Neighbor to the North, Do you want to debate the merits of polygraph, the intelligence of the examinee's, or the validity of confessions? In a few short paragraphs you really slammed the open mindedness door on several issues. You mention "these confessions I talk of", with the "I" being me. What confessions did I talk about? I believe that the only confession that I have ever talked about on this site was one pertaining to a poster (Slinky) who was seeking advice on the use of CM's, who I ultimately administered a polygraph to, caught her in her CM use, confronted her, upon which she ultimately admitted to her CM use, and subsequently confessed to the crime about which she was being tested. Now that goes way back to my very first posting on this site. But I digress...you state, "I am fairly confident when I say I am sure that these confessions you talk of don't all come freely and without some ethical and legal laws being broken during the course of the interrogation." Now this is a very interesting accusation. It is apparent you have a very strong anti-law enforcement bias. Given this I'm not at all sure debating you on any issue would serve much of a purpose. However, exactly what do you base your confidence on? You appear to want to acknowledge that the polygraph works when you state, "I agree that when you use your machine and extract a confession out of a child molester or rapist I would be the last one to say it doesn't work in that capacity or should not be used in that capacity." But you then reverse course slightly when you state, "I believe the poly works only as a prop or tool to assist the polygrapher in obtaining confessions from the nieve and uninformed." So you really don't think the polygraph works at all in the detection of deception, even if an individual who takes one is opined to be deceptive and then confesses, and that confession is proven by evidence independent of the polygraph results? So the polygraph examiner simply decided, for whatever reason, to tell the examinee that he was deceptive, as a vehicle to conduct an interrogation, and a ploy to obtain a confession? Interesting concept. If this was in fact the case, then there are a whole lot of polygraph examiners out there that are 'guessing' right and getting confessions, most of which are obtained legally (contrary to your ignorant and nieve accusation). I take it, from your post, that your only actual experience with polygraph is when you were administered a pre-employment polygraph? If this is fact the case, then on what do you base your comments/beliefs about specific issue polygraph as it pertains to law inforcement and criminal investigations? You state and ask, "The other issue I have is why pre-employment polys (or all polys for that matter) are not videotaped with a copy given to the examinee directly after exam completion. If the poly is so scientifically accurate in detecting deception as most pro-poly people would have us believe, why not come with opens arms to substantiate and back your claims?" You have some level of eduation in physiology, so let me ask you, are x-rays accurate? Are blood tests accurate? I believe they are, but why won't people in the medical profession let you walk out with them? No one seems to be overly concerned about that, and often times the errors made in the medical profession cause people serious injury and death. Polygraph is an imperfect tool used in an imperfect world. Many studies indicate it has a low accuracy rate, and many studies indicate it has a very high accuracy rate. Often times these studies are flawed to some degree. I have never been one to put a whole lot of stock in studies, or polls. I am a hands on kind of guy. After administering polygraphs (in the criminal specific arena) for the past 19 years I am comfortable in attesting to its accuracy. Not its perfection, simply its accuracy. That's 19 years of real world study. To the scientific community that probably doesn't mean a damn thing, but to the young lady whose rapist confessed after being opined deceptive on a polygraph, it means a whole lot. BATMAN
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