can also be caused by a lot of other emotions - eg fear or worry over unjustified consequences.
2) If your PO (like my husband's) is an undereducated civil servant cynical drone with tunnel vision, and there is no possible way he can be educated as to the flaws of the polygraph, then have your lawyer contact a university in your state and see if there are any academic professionals doing research in psychophysiology who would be willing to administer a private polygraph. This will be expensive, but surely the results of a scientist dedicated in his career would be taken more seriously than some inexperienced $150/hr jerko that probably never got through high school biology.
Sadly, in our system, PO's are given terrible power over the lives of people who have made mistakes. These people are overworked and underpaid, so it tends to attract the personality type who gets off on this kind of power. Some may fool themselves into thinking they are "protecting the community," and in rare cases perhaps they do. My advice to you is to be as courteous and respectful as you can be to your PO. Pay any fines you were given, and do all your community service. Focus on avoiding so much as the appearance that you are violating the terms of your probation. Avoid all questionable situations and people. And most importanly, focus on your employment, and getting ahead and building something through good old fashioned hard work. Can you work overtime in your profession or trade? Can you go to school in your off hours to learn a new or expand an existing trade? This will earn you the respect of your PO (not to mention yourself) and will mean that when you finally are able to rejoin your family, you have used the time away from family pleasures and responsibilities for something positive - to build something for their future.
|
Pages: 1
the faulty polygraph (Read 3990 times)
