1st4th5thand6th,
1. Go to my web site,
www.polygraphman.com, and look at the page called "Recommended Reading." Then, please explain to all of us how I myself am spreading "ignorance and fear."
2. I concede there are polygraph victims on both sides of the aisle -- that is, not just polygraph test takers, but secondary polygraph consumers such as sexual offender treatment providers who blindly buy into the mystique of "polygraph science."
3. Are American taxpayers getting their money's worth? It depends on whose ox is being gored. For example, when an LE or government applicant confesses to disqualifying and often felonious behavior -- even if such admissions stem from the sheer utility of a polygraph "test" -- I would say yes, it's money well spent. But when a highly qualified truthful applicant is DQ'd because of a false-positive result, that's a loss.
4. As to my proposed "bill of rights," here's what I've suggested on several polygraph forums over the past year or so...
To be clear, the following is a verbatim cut-and-paste from what I have posted on several private polygraph forums:
-------start of original bill of rights post -----
"No test is perfect."
And some -- like polygraph -- are far from it.
What of the victims of polygraph tests? I speak of those individuals who suffer false positive results.
Clearly, many such victims would be better off had they never taken the polygraph.
Perhaps prevention -- and fully informed consent -- is the key.
Although much is made of polygraph ethics, its scientific robustness, very favorable accuracy (which is often compared to that of medical tests) and purported court-qualified reliability, there seems to be one thing that is conspicuously absent: a bill of rights for test takers.
It seems to me that if polygraph is to ever gain the respect that has been eluding the field for some 90 years, then a bill of rights would go a long way toward achieving that goal.
I have taken a stab at drafting a list of items to be incorporated into "bill of rights." Here it is:
1. Considerate and respectful treatment from the polygraph examiner throughout all phases of the polygraph process.
2. Knowledge of the name of the examiner who has primary responsibility for conducting the examination, and the names and professional relationships of other examines who may review the test for quality-assurance purposes.
3. Receive, if requested, a statement of qualifications of the examiner, including the number of exams they have run and their own success rate with those exams.
4. Receive, prior to the test, information on the technique to be used and citations (or abstracts) for peer-reviewed research that supports such technique.
5. Receive information, prior to the test, about polygraph theory and the testing process, accuracy estimates as determined by peer-reviewed research, and the prospects for error -- all in terms the subject can understand.
6. Receive, prior to the test, a complete (as possible) list of potential reasons for a false or inconclusive result, including instrument-related (hardware and software) variances that could skew results.
7. Receive, prior to the exam, as much information about the risks, realities and limitations of polygraph testing -- including opposing views from respected academic and legal sources -- the subject may need in order to better give informed consent.
8. The right to refuse the exam, or halt the exam at any stage of the process.
9. The right to be advised as to the reason for the presence of any individual besides the examiner during any portion of the exam process.
10. Receive, if requested, a complete copy of the entire exam, including full-length continuous video, charts, work sheets, score sheets (manual), computerized scoring output, notes, and any background information supplied to the examiner.
11. Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to the examination. Written permission shall be obtained before the polygraph records can be made available to anyone not directly concerned with the immediate case.
12. Mandatory video recording of the entire examination process.
Why a "bill of rights"? There are bills of rights for all types of situations...medical patients, mental health clients, even for consumers of commercial credit.
A bill of rights for examinees would go a long way to demonstrating that polygraph is not the witchcraft that it's often made out to be.
Beyond that, it would help prevent polygraph abuses, and provide victims of false-positive results with a solid platform from which to launch remedial measures.
Again, this list is just a rough draft.
-------end of original bill-of-rights post -----
To whom it may concern, I will again be running for president-elect of the American Polygraph Association in 2015.
The bill of rights will be the centerpiece of my platform.
So, 1st46th5thand6th, in light of my open-book approach to polygraph "testing" -- clearly documented on my web site -- and my proposed bill of rights for polygraph test subjects, please tell me where I'm going wrong.